MAFarr has indicated that sometimes the fact that an agreement, such as the one between Anderson Chenault and Nancy Harris [nee Oldham], is not recorded preceding the marriage but somewhat later, may indicate a divorce. I am going to share with you my abstract of the agreement recorded in Madison Co., KY deed book. In return, will you share with me your thoughts. As stated, in the 1850 censuses, I find Chenault and Mrs. Chenault in separate households. E.W.Wallace descendant of Nancy (Oldham) (Harris) Chenault Here goes: From Madison Co., KY Deed Bk X-361, written 31 Jul 1837, filed 4 Aug 1838. It is of interest that the it was recorded on the first anniversary of their marriage. Abstracted the agreement reads: Anderson Chenault and Nancy Harris, both of Madison Co., KY... whereas there is a marriage shortly comtemplated ... between .. the parties.... they agree that when such marriage takes place .. Nancy Harris is to give up .. to Anderson Chenault her lifetime estate in the slaves and land of her former husband Overton Harris deceased to be lotted (?) to her by the County of Madison [KY] .. for their mutual support and benefit, but she is to retain the right and control of all her other estate of every description free from the use and control of said Anderson Chenault and the profit arising therefrom and also her right to Dower in lands of her decd. husband in the State of Missouri .... agreed that said Nancy Harris shall have full (underscored) power and authority to give sell and dispose of said estate or any part thereof by will .... she may wish to do so and if during her lifetime she shall have failed to dispose of said estate or any part thereof ... in that case that part not disposed of is to descend to her children to the descendents of her children as the case may be according to law. And it is further agreed by .. the parties that the said Anderson Chenault in consideration of said Nancy Harris giving up to him the use and profits of the slaves and land aforesaid, he is to take such of her children home with him after an allotment of said slaves and land to his place and possession of the same is given to him as are now infants and raise, board and cloathe them in the same manner as he does his own children free of expense as long as they remain minors and shall to agree to live with him, and it further agreed .. between the parties that should the said Nancy Harris outlive the said Chenault then in that case the slaves and land heretofore given up by .. Nancy Harris is to return to her... it is further agreed between the parties that should they both live until the first day of January 1848 from that time the said Nancy Harris is to be entitled to receive one half of the hire and rent of said slaves and land or the worth of same is used by her and at her disposal (illegible) reserved estate.. it is further agreed that Nancy Harris .. hereby disclaims all right of dower in and to the estate of said Chenault after his decease. /s/ Anderson Chenault /s/ Nancy Harris Test: Napoleon G. Tevis, Wm. J. Pasley Examined: ... County Clerk David Jame (?) recorded 4 Aug 1838. Acknowledged by Anderson & Nancy [interlined: his wife late Nancy] Harris to be their act and deed ... Oaths [given by] Napoleon G. Tevis and W. J. Pasley ... /s/ David Jame (?) The agreement was not recorded until the first anniversary of Nancy's remarriage. Madison Co. census of 1850, 12 Aug, p. 254, Dwelling 112, Family 112 shows Nancy Chenault in a separate household from Anderson Chenault. Page 254, Dwelling 112, Family 112 Nancy Chenault, age 59, F, RE $7,000, b. Madison Christopher Harris, age 19, M, farmer, RE $5,000, b. Madison Amanda Alexander, age 11, F, b. Madison, attended school; mark in column "Whether deaf & dumb, blind, insane, idiot, pauper, or convict" James Tevis, age 14, M, Madison, attended school. (The Tevis child may be a child of Elizabeth Harris and her husband Joseph Tevis. The Alexander child in the Chenault household cannot be identified. Were the Alexander children orphans? Reason for this hypothesis: In another nearby household, the household of John and Nancy Gentry, there is a Robert Alexander, age 13. Source inspected Nov 2006.) Was Nancy caring for some children in their own home? Or was this her own home? Next door in the same census is the household of her son Sidney W. Harris, age 35, and his family. Nancy Oldham (Harris) Chenault evidently carried out some of the terms of her pre-nuptial agreement and had a close associate, Napoleon Tevis, as a trustee. This is reflected in the abstract of a Madison Co. deed. Dated 8 Dec 1852 the deed is between Sidney W. Harris and Mary, his wife, of the first part (grantors) and Napolean [sic] G. Tevis, trustee for Nancy Chenault, wife of Anderson Chenault of the second part, grantee.... 77 A, Callaway's Creek.... "as trustee for said Nancy Chenault free from the control, contracts or debts of any husband she now has..." Deed book and page were not noted. Cursory examination of the deed indexes of Madison Co. indicate that Anderson Chenault may have been a land speculator. Anderson Chenault apparently died Nov 1854. He and Nancy executed a deed to Nathaniel Oldham 20 Sep 1852, but by 8 June 1855, Anderson's heirs were executing a deed, indicating he had died. Nancy died in 1858. According to snapshots sent by a distant cousin of Kentucky, she and her first husband, Overton Harris, are buried together on the lands of the former Waller Chenault near Richmond, KY. The house is called "Goshen Hall," and in 1994 was still standing, somewhere near Richmond, KY. Shortly before her death, Nancy [Oldham] [Harris] Chenault was involved with her neighbors in working with the county toward a new route for a road. Madison Co. Court Order Book L [?], Monday April 5, 1859, p. 396: "On motion of Nancy Chenault, it is ordered that William L. Neale, Joshua Shaw and Josiah P. Chenault, or any two of them who being first sworn, do view the nearest and best way for an alteration in the road leading from the Turnpike at the tollgate near Benjamin Howard's to the Boonsboro' road where the same passes over the lands of Dawson Oldham and said Nancy Chenault, commencing near the gate of Dawson Oldham's, nearest the Boonsboro' pike and that the view the old and proposed routes and report to this Court the conveniences and inconveniences that will result either to the public or to individuals from the establishment [of] afsaid alteration. {On April 23, 1858 alteration be established and ordered that Nancy Chenault pay costs of this proceeding.) (FHL film 183,278 Madison County, Kentucky Court Order Book Vol. L [?]) ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com