When did Henry Pennington marry Martha "Patty" Smith?

Question

I am seeking any information about the marriage of Henry Pennington (Mecklenburg, VA) to a Martha "Patty" Smith sometime in the 1770s.

Henry Pennington was born in Lunenburg, Virginia (not Surry or Sussex or Albemarle as some sources claim) about 1754. His father, James Pennington Sr. (son of Thomas) moved to new property in Lunenburg in 1753. This property on Avents Creek on which James lived with his family became part of Mecklenburg, VA in 1764. Henry Pennington purchased property in Mecklenburg from William and Jean Ezell (24 Feb 1778). He is listed in the Mecklenburg Tax lists from 1782 until 1802.

I cannot find any birth records for his children Fatha (Pennington) Ladd, John Pennington, James Smith Pennington, A. Smith Pennington, and Isaac Pennington, but census records indicate that John would have been born around 1786. This would mean that Henry and Martha married sometime before then, near 1780.

According to deed records in Mecklenburg, VA and Wake, NC, Henry's wife was named Martha and went by "Patty." She was interviewed in Wake, NC in November 1804 about relinquishing dower on a property Henry had sold in Mecklenburg several years earlier. Patty died sometime after that.

Henry and Patty's older sons married in Wake, NC between 1813 and 1829.

Any suggestions, resources, assistance would be greatly appreciated.

I am still working to determine for sure whether Henry Pennington is the father of my William Henry Pennington (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Pennington-5136). All evidence so far points to that connection and my ftDNA Y-DNA links me to Henry's family line somehow.

Paul Pennington

Answer 1

From what I've seen of your work on familysearch.org, you would already know if marriage records existed. From that period of US history, the most likely source of those records would be church records or possibly marriage bonds.

If there's a familysearch facility near you, you could search microfilm there. A lot of things that aren't yet indexed can be found there.

Comments

Paul,

Thank you for that confirmation. I'm going to have to check out a center near me, and also physical search of holdings in the genealogy section of our public library. To see what is in the physical records that aren't online.

Paul Pennington

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I think physical searches are your most likely source of answers at this point. Unfortunately, a lot of material is still not indexed. Despite the wealth of information we now have online, there's a plethora of information that hasn't yet been digitized.