My mother-in-law lived next door to her Grandma Lou in Davey WV. Ada Sue Harris Moses loved Louise Frances Woodson Harris very much and told many stories that were connected to Louisa Frances Woodson Harris. My niece, Meredith Moses Titus, has received an invitation to the Colonial Dames of America. Lynn Goldsmith and I have promised to do her papers for her and we are working on just that today on this cold, snowy February day. Another member of our Colonial Dames group used Obadiah Woodson as her ancestor, so we know that if we can get the proofs back to him, we will have no problem proving the service of the ancestor.
The family folklore is that Louisa Woodson was an orphan at a young age as her father died of Typhoid fever at Winchester Virginia during the Civil War and her mother died only a few years after. I have found Louisa in the census in her grandmother's home along with her brother Richard and two maiden aunts and an uncle in the 1870 census.....and they fit the story quite well as the story says that the old aunts were so mean that Louisa wouldn't set foot in a Baptist church for the rest of her life. Louisa had moved into the home of S.Sterling Harris when his wife died to take care of his children....and then married him and raised his first four children as well as the nine children they had together and then raised another four grandchildren.....
Louisa's parents in my data base are James Woodson and Martha Jane Routon. And I have lots of good information ......including the service records for James that tell that he died in Winchester, Virginia that I found on Fold4. But today we had a major surprise. Working together, Lynn and I found the marriage record for Louisa and S. Sterling and it says that her father was GEORGE Woodson. Phooey! A mystery to solve! Here is the marriage record:
and a close up of the actual record:
The date is 3 September 1882. And it is in Register 3 of the Amherst marriage record book on page 120
You can see it for your self on family search at:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9XF-FZ9M?i=306
Suddenly, new information names Louisa's father as George rather than James. Phooey!
It isn't such a surprise that the couple married in Amherst County, Virginia. After the death of S.Sterling's first wife, Louisa moved into his home to care for his children. While she was from Buckingham County, Samuel Sterling was from Appomattox and the Couple were married at Allen's Creek. On a previous blog post written several years ago I showed that the place of marriage was very close to all three counties.
Ok...now I need to solve the mystery of the REAL name of Louisa's father. And at the end of the day I have a theory. When Louise and S. Sterling Harris, Louisa was only 19. I believe it possible that she needed to take a permission with her to the place where she and her betrothed would marry. I have googled and googled and about the only piece of information that I found was this:
Hi Jeanette Yes you are right, the legal age of consent was always 21 so they did need permission to marry before that. With permission a girl could marry at 12 and a boy at 14. This was changed early last century, I don't know the exact date but 1920's or 1930's it changed to 16 for both sexes with permission, 21 without. Later again last century it changed to 18 without permission 16 with permission. Dianne
Louisa's parents were both dead by then. So she asked her older brother, George to write a note for her.
When she presented the note to the justice of the peace or who ever was doing the marrying, he wrote the name of the person giving permission into the blank for father. Perhaps the wedding couple even encouraged him to think that it was Louisa's father if they weren't known by the man presiding over their marriage.
I have spent time today looking for possible George Woodsons who would fit as possible parent for Louise with no success. James Woodson on the other hand is a perfect fit for my children's genealogical family folklore. I believe there is not doubt that the husband of Martha Jane Routon and the father of Louise Frances Woodson Harris was James Woodson.
The following is added several days later: In the 1860 census there is only one George Woodson in the entire county of Buckingham. That is Louise's brother George who is 6 at the time and living in the household of James and Martha. Frances Louise has not yet been born. It is very clear to me that at the time of Frances Louise's marriage her brother, George, is acting as her guardian in giving permission for her marriage. Louise is found in George's household in the census of 1870 and is identified as sister.
There was one more sibling to Frances Louise who had been conceived but not yet born at the time of this census:
Samuel Thomas Woodson (b. August 30, 1860, Buckingham County, VA;
d. September 28, 1952, Pike County, MO; bur. Curryville Cemetery,
Pike County, MO)
From Damon Woodson: 1 Samuel Thomas Woodson (never married and appears to have gone to live with Uncle Peter Routon after orphaned and they all moved to Pike county Missouri)
Damon sent me a death certificate for this man from Missouri. I have filed it in Woodson in genealogy documents. The informant named Martha Jane Routon and James Woodson correctly as parents.
Virginia is the oldest child in the family and lucky for me, when Virginia died, the informant names very clearly the her parents. Virginia had married
Married November 30, 1875, Appomattox County, VA, to
Henry M. Brown
I am quite satisfied with the relationships of these orphans of James Woodson and his wife, Martha Jane Routon.
We solved the mystery of why George is said to have been Louisa's father. In the 1880 census, Louisa is shown living in George's home with George's young family. Louisa is clearly named as sister to the head of the house. However, when Louisa and Samuel Sterling Harris got married in 1882, Louisa was under age and needed permission to marry. George acted as guardian and gave the permission and was entered into the official document as father.
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