Margaret Elizabeth Baker Smith

After having found Simeon/Semyen Perry "Perry" Smith and Margaret Elizabeth Baker’s marriage record online at Sevier County, Tennessee Genealogy and History:

Smith, Simeon P.-Baker, Margaret E.-1869 Sep 25-1869 Sep 29-Maples, P. W. - MG

I decided to try to track her down again.  I’d been hamstrung by not having a definitive 1870 census for her and Perry.  This was my best guess:

Page No. 16
The 3rd District, County of Sevier, State of Tennessee
15th August 1870 by N.M. Baker
P.O. Fair Garden
[near Andrew and Jane Dickey Smith - could this be Simeon P. Smith mis-enumerated?]
line 39, 110/110 SMITH James P 21 MW Farm laborer /350 Tennessee
Margaret E 16 FW Keeping house Tennessee

But as Perry’s family was from Jefferson County, TN I hadn’t really been convinced.  I did all my looking for Margaret there.  This marriage record in Sevier Co., TN really opened things up.  I found two possibles in 1860 for her and very quickly one became my favorite:

1860 Sevier Co., TN Census, pg. 120

S034-26
BAKER -Dist 3, PO Fair Garden, Sevier Co., Tenn., June 28, 1860- 217/ 217
 N. M.         40    M     W     Farmer            300   Tn
 Dicey         34    F     W                             Tn
 Martha        11    F     W                             Tn S
 Nancy         10    F     W                             Tn S
 Margaret      9     F     W                             Tn S
 William       4     M     W                             Tn
 Melville      2     M     W                             Tn

 S034-33
MAPLES -Dist 3, PO Fair Garden, Sevier Co., Tenn., June 28, 1860- 218/ 218
 Preston       40    M     W     Farmer      3000  1300  Tn
 Cirena        25    F     W                             Tn I
 William       20    M     W     Farm Laborer   Tn S
 James         16    M     W                             Tn S
 Gilbert       14    M     W                             Tn S
 Martin        7     M     W                             Tn S
 Rachel        5     F     W                             Tn
 Preston BUCKHANNON 3M     W             Tn
 Albert G. W.BUCKHANNON 1M W        Tn

As you can see this Margaret Baker is enumerated next door to the man who performed my Margaret’s marriage.

So I began doing research on this Baker family and finally found this:

Bruce Baker, James Baker VA d bef 1742, desc TN, OH
“Nathaniel kept a family Bible where he recorded his
marriage and the birth of his children and the deaths of those
who preceeded him in death. Bobby Kirk Hamonson of Oddessa,
Texas had the Bible in November 1992 when I made photo copies
of the information from the Bible.”
170 iii. Margaret Elizabeth Baker was born in Sevier Co.,,
TN 6 APR 1851. Margaret died 1 JAN 1873 at 21
years of age. She married Smith.

Found her.  And proof that my guess about which children were hers and which children belonged to Perry’s second wife was correct.  This was crucial for me as my ancestor ended up being the first child of the second marriage.  And I am now confident that the 1870 enumeration for James P. and Margaret Smith are actually Simeon Perry and Margaret Baker Smith: notice that they, like Margaret’s family, are enumerated in “Fair Garden”.  But one really weird problem.  Do my eyes deceive me?  Or was it Margaret's dad who enumerated the 1870 census?!