For the longest time, I’ve been searching for the marriage record for my great-great grandparents, Julia Ann Downer and William M. Morris. I had been unsure of which county and state they had married because they moved around so often. To complicate matters further, Julia’s family lived on a border town between Ohio and what is now West Virginia.
After not coming up with any solid leads online, I ordered some indexes on microfilm from the Family History Library to see if I could find the marriage record. I couldn’t. I started getting frustrated. I started searching another roll of microfilm and trying not to lose hope.
Then I saw it: “Julia Doroner m Wm Morris April 24, 1851”.
My stomach was instantly filled with butterflies and something in my gut just told me this was them. Once I found the page, I knew it was them:
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| From October 14, 2011 |
Julia Downer (not Doroner) and William Morris were married on 24 April 1851 in Washington County, Ohio. Julia’s father, Zachues Downer, was living in Belpre Township, Washington County, Ohio during the 1850 census – so the marriage most likely occurred close to Belpre.
But I didn’t get everything I had hoped out of this marriage record: Since “William Morris” is such a popular name, I had hoped this record would give me more identifying information about William. Then perhaps I could finally learn about his parents.
But at least now I have a date and a place. YAY!
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