I am looking for information on a family that lived in Coles county around 1860-1870 My great great grandmother Mary Ann Bates was married in Edgar county to my great great grandfather Francis A. Nicholson January 19, 1862. He died in Nashville in 1865. She was living in Coles county in 1865, 1866 and various people gave testimony regarding her marriage and her children's birth so that she could get money for support of her children as a Civil War widow. The people who testified were William W. Bates, Margaret J. Bates, Abagail Bates. I am assuming these people were somehow related to her. Does anyone have information on this family or have information on a Nicholson family living in Coles county at the time. Since they were married in Edgar county and lived there until the death of Francis it is possible his family was in Edgar county. Both of them were born in southern Indiana. I have no information on their parents or siblings. Neither of their children were christened. The midwife and Bates women gave testimony at being present at the birth of their children. Mary Ann Bates remarried quite quickly to a man named Howell and moved to Nebraska by 1870. She was divorced in 1870 in Nebraska and remarried Ivan Jensen.