Mary Florence who married a William Atwood in Muskingum County, Ohio
Mary Florence is listed as marrying a William Atwood in Muskingum County, Ohio in 1830.
There is a William Atwood born about 1777 and died about 1835 who shows on the 1820 and 1830 census reports in Muskingum County, Ohio.On the 1820, he has a wife about the same age, she's apparently deceased by the 1830.The 1830 census looks suspicous for an extra lady in the household, possibly the wife of a William Atwood Jr.
Next part of the story, a widow, Mary Atwood shows in the Fairfield area data with children.She later marries my ancestor Joseph Wilcox (the fifth, a mess to keep straight).She has three Atwood children whose names show on census data and later has two more with Joseph Wilcox, before he also dies.
This widow Mary Atwood, has an intersting preference of naming her children after American presidents, both the Atwood ones, and later the two from the 2nd marriage with Joseph Wilcox.
Now west of the Licking/Fairfield/Muskingum Counties, at this time is a clan of Florence'sfrom William Florence from Virginia on down.(the widow Mary Atwood/Wilcox is also from Virginia as are here parents).William Florence has a daughter Mary Florence of the correct age to be this Mary Florence and possibly the Mary ATwood later Wilcox.The brother of this apparently dieing young? Mary Florence is an Elias Florence who was in the US Congress in the Whig party during the 1820 to 1840 period; and apparently some form of connection with Woodrow Wilson, the details of which are unclear.
These may all be coincidences, but are certainly a set of interesting questions; and the loss of some early data in the Licking County area seems to make direct investigation difficult---if it wasn't already hard enough following ladies of this time if they weren't the head of a household.
The yield on this set of mysteries if it can be figured out this many years later, would be to help clarify better the early Atwoods from Virginia to Ohio, the Wilcox's of this period, and pehaps clarify the linkage of Mary Florence and William Atwood.
Questions are:
Who was this Mary Florence? that married William Atwood in Muskingum County, in 1830?
Who was the widow Mary Atwood that later married Joseph Wilcox in Licking County (who was from Virginia)?
Why did the Mary Atwood have the propensity to name the children after Presidents?It could have been an idiosyncracy, but often in those days it was a family heritage statement being made.
Is the Mary Florence tied to, possibly sibling or close relative of Elias Florence? and is she also the Mary Atwood widow?
Who was the William Atwood Sr??? and what Atwood branch does he tie into?There are Gilbert, Thomas, and Nancy Atwoods in this area in early Ohio; descended from James Joseph Atwood in Virginia.There is also a prominent James Atwood in the Licking/Fairfield areas with many descendants there but missing his father's name (possibly a son of William, brother of possible William Atwood Jr?)
Note that an Abigail Atwood, marries William Harvey Wilcox in Licking county within a year of the marriage of the widow Mary Wilcox to Joseph Wilcox (William Harvey's father).This Abigail is from Virginia as are her parents.She names her children Parmilia, James, John and other names that along with her Abigail name suggest linkage with the Gilbert/Sinnett/James Joseph Atwood groups of Culpepper/Shenandoah Virginia (and this area also has ties to the Florence family).
I've done about all I can until some new data is found; perhaps posting this may help someone years from now with the same headache.But if you have time and interest or thoughts, please join in!!!
Two of the widow Mary Atwood/Wilcox's later sons fought in the civil war.One, G. W. Wilcox is listed as one of the early founders of Delaware County, Ohio.Joseph Wilcox is listed as one of the founding people in Fairfield/Licking County Ohio.Joseph Wilcox and his first wife (Mabel Carter) were born in and had strong connections to Connecticut; although most of their children were born in New York; Herkimer County areas.The next Joseph Wilcox up the line achieved captain rank in the New York militia and fought in the Revolutionary war (but maintained his strong ties to Connecticut Wilcox's where he was born also).That's about all the useful data that I have at this time.
Please ponder and join in if interested.
Stan Handshy [email protected]