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The awaited marriage licence copies have arrived from Tennessee. :D
I make that just under a fortnight for my letter to get there, the transaction to be processed, and the package to be sent back here to UK. Not bad!
Marriage 25 Nov 1937 Sullivan County, Tennessee
Leonard Keith BENNETT, age "34" (3 is definite, 4 is possible - script a bit tricky)
Edith Louise FIHUARY (the I could be an E, the H could be a B, but there doesn't seem to be a space for an extra R to make it February)
Note that LKB's age ("34", but registered b 6 March 1887) is consistent with his younger option of 1893 - but with another ten years chopped off. He appears to have been even more flexible about his age than I'd thought! ;) Added later: I have tried to think of mitigating circumstances for his desertion of the English family, but it's hard to think of anything much good about claiming to be 34 to marry a 19-year-old when you're actually 50. :(
ELF's age (19) is another bit younger than she's described as in his naturalization docs (b 22 Dec 1915, "Dant", VA - presumed to be Dante in western Virginia).
The marriage looks like a dash across the State boundary. What were the "without parental consent" ages in the respective States? anyone know?
Allowing that this may not have been a long-term relationship, and in the absence of a SSDI entry for an Edith L Bennett... I've found (amongst other less promising ones) a SSDI entry for an Edith L ERWIN b 22 Dec 1917; d May 1994; 37620 (Bristol, Sullivan, TN); 37620 (Bristol, Sullivan, TN); 225-03-1296; Virginia
I'd really like to trace Edith in an earlier census or something, but don't have world membership. Does anyone have alternative suggestions? - Including what that surname could be.
I'll be googling and experimenting, in the meantime.
Christine
I make that just under a fortnight for my letter to get there, the transaction to be processed, and the package to be sent back here to UK. Not bad!
Marriage 25 Nov 1937 Sullivan County, Tennessee
Leonard Keith BENNETT, age "34" (3 is definite, 4 is possible - script a bit tricky)
Edith Louise FIHUARY (the I could be an E, the H could be a B, but there doesn't seem to be a space for an extra R to make it February)
Note that LKB's age ("34", but registered b 6 March 1887) is consistent with his younger option of 1893 - but with another ten years chopped off. He appears to have been even more flexible about his age than I'd thought! ;) Added later: I have tried to think of mitigating circumstances for his desertion of the English family, but it's hard to think of anything much good about claiming to be 34 to marry a 19-year-old when you're actually 50. :(
ELF's age (19) is another bit younger than she's described as in his naturalization docs (b 22 Dec 1915, "Dant", VA - presumed to be Dante in western Virginia).
The marriage looks like a dash across the State boundary. What were the "without parental consent" ages in the respective States? anyone know?
Allowing that this may not have been a long-term relationship, and in the absence of a SSDI entry for an Edith L Bennett... I've found (amongst other less promising ones) a SSDI entry for an Edith L ERWIN b 22 Dec 1917; d May 1994; 37620 (Bristol, Sullivan, TN); 37620 (Bristol, Sullivan, TN); 225-03-1296; Virginia
I'd really like to trace Edith in an earlier census or something, but don't have world membership. Does anyone have alternative suggestions? - Including what that surname could be.
I'll be googling and experimenting, in the meantime.
Christine
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