Rezon D. Hovious. Son of John HOVIOUS and Nancy MARTIN. Born in Knifley, KY in May 1848. Nicknamed Reese Hovious. Due to his unusual first name, misspellings in official records are frequent, but he clearly signed it Rezon. More about the origin of the name below. Married (1) Martha SANDERS [b.1853] in Adair Co., KY, on 20 October 1870. Martha died in 1886. Children with Martha SANDERS: Children with Maggie WATSON: More about Rezon Hovious: Rezon was probably named for Rezin Davis or Reason Davis. Rezin Davis Sr lived in Pennsylvania and was an early settler of Green Cty, KY around 1796 when his father-in-law bought land there. Rezon is a Biblical name. 
Married (2) Maggie E. WATSON (maiden name Ginn?) [b. Sep 1865] in Pulaski Cty, IN, on 5 Nov 1885. Maggie died in Sangamon, Illinois, on 20 Mar 1927.
Married (3) Magnolia (?) [b. abt 1887], Tennessee? abt 1906.
Rezon D. Hovious died in Knifley, KY in September 1910.
Rezon D. Hovious was a Doctor. According to the American Medical Association, he received his license to practice in the state of Illinois, and by 1880 was practicing medicine in his native Adair County. He is mentioned in records as being the attending physician of two persons who died in Adair during that year:
BOTTOM, Wm. Age 40 m w died May 1880, amputation
Between 1883 and 1885 James Silas Hovious brought repeated legal actions against his brothers Leslie C. Hovious and Rezon D. Hovious. The latter two were already being sued by assorted other plaintiffs (Abe Bloch & Co., Bamberger Streng & Co., Bamberger Bloch & Co. and Bloom, Goldsmith, Tachau & Co.) and James sought to have his case consolidated with theirs. The cases apparently had to do with the failure of a business venture, the Phoenix Fire Insurance Co., led by Leslie and Rezon. It appears James had invested money in the venture. Rezon and Leslie were ordered to pay him just under $1,000.
On 8 February 1884 Rezon filed for divorce from Martha. In court papers, Rezon stated that Martha was a "habitual drunkard" and that by December 1882 he could no longer live with her on account of her ill treatment and abuse of him. He further stated that her daily use of alcholoic beverages led her to behave in "such lewd and lascivious manner as to prove her to be unchaste in her walk & conversation." Rezon presented depositions from his brothers Leslie, James and Joseph, and his brother-in-law James C. Humphress, all backing up his suit. He was granted the divorce on 14 September 1885.
Martha died less than six months later, aged only 33, and her will stated that she was "sick and weak in body"; Martha's will mentions her "divorced husband R.D. Hovious" and expressly excludes him from receiving any part of her estate. By this time Rezon had moved to Pulaski County, Indiana with his younger brother Leslie; there both Hovious brothers married.
Between 1886 and 1888 Rezon practiced medicine at Lake City, Barber County, Kansas, and is often mentioned in the weekly newspapers 'Kansas Prairie Dog' and the 'Lake City Bee', transcripts of which can be found online.
In 1889, ahead of the Federal land offering in Oklahoma, Rezon and family moved there. Rezon became the first Postmaster of Polona, Oklahoma (presumably named for his daughter) on 28 March 1890, a post he held until the town's post office was disbanded on 21 March 1891. In 1892 the doctor and his family moved back to Knifley, where he bought land.
In 1902 Rezon was indicted in the Russell County Circuit Court for acting as a retail pharmacist without possessing the certificate required under state law. Rezon succeeded in having the case dismissed in the circuit court but the county appealed to the Court of Appeals of Kentucky and the indictment was upheld, the court finding that the statutary permission for doctors to mix and dispense their own prescriptions applied only to medications required by their own patients and did not permit physicians to fill prescriptions brought in by patients of other doctors.
Sometime after that Dr. Hovious moved to Tennessee. Apparently he then divorced his second wife, or she died; because in the 1910 Tennessee census he is shown living in White County, TN, married to Magnolia, age 23, at which time they had been married 3 years. His obituary from the September 1910 Adair County News says that Rezon "decided he didn't have long to live, so he came back to his homeplace, Knifley." The obituary also notes Rezon's support of the Confederacy during the Civil War.
The life of Dr. R.D. Hovious has been one of the most challenging to follow for this site. Information on the lawsuit filed by his brother James: Adair County Circuit Court Orders, Microfilm FHL#831451. For the 1902 indictment see "Reports of the Civil and Criminal Cases Decided by the Court of Appeals of Kentucky", Kentucky Reports, Vol. 112, 1901-02. Thanks to Mark Phillips for providing information on Rezon's namesake, to John R. Hovious Jr. for the Tennessee census information, to Jonathan Sanders for information about Eula's death, to Ellen Knowles Bissen for the Kansas newspaper transcripts,and to Donna Cave for the obituary. Additional research obtained from Federal Census Records of 1870, 1880, 1900 and 1910; J.R. Onken of Pulaski County, Indiana; from microfilm rolls of the Mormon Church regarding the 1890 Oklahoma census and the 1892 Adair County tax lists; the Oklahoma Historical Society's "Chronicles of Oklahoma" and from the 1882-1884 divorce records. Research continues.
13:00 10/01/2009