[29 June 2024]
Henry Willis [29 June 2024]
Currently the statement on this page identifies Henry Willis as a witness to the marriage of Elizabeth Cochran and David Johnson 3 Aug 1784.
I have two records dealing with this marriage
Table B3-2 Marriage of Elizabeth Cochran and David Johnson, 1784
- Original Image Tennessee State Library and Archives; Nashville, TN, USA; Tennessee State Marriages, 1780-2002 Year: 1780 May-1855 Dec: Marriages
- Source Ancestry : Tennessee, U.S., Marriage Records, 1780-2002
- Name: Elizabeth Cockrun
- Spouse: David Johnson
- Marriage Date: 3 Aug 1784
- Cc [County Clerk] See image 153/849 Dan Kennedy
- Marriage County: Greene [The space for the place of marriage is left blank in the original, but other entries in the same column give “State of North Carolina, Greene County” At the time Greene County was in the :state of North Carolina prior to the formation of Tennessee].
Table B3-1 Bond and Marriage Record for Elizabeth Cochran and David Johnson, 1784
- Original Image 162 of 849
- Source LDS Microfilm; third item on microfilm roll. Early Marriage Records of Greene County, TN, 1783-1820 extracted by Mrs ER Peterson
- Husband David Johnson
- Bride Elizabeth Cochran
- Date 3 August 1784
- Bondsman Henry Willis
- POM Greene County TN.
Table B3-2 is an extraction from an image of the original marriage record. The is no mention of witnesses or bondsmen,
Table B3-1 Is an extraction from a tabulation by Mrs ER Peterson. The image provided by LDS is of her typewritten pages of bonds for early Greene County
It gives the same information as is contained in the image of the marriage record itself, but is clearly drawn from court bond records, and not the marriage record cited in Tabe B3-2.
This bonds record identifies Henry as bondsman, not as a witness to the marriage.
He may have witnessed the marriage, as Elizabeth was his wife's sister, but the documentation available to me does not prove that, and there is no necessity that a bondman actually witnessed the marriage.
There may, of course, be another set of marriage records showing that he did witness the marriage, but if so I've not been able to find it.
If you have such a document I'd sincerely appreciate a link to a source for it.--Q 23:31, 29 June 2024 (UTC)
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