I found something today that I haven’t heard before, nor have I run across it in my research…so I’m not really sure if anyone else has discovered it. It definitely leads to further research, that’s for sure.
Ok, so I don’t have a marriage date for Spencer DeMumbrie and Cornelia Ann McMillen/McMillan. I’m not sure if they married in Tennessee or Mississippi. I thought at first it was probably Tennessee, in Shelby County, since that’s where Cornelia was living when the 1850 census was enumerated. But then, of course, if Spencer was living in Mississippi when they married then it may have been there, since her parents are found on the 1860 census in the same county as Spencer and Cornelia.
The easiest place to start looking is Shelby County, Tennessee since it’s online. So I start searching, not knowing exactly what year to look for, just knowing they married sometime in the 1850s. To my surprise I did find a marriage record for Spencer. Even more surprising the marriage was not to Cornelia.
On December 7, 1848 Spencer DeMumbrie married a woman named Ellen Watson in Shelby County, Tennessee. And whose name appears on the marriage record, I assume as bondsman? One MG McMillen/McMillan, Cornelia Ann McMillen/McMillan’s father.
Ok, so that’s pretty strange. I never knew anything about Spencer having been married prior to Cornelia. This means that Spencer was married (at least) three times: Ellen Watson in 1848, Cornelia Ann McMillen/McMillan sometime in the 1850s and Effie Jane Gilchrist in 1871.
So wait, he married Ellen in 1848 and then married Cornelia within 10 years? Yes, because the next document I found concerned Spencer dealing with Ellen's estate…within six months of their marriage. Yup, that’s right, Ellen was deceased by June of 1849. I’m not certain when exactly she died, or how…or even where she is buried…but I found the entire situation odd. Dealing with her estate stretched out for several years, with Spencer paying off the last of her debts, as far as I can tell, in October of 1852. (note: pages from the settlement of the estate will be posted at a later date)
So who is Ellen Watson? Where did she come from? Is she related to the McMillen/McMillan family? How did she die? Where is she buried?
Another interesting little tidbit I found: Spencer appears on the 1850 census in both Davidson County, Tennessee (with his grandmother) and in Shelby County, Tennessee living with a Lewis family. My mother said it is probably when he was working on the river.
I still don’t have a marriage record for Spencer and Cornelia.
