While there is much myth surrounding the identity of the wife of Jacob Troxel (which seems to have originated in a 1958 book by Thomas H. Troxel), and even much myth about Jacob himself, we know from pension applications that at the time of his 1843 death he lived in De Kalb County, Alabama, and his widow was named Elizabeth, and that she was alive as late as 1845.
There is an Elizabeth Troxel, age 56, born North Carolina, as head of household in the 1850 US Census, in DeKalb Co., Alabama. Link. IF she is the widow of pensioner Jacob Troxel, then she is too young (born about 1794) to be mother of his children who were born in the early 1780s.
That suggests, then, that Jacob Troxel had an earlier wife, whose identity is not known. Based on his testimony and the age of his known children, he would have married in either Frederick Co., Maryland or Loudon Co., Virginia not much later than 1780-1785. (His children started marrying in the early 1800s.). Per his own testimony, he was not in Kentucky until about 1802, when his children were approaching or had reached adulthood.
