Did Jennie B. Phillips really marry Thomas Kirby Sheffield?

+6 votes
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I am only a distant relative of Jennie, but adopted her wikitree profile.  Having trouble untangling a mess involving several other profiles (Sheffield, Robinson, etc.) plus a different husband listed in her findagrave profile.  My question, is the source correct that she married Thomas Kirby Sheffield in 1888?  And if so, is his profile wrong that he married Arabelle Robinson in late 1887.  And Arabelle supposedly married Thomas Kirby Sheffield and William Bice on the same date.  Therefore, besides Jennie's profile, the mess also involves the wikitree profiles of Thomas Kirby Sheffield and Arabelle Robinson.  My head is spinning trying to figure out where the errors are and what is true.
WikiTree profile: Jennie Thompson
in Genealogy Help by Kenneth Kinman G2G6 Pilot (124k points)
retagged by Kenneth Kinman

5 Answers

+7 votes
 
Best answer

The answer to the question is:  No, Jennie did not marry Thomas Kirby Sheffield (he married Arabelle Robinson).  Jennie married William Ezra Thompson.  And William Henry Bice married Anna E. McQuiston (not Arabelle Robinson).  I have adopted and updated the profile of William Henry Bice, and created wikitree profiles for Anna E. McQuiston and William Ezra Thompson.  

by Kenneth Kinman G2G6 Pilot (124k points)
selected by Kenneth Kinman
The question now is: should I removed the Image 1 on her profile showing the incorrect marriage record.  And I wonder if familysearch.org should be alerted to this and the other incorrectly indexed marriage records for Thompson, Brice, Robinson, etc.  I suspect the indexer also made similar mistakes for other marriages in Boone County in that time period.
+7 votes
I found Thomas K. Sheffield in the 1900 Census for Boone County, Iowa, and it shows his wife's name was Arabelle (and married for 12 years, which would match their marriage in late 1887).  But the 1888 marriage record to Jennie B. Phillips (see Source and Image 1) is a match (both sets of parents match).  So was he a bigamist?  ANSWER: Further research shows that he was not.  The errors are in marriage index mix ups (at least for Boone County during this time period) resulting in at least three men (William Bice, William Thompson, and Thomas Sheffield) being shown as marrying twice in a short period of time.
by Kenneth Kinman G2G6 Pilot (124k points)
edited by Kenneth Kinman
+6 votes

This is really weird.  Through Ancestry's marriage search, I also have found two marriages (close together) in Boone County, Iowa. for William E. Thompson.  First on 28 December 1887 to Anna E. Mcquiston (Source: Iowa, U.S., Select Marriages Index, 1758-1996).  And then on 01 February 1888 to Jennie B. Phillips (Source: Iowa, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1851-1900).  Very similar to the two supposed marriages of Thomas Kirby Sheffield.  I therefore suspect (1) that something is wrong in one of these sources or (2) someone has been reading them wrong.  I doubt that William Ezra Thompson ever married Anna E. Mcquiston or that Thomas Kirby Sheffield ever married Jennie B. Phillips.  

by Kenneth Kinman G2G6 Pilot (124k points)
+6 votes

I just did a marriage search at Ancestry for William Bice as well, and there are two marriages for him in December 1887, one to Anna E McQuistan, and the other to Arabella Robinson.  Since Arabella is living with Thomas K. Sheffield in the 1900 Census, she did not marry William Bice (he was actually the one who married Anna E. McQuistan).  I am guessing that there are probably other marriages for Boone County, Iowa, that are mixed up in this way in the two different indexes to Iowa marriages.

by Kenneth Kinman G2G6 Pilot (124k points)
+6 votes

See Memorial ID 24936334 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/24936334/arabelle-sheffield  burial Miller Cemetery Millersburg, Oregon USA. The memorial has an inscription and lists her family members and dates. I agree, on Famly Search the sources are mixed up. I am related to Thomas Sheffield  he is my 7th cousin 3 times removed. He was first cousin to my great grandfather Alpha Stotts 1876-1924

by Carol Kennison G2G Crew (510 points)

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