Sunday, August 26, 2012

The Worst Marriage Certificate Ever

I have entertained the idea, for a long time, that Jacob did not die between 1845 and 1850.  Rather that he ran off for some reason or another.  On Ancestry.com I had seen a record where  a Jacob Pittman married a Martha Moore in Rankin County in 1846.  I always wondered what this record might contain (it was just an index on Ancestry).

Then, I got an opportunity to go to Snowbird Utah for work recently.  My wife tagged along with me so that she could go to the Family History Library there.  I asked her to search for this marriage record, and this is what she found:


Anyone who has spent a little time searching through historical records knows that a lot of them are inconsistent.  This record, however, might be the worst one that I have ever seen.  Let's look at who it says is getting married:
  1. The certificate might be a marriage between Jacob Williams and Martha Levia Moore.  (Marthas first name is shoehorned in)
  2. Jacob Pitman (Notice the 1 "t") first appears midway through the document by the "L.S." box
  3. Then The document decides that it is a marriage certificate between Jacob Pittman and Martha Levia Moon
  4. Finally, at the very bottom, it seems that this is a marriage between Jacob Pittman and Martha Levia Moore (or Moone, or something)
So I am not sure what this is.  I cannot find records of a Jacob Williams or a Jacob Pittman with a wife named Martha in Mississippi other than this record.

Unlike most of the marriage certificates that I've found over the years, this one doesn't list any birthdays or ages, or really anything that could be used to identify the couple other than their names.  

1 comment:

  1. Hi, I am not sure if you are still monitoring this blog, but here goes.
    I have a death certificate for my GG Grandmother Thursie Pittman Pierre which shows a Martha (from Mississippi) as her mother and a Silas Pittman as her father. I am wondering if this is the Martha from the above marriage license and the father has an incorrect name.
    I would love to talk with you.
    Joan

    ReplyDelete