Sarah Hudson, born in Tennessee (apparently on the Mississippi border county
of Giles) was listed in 1850 Tippah, Mississippi (12 years old) with her
parents, Zadock and Millie Hudson. In the same census, a 19-year-old Jesse
Cavender was listed as a laborer working on a farm in Tippah ( U.S. Census > 1850
United States Federal Census > Mississippi > Tippah > Division 3). He is the
only Cavender or Cavinder I could find who might have been the Cavender or
Cavinder that Millie was supposed to have married (I have not been able to find
Sarah, yet, in the 1860 census--her father died and her mother is living with
another of her children (1860 United States Federal Census > Mississippi >
Tippah > Northern Division)).
Sarah is listed in the 1870 census as Sallie Cavinder, 31 years old, living
with her mother and unmarried older sister--no children (1870 United States
Federal Census > Mississippi > Tippah > Township 1 Range 4). A year later, she
married Elias H. Overton, a widower and former neighbor.
In the 1880 census (1880 U.S. Federal Census > Arkansas > Dallas > Princeton
District 66), Sarah appears with Elias, his children from his first
marriage, her child by him, and his 18 year-old stepdaughter, Georgia Cavnar, my
great-grandmother. The census does not indicate Georgia's actual relationship to
Sarah--she could have been Elias' stepdaughter from his first marriage, but we
always assumed she was Sarah's daughter by the Cavender/Cavinder marriage.
Georgia's name in the census was spelled Cavnar, but her marriage record has it
spelled Cavner, while Sarah's 1870 census spelling was Cavinder.
Interestingly, there is a Georgeanna Overton living with her father, Thomas
Overton, in Pulaski, Arkansas in the 1870 census, and I've been wondering if
this Georgeanna might not be my great-grandmother--both were born in 1861. Does
anyone have any information about this Jesse Cavender that would indicate he
was or was not the husband of Sarah Hudson, or does anyone know any more about
Sarah and Georgia?