Vital and Marriage Records!

As so accurately described by LegacyTree, southern research is often challenging because of a lack of direct evidence to relationships, meaning that there aren’t a lot of things that explicitly state who was whose parent or child. Unfortunately, this quite frequently includes vital records. Vital records (birth, marriage and death records) are extremely important to any research, but birth and death records are sadly rare in the southern United States. Since people often lived far away from a courthouse or a church, and they were poor, keeping records of events wasn’t a very high priority.¹ 

Marriage records, on the other hand, are rather easy to find, and were very high priority. Because land and property was such an important part of southern culture, it was essential that marriage records were kept. That way, a couple could prove later on in life that their children were legitimate, and that they could inherit the family land.

Below are the marriage records that I found for the Kennerly family while doing my research. As you can see, they don’t give very much information. Thomas and Rebecca’s marriage just gives their names and the date. Samuel and Eleanor’s is on a pre-printed form, but unfortunately records just their names and the date. Samuel and Elizabeth’s marriage record is unique- there are witness names given (always check for witnesses, they are often relatives), and it’s got a bit more detail, but what really makes this one special is that the man performing the marriage describes how he went to “the residence of Wm Hetherwick” marry them. Likely, this is the name of Elizabeth’s father, and I’m grateful they were married at her home since I wouldn’t have gotten that information otherwise!

Thomas Kennerly and Rebecca Whetstone marriage, 29 December 1799, St. Matthew's Lutheran Church, Orangeburg, South Carolina²

Samuel Kennerly and Eleanor C. Jackson Marriage, 21 December 1837, Wilkinson County, Mississippi³

John C. Kennerly and Elizabeth A. Hetherwick marriage, 3 March 1864, Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana⁴

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1 Virginia - Legacy Tree Genealogists Editor & Researcher. "Genealogy Research in the Southern United States | Legacy Tree." Legacy Tree. October 22, 2014. Accessed October 14, 2016. https://www.legacytree.com/blog/genealogy-research-southern-united-states.
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2 St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church (Orangeburg County, South Carolina), Church records, 1799-1897, Marriages (by Rev. J. P. Franklin), 1801 Dec 29, Thomas Kennerly and Rebecca Whetstone; FHL microfilm 22745, Item 1.
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3 “Wilkinson County Mississippi Marriages 1804-1952,” White Marriages vol. F-G 1834-1844, FHL #877600; pg. 201, Samuel Kennerly and Eleanor C. Jackson, 21 December 1837. ^↩
4 Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, Marriages, v. B3-C, 1856-1874: pg. 207, John Conrad Kennerly and Elizabeth Ann Heatherwick; FHL microfilm 864306. ^↩