It is always possible that the minister recorded the marriage at the
closest court house which may not have been the same county as where they
were all standing when they said I do.
The county seat of Pendleton Co., (West) VA, was occupied by enemy forces
during the Civil War. Actually at various times by both sides--the enemy
being only a matter of one's outlook--and very few events were recorded
during these years. One minister in the northern section of the county,
rather than risk life and limb to travel the many miles to the county seat,
recorded all of his marriages in another county, and not even an adjoining
county. The records state the parents' names and the place as "the bride's
father's" or a specific name so we are sure where the marriage actually was
performed.
As for the WPA records, their accuracy varies widely and most are
notoriously full of errors. The persons doing the transcribing were
out-of-work and were not genealogists, not necessarily well-educated, and
often not familiar with the family names in the records. WPA records should
always be viewed as only an index to find the original records. With these
or any transcription, a common error occurs when transcribing December
events and then January of the next year. A December of the previous year
is then recorded and no one re-writes the correct year. Thus, the
transcription shows at the top of the page year 18XX and assumes all events
below it were in that year. One can only correct this by looking at the
actual page and the events around the one of interest. Wedding in December,
new year, was not recorded in the midst of wedding in January and February
of new year and many entries before any other December marriage. And, any
transcription that alphabetizes the entries destroys any chance of using it
for clues.
Of course, this does not explain 10 years! Could he possibly have had a
first wife with the same name? Does the divorce record give the wife's
maiden name? They changed their minds and re-married? Or the first wife was
a cousin of the second?
Good luck in your searches--a mystery to be solved.
Nedra
At 10:07 PM 10/5/2002 -0400, you wrote:
In a message dated 10/5/02 4:38:21 PM US Eastern Standard Time,
PhyllisMillerFleming(a)starband.net writes:
<<
http://www.rootsweb.com/~inshelby/courthouse/civil_records/civ_kelly.htm
I found the following record in the Shelby Co IN Clerk's vault. Can anyone
identify any of the people?
>>
Something is screwy about that court (divorce) entry--or about the record of
marriage I found. The divorce hearing was in Shelby Co in 1857, saying they
had been married in Miami Co. According to the WPA vital records, Thomas
Kelly & Henrietta Appleton were married 5 Aug 1867 in Cass Co, which is on
the west border of Miami Co. It could be they didn't know/remember which
county they were married in, but can't think of anyway to account for an 1857
divorce hearing for a 1867 marriage!--except a mistranscription of the
marriage date.
Joyce Overman Bowman
Indianapolis, IN
Nedra Dickman Brill, Certified Genealogist brillnd(a)pacifier.com
Registrar, Oregon State Society DAR
Regent, Portland Chapter, DAR
Historian, Henckel Family National Association
Coordinator Pendleton County, WV, wvpendle-l(a)rootsweb.com
CG is a service mark of the Board for Certification of Genealogists,
used under license after periodic evaluations by the Board.
http://www.bcgcertification.org/