Wilson Advance, 25 February 1881.
As he wound his way through Crossroads township, Wilson County, in 1880, the census taker encountered farmer Tarrell Parker, 45; wife Minerva, 18; and children Trecy, 5, Jesse, 3, and Mancy Ann, 1.
A year later, Parker placed a notice in the Wilson Advance, offering a reward for anyone bringing to justice his wife Minerva and Ruffin Rowe, who had run off together.
Rowe [whose surname appears in early records as Rose] was married to Tilithia Locus, and they appear in the 1880 census of Crossroads, too: farmer Ruffin Rowe, 31; wife Tillitha, 26; and children James William, 5, David, 3, and John Hardy, 1. [A fourth son, Ruffin Haywood Jr., was born 1879-80.]
Tarrell Parker lived the remainder of his life in Wilson County. I find no further record of Minerva Parker and Ruffin Rowe Sr. Rowe was omitted from his father David Rowe‘s will, and his wife was described as divorced in the 1900 census.