Hello Anne, Hello the mailing lists, We again are tackling this woman problem. In way of explanation we have two men of the almost identical name who married two women of almost identical name. Two familys, a brother and sister dodd wed a sister and brother patterson in san aug. co. tx in fall of 1860. The two bridegrooms go 105 miles from san augustine co. tx to camp rondo, arkansas and both of them die before they even get to war of measles and flux. Buried together in arkansas. WE can't find the widows!!!..The dodd patterson girl had a child and we tracked him with help of the patterson mail list to 1880 in Louisiana to Rapides Parish and loose him there married to a rougeou woman. AS far as we know the other marriage, the patterson dodd girl was just 15 as a widow and did not bear a child to that groom. These all Marcella,melissa's and marcrissa's whatever...are giving me fits...I am about to number them one, two, three, four and five?. WE know those two bridegrooms, the boys died! WE have the final payment showing james N. Patterson died November 1862, and lucy marcella dodd patterson, the widow, was paid his death payments, confederate money. We have the attendance card on james M.DODD showing he died in jan of 1863 and was not present at roll call. What is giving me fits...is the pattersons in sabine co. at the same time there were pattersons in Louisiana....and both with almost identical names ages, husbands and wives. AND IS one of these PATTERSON WOMEN with the malissa, marcella names our lucy marcella dodd Patterson who Evidently DID marry again a PATTERSON man and lived in SABINE CO.? Can anyone sort this out for me...I am going in circles. 1. we do not know what happened to lucy marcella dodd patterson after mid, 1860's when she hired the lawyer to go get her husbands pay? 2. we have a legend that one of the dodd girls married a man named JOHN DUNLAP and she is the only one left alive.?(well, elizabeth is living-but she lives and dies a grabener) .Could be just a misunderstood, misunder-remembered, granny story? 3. The pattersons in sabine and the pattersons in St. Landrays Parish, and Rapides? DID they enroll in both census=-OR Are they different families? 4. and yes,james M. Patterson , son of lucy dodd and james N. Patterson did marry the Rougeu (I think I mis spell that every time I type it..sorry) woman in Rapides parish.We loose h im there. 5. and who are these women, with the similiar names in sabine ? You can separate the momma of marcella patterson and pleasants wife by the age....but that leaves two women with the same almost names first and last. one in louisiana and one in sabine co. tx.? or am I reading it wrong...? 6. our lucy M. DODD Patterson was born in 1842 (8 years old in 1850 and 18 at marriage--20 years old at widowhood.(we loose her here in 1865-she or her family hired a san augustine lawyer to go to the CSA and collect her dead husbands pay). This woman, her mother, her siblings are not found in 1870 anywhere in texas census listings under any DODD name? . I have not found her on the 1870 all of texas cd under any form of her name or Patterson. (aka: lucy Dodd, Lucy ann Autry, Louis Taylor DODD, Amelia DODD, louisa M. (or anne) DODD, Marcella -Melissa-? LM.DODD PATTERSON, Lucy M. Patterson, ? can't find them. In 1860 they(the dodd family that we know about) were in San augustine. In 1880 they were in Bandera co. in 1870 and 1871 they were in Burleson co. getting married, (lucy ann dodd (melissa's momma) to lewis autry and louis taylor dodd to victoria collins). They are not in the 1870 census for burleson. (amelia was dead by 1880=childbirth) 7. your marcella elizabeth patterson dodd was 13 at marriage in 1860 and 15 at widowhood? (have any of the patterson families tracked this young woman? what happened to her?) I don't see her in her mothers home? I don't find her in her sister, Mrs. grabener's home? DID she get the measles and die too? where was she in 1870? OUR girl is missing in 1870 also... Two confederate widows with 41 dollars and 13 cents in their pocket..? where would they go, but home? We looked for these girls last year but sorta gave up. Anyone have a source at their fingertips..please look for them...and yes, we have checked some graveyards...not all in texas--or LA but some. WE should live so long to check all. sigh.grin. It seems that finding these women should just be a matter of looking for marriage records...but it has not proven so. Census has been a problem too. and is causing even more mysteries. All help appreciated--or ideas? sincerely, judy hugg grimes