This was a fun one to track down.
It was serendipitous as usual. I haven't done genealogy for a while, so when I noticed an ancestor missing a marriage record for (probably) Sevier County, Tennessee around 1870 I thought I'd see if anything new was available. And yes:
Sevier County, Tennessee Genealogy and History has a lot of great information and some very usable databases, including marriages. I quickly found what I was looking for:
Smith, Simeon P.-Baker, Margaret E.-1869 Sep 25-1869 Sep 29-Maples, P. W. - MGThis is the first marriage of my ancestor Simeon/Semyen Perry "Perry" Smith.
While I was looking around, I checked the immediate family for some of my other undocumented marriages without much luck. Most of this Smith family did its marrying and living in Jefferson County, Tennessee, including Perry's father Gilbert C. Smith:
1850 Jefferson Co., TN CensusHere he is 50 years later still in Jefferson County, TN in 1900 with a second wife:
The 13th District
26th October 1850 by James Baker
line 18, 1013/1050 Gilbert SMITH 25 "[M] Laborer " [Tenn]
Eliza 27 F " [Tenn]
Andrew 3 M " [Tenn]
Simeon 2 "[M] " [Tenn]
line 22, L. THOMAS 51 "[M] Laborer " [Tenn]
Nancy 17 F " [Tenn]
James 15 M " [Tenn]
George 13 "[M] " [Tenn]
William 11 "[M] " [Tenn]
Catharine 9 F " [Tenn]< John 7 M " [Tenn]
17 Cival District, S.D. 2, E.D. 55, Sheet No. 1B, 1st + 2nd June 1900 by Andrew J. Bush, [next door to his former son-in-law Martin Acton],But when I got digging for this second marriage undocumented marriage for Gilbert and Lucy, I found this:
line 71, 14/14 SMITH Gilbert C Head WM July 1924 75 M 3 Tennessee Tennessee Tennessee Farmer Owns Farm Free of mortgage,
Lucy Wife WF Mar 1849 51 M 3 3/1 Tennessee Tennessee Tennessee,
ATCHLY Daniel B Stepson WM WM Dec 1888? 14? S Tennessee Tennessee Tennessee Farm Laborer
Atchley, Isaac T. / Maples, Burlenda 1867 Apr 27 1867 Apr 28 Atchley, William D. - JP
Atchley, I. T. / Hodge, Lucy 1883 May 30 blank blankNothing definitive there. The marriage is about the right time, Lucy having had a son Daniel B. Atchley in 1886.
But when I looked up this Isaac I found him married to Malinda Maples and among his children were Benjamin Ambrose and James P. Atchley. And in 1910 I had noted that Daniel had moved to Young County, Texas and was living near these two men and their families.
Still nothing definitive, and those blanks on the marriage bond mean no marriage was reported from the bond, so possibly the marriage never happened. But there's many a slip, and I know of one man who refused to turn in his marriage license to the court house after the minister had signed it because he "had paid 7 dollars for it" and he meant to keep it...
But for me, the coincidences have piled up way too high. I believe this is my Lucy Hodges Atchley Smith.
Still more work to do, but here is her 1880 census record:
1880 United States Census, www.familysearch.org
Calvin M. HODGES Self W Male W 62 TN Farmer TN TN
Lucy HODGES Dau S Female W 31 TN Keeping House TN TN
Lina HODGES Dau S Female W 29 TN Keeping House TN TN
