Thanks Jean, I'm betting that he was divorced and the family didn't want to admit it. I can't imagine why in an era in which divorce wasn't as common as it is today someone would make that part up. :-) Now my job is to find out where, when and why the divorce took place. I don't mind a skeleton in my closet. My gggg grandpappy from Lawrence County spent time in the state pen for passing a counterfeit note. I think that's kinda cool. Not that I support that kind of thing, but... :-) Linda. > Perhaps John was married and then > divorces before 1900. Then, maybe Mary died sometime, and so technically > he's widowed, but was divorced too. So many times, someone else was > giving > out the information, and they may or may not have known the true story. A > child of John might have wanted him listed as widowed, or just said that > his > wife was dead and not wanted to elaborate. I would guess that Mary died > before he did. > I'm sure that this didn't help a whole lot, but maybe a little. :) > - Jean Griesan > P.S. Thanks for the new e-mail address.