Today is the anniversary of my maternal 3rd-great grandparents, Joseph W. WRIGHT and Rebecca Ann HEATON. According to my database, they were married on November 1, 1857 in Schuyler County, Missouri.
My source for this information comes from a correspondent who stated that they were married either in 1851 or 1857. The date has to be 1857, as Joseph was born in 1838 and Rebecca in 1841. Also, contemporary evidence of family migrations give credence to the 1857 date.
The Schuyler County Recorder's Office in Lancaster, Missouri maintains marriage records from 1845, so I need to write to obtain a copy of the official record. Ancestry.com's Missouri Marriage Index does not contain Schuyler County.
Joseph W. WRIGHT was born April 1838 in Brown County, Ohio, the son of John and Anna (WARDLOW) WRIGHT. Rebecca Ann HEATON was born 1841 in Brown County, Ohio, the daughter of James R. and Elizabeth (JACOBS) HEATON.
In the 1850 census, the WRIGHT family was living in Washington Township, Brown County, and the HEATON family was living in Scott Township. The distance between Georgetown, Ohio to Lancaster, Missouri is 582 miles, according to MapQuest. I can only imagine taking this type of journey in the 1850's.
Rebecca's parents, James & Elizabeth, as well as other members of the HEATON family did migrate to Schuyler County and in fact spent the remainder of their lives there. They were residents of Liberty Township, Schuyler County in the 1860 census onward. Members of the HEATON family had also married members of the WARDLOW family who migrated to Missouri. It is quite possible that Joseph WRIGHT made this trek with the rest of the family fully intending to remain in Missouri.
Something caused this young couple to return to their roots, as by the 1860 census they were enumerated in Washington Township, Brown County, Ohio. Approximately 1865 they moved to Monroe Township, Madison County, Indiana where they lived out the remainder of their lives. The only legacy of their time in Missouri was the birth of their daughter, Mary, in August 1858 in Missouri.
The late 1850s in Missouri had to have been interesting times due to the looming Civil War and it undoubtedly played a role in this young couple's life. Exactly how much I have yet to discover.
2 comments:
The moving patterns of the 1850 and 1860's in the Northern areas are fascinating. I was helping a friend with her tree and it was very similar to yours. Hope you find the historical reason behind the moves.
Thanks. I just made a connection yesterday with another family member and hopefully together we can find the answer.
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