Well, maybe…
It’s time to wish those ancestors a happy anniversary!
Tomorrow, December 6th, is the 167th anniversary of the marriage of George Washington Cottrell and Martha Louisa Baker — The Legal Genealogist’s second great grandparents.
Well, maybe…
You see, according to the records, George Washington Cottrell married Martha Louisa Baker on 6 December 1853 in Long Creek, Parker County, Texas.1
Which didn’t exist as a county in 1853.2
Then again, it could have been that they married on 6 December 1854 in Johnson County, Texas.3
Which did exist in 1854, but didn’t include the area where the Bakers and George Cottrell lived.4
Or maybe it was 6 December 1854 in what was then Johnson County and is now Parker County.5
Which, as noted, wasn’t in Johnson County then or ever.6
Or maybe it was on 29 January 1855 in Johnson County.7
Which is the only time and place it was ever recorded, even though it probably didn’t take place there — and probably didn’t take place then.
Most likely the marriage was performed by a circuit-riding preacher who recorded it in the first courthouse he came to on his circuit.
Except that the one record that documents the minister who performed it — Martha Louisa’s widow’s application for a pension — names him as Rev. Nelson Hunter.8
And of course there is no record of a Nelson Hunter in Texas in the 1850 census.
Or the 1860 census.
Or in the Texas newspapers of the day.
Or in any church records that I can find.
I love my second great grandparents.
I’ll wish them a happy anniversary tomorrow anyway.
Well, maybe…
Cite/link to this post: Judy G. Russell, “Happy anniversary!,” The Legal Genealogist (https://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog : posted 5 Dec 2020).
SOURCES
- Survivor’s Claim, 23 March 1887, Pension application no. 7890 (Rejected), for service of George W. Cotrell of Texas; Mexican War Pension Files; RG-15; NA-Washington, D.C. ↩
- It wasn’t created until 12 December 1855 and wasn’t fully organized until March of 1856. See John H. Long, et al., eds., Texas: Individual County Chronologies, entry for Parker County, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries, The Newberry Library (https://www.newberry.org/ : accessed 4 Dec 2020). ↩
- Application of claimant, 17 February 1890, Pension application no. 7890. ↩
- Long, et al., eds., Texas: Individual County Chronologies, entry for Johnson County. ↩
- Declaration of claimant, 21 Jan 1897, widow’s pension application no. 13773 (Rejected), for service of George W. Cottrell of Texas; Mexican War Pension Files; RG-15; NA-Washington, D.C. ↩
- Long, et al., eds., Texas: Individual County Chronologies, entry for Johnson County. ↩
- See Weldon Hudson, Marriage Records of Johnson County, Tx. (Cleburne : Johnson Co. Historical Soc., 2002). ↩
- Declaration of claimant, 21 Jan 1897, widow’s pension application no. 13773. ↩
