The recent sharing of information on Smiths on the Sussex County list reminded me of a little mystery concerning a Charles Smith that married into my McConnell family. The marriage certificate says that Charles A. Smith was a powder maker and resident of Roxbury Tp in Morris County aged 18 y 2 m when he married Mary Catharine McConnell, a 20 year old resident of "Shipmansport" in Roxbury on April 10, 1885. Thomas Clancy pastor of the Baptist Church at Drakesville (now Ledgewood) officiated. He and the bride may have been cousins. His parents are named as Abram Smith and Martha Collier. Hers were Samuel McConnell and Susan or Catherine Collier. I'm not positive, but I think that Susan Collier was living in Newton in the census around 1850 or 1860 with her mother and maybe also with another family in one census. Now Charles "disappears" and his bride Mary Catharine remarries November 29th, 1900 to a Blanchard in Port Oram with Rev. Paul Eustice ot Mount Hope ME Church officiating. The certificate for the marriage does not even acknowledge Mary's prior marriage, perhaps simply because Rev. Eustice was unaware of of it. I don't know for sure, but I don't think that Mary and Charles had any children. None are acknowledged in the census data for 1900 and 1910. There are two death certificates for Charles Smith with date of death July 13, 1889 in Butler, Morris County. They certainly seem to be for the same man. One lists different parents' names from the ones on the marriage certificate. Another, signed by a Charles E Smith who signed as Justice of the Peace and acting coroner, does not list any parents at all. I'm wondering if the Charles who died on July 13 was Mary's husband, and if the certificate filed by George C Coates is wrong about his parents' names. Maybe the later certificate was filed by Charles E Smith to help correct this misinformation. Being a Smith, he may have had enough knowledge of the Smith families involved to know if a mistake was made. I have only briefly looked at census to try to puzzle this out, and haven't taken some obvious steps like checking papers or checking out the churches, undertaker, and cemetery involved because I haven't been working on this family very much. For those still interested, I've transcribed the death certificates below. Morris County death certificates for 1889 (probably 89-90), #S59 Notation at top, L. 9506 (I have no idea what it means!) Also, underlined in bold No Fee Charles A Smith, 23 years 10 months, 11 days, color white, occupation fireman, married , b. New York State. last place of residence 338 St Pauls Ave Jersey City, how long resident in this state - Life (but b in NYS?) Place of death Butler NJ Morris Co, father's name Wm Smith b NY State, mother's name Harriet Smith b NY State. Date of death July 13, 1889, cause internal injuries of pelvic cavity, length of sickness 7 hours. Medical attendant George C Coates, resident of Butler, NJ, undertaker Richard Bros, residence Pompton NJ, place of burial Arlington Cemetery. Morris County death certificates for 1889 (probably 89-90), #S60 Chas Smith, age about 25 years, color white, occupation fireman, married, life resident of state, place of death Butler Morris Co NJ, date of death 13 July 1889, cause injuried received from collision of two engines. The preprinted words "Medical Attendant" on the form crossed out and "Charles E Smith Justice of the Peace acting coroner" written in, residence Butler Morris Co NJ. Undertaker Richard Brothers of Pompton NJ. Place of burial is faded on my copy, which I should have made darker. I guess one has to be really careful researching a name like Smith! Kirsten -- Open WebMail Project (http://openwebmail.org)