Digging Up Your Family

Nearly three months ago I discovered a record on FamilySearch.org for a woman by the name of Leah Demumbrie who married a man by the name of Henry Hodges on July 22, 1866 in Tunica County, Mississippi.  Intrigued, I sent a money order for $10 to Tunica County Clerk of Court for a copy of the record.  A few days later I received a phone call from them saying that they were unable to find the marriage record.  Kind of bummed me out.  Then my mom reminded me that it may have been in the marriage records for the “non-white” marriages.  So I called the Clerk of Court office back and inquired if the records were kept in separate books.  I was informed that they were, but the book it may be in was missing, and to give a couple of weeks to locate it.  Well, I waited.  And waited.  And waited.  I called back every couple of weeks.  Finally it came down to that the book is missing and the Clerk of Court office staff are totally unable to find it. 

Sigh.  I really wanted to see whose signature was on that marriage record as bond/security.

Then…

A distant cousin-several-times-over (you know about those cousins, right?  the cousins that you share relatives with through more than one line?), Karen Baker, sent me a message on Facebook that she would be going over to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah and would I like for her to look anything up for me.  WELL!  Yes, yes I would!  So I sent her the information, and she swung by the library and looked up the Leah Demumbrie marriage record.  She then sent that to me, along with ANOTHER marriage record with a DeMumbrie I haven’t heard of, and WOW! 

Yes, this leaves more questions, but I think I *might* know what’s going on here (to an extent).

So, back in the olden days (what some in the South may still refer to as “The Late Unpleasantness”) slaves were not allowed to marry LEGALLY.  However, when the Freedman’s Bureau was established on March 3, 1865 ex-slaves were granted the right to marry and, in effect, to make legal the unions that had been made (with permission from their “master(s)”) during the time of slavery.  So, what ended up happening is A LOT of marriages in 1865 and 1866 for ex-slaves.

So, Leah Demumbrie.  The reason that this marriage record caught my eye is because of the last name Demumbrie.  No one has this last name anymore (that I know of, anyway).  John Spencer DeMumbrie, my 3rd great-grandfather, is the grandson of Jacques-Timothée Boucher, Sieur de Montbrun, commonly known as Timothy Demonbreun, who is considered (at least according to Wikipedia and the Timothy Demonbreun Heritage Society) as "the “first citizen” of Nashville, Tennessee".  One day I will write a whole post on him, but for now we will just focus on Spencer DeMumbrie’s name.  There are many variations of “Demonbreun”.  There’s Demontbrun, Demumbra, Demonbrun, etc, etc.  But Spencer seems to be the only one with DeMumbrie/Demumbrie.  And he was the only DeMumbrie/Demumbrie in Tunica County, Mississippi (at least, according to census records, the only DeMumbrie/Demumbrie in Tunica County, Mississippi besides his wife (wives) and child).  And his child WAS NOT named Leah.  And his child DID NOT marry Henry Hodges in 1866.

Oh, let me just post the marriage recordTO ANY MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL, JUDGE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, JUDGE, JUSTICE OR ANY OTHER OFFICER OF TUNICA COUNTY, AUTHORIZED TO CELEBRATE THE MARRIAGE CEREMONY—GREETING:

You are hereby authorized to celebrate the RITES OF MATRIMONY, between Henry Hodges colored, and Leah Demumbrie colored.  A certificate of the solemnization thereof you will transmit to the Clerk of the Probate Court of said County within six months from the date hereof.

In Testimony Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of my office, this 26th day of June A.D., 1866

JM Phillips, Clerk

By virtue of the above License, I have this day joined in the holy bonds of Matrimony Henry Hodges colored, and Leah Demumbrie colored.

Given under my Hand, This 22 day of July 1866

(?) Neblett J.P.

THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI

TUNICA COUNTY

Know all Men by these Presents, That we Henry Hodges colored, as principal, and Spencer Demumbrie colored, as security, are held and firmly bound unto the State of Mississippi in the sum of Two Hundred Dollars, payment of which well and truly to be made, we bind ourselves, our heirs, executors and assigns, firmly by these presents.  Given under our hands and seals, this (blank) day of (blank) A.D. 186(blank)

The Conditions of the above Obligation are such, That, whereas, the above bounden henry Hodges colored, has this day obtained a license to marry Leah Demumbry colored; now if there be no lawful cause why said marriage should not take place, then this obligation shall be void, otherwise remain in full force and virtue.

Henry Hodges (seal)

S. Demumbrie (seal)

Ok, so there are three scenarios that come to mind with this:

1.  Leah Demumbrie is an ex-slave of John Spencer DeMumbrie, and he signed as security for her to marry (they failed to mark out “colored” next to his name).

2.  Leah Demumbrie is an ex-slave and possible child of John Spencer DeMumbrie, and he signed as security for her to marry (they failed to mark out “colored” next to his name).

3.  The Spencer Demumbrie that signed as security for Leah Demumbrie to marry is not John Spencer DeMumbrie, but perhaps an ex-slave of John Spencer DeMumbrie who just happened to have the same name and was the actual father of Leah Demumbrie.

Yeah, I’m gonna say no for Number Three.  And here is why:

This is the 1871 marriage record for John Spencer DeMumbrie and Effee Jane Gilchrist.  See his signature at the bottom?

Here, have a closer look:

Now, have a closer look at the signature on Leah Demumbrie’s marriage record:

They look the same!

Now, I tried to track down this Leah Demumbrie and Henry Hodges.  They do appear in in Austin, Tunica County, Mississippi in 1870, two families down from Spencer and his daughter (and his third wife…and his second wife’s mother…and an unknown woman).  Well, all I can say is Henry appears, since his wife is listed as Sarah.  She may or may not be Leah.  There are also two children, Nancy and William Hodges (ages 9 years and 4 years, res
pectively).  According to this census Henry was born in Mississippi about 1844 and Sarah was born in South Carolina about 1846.  So, based on place of birth, provided that Sarah is Leah, then we can take Number Two out of the equation.  Anyway, I can’t trace the family past 1870.  I don’t know where they went or what happened to them.

The other curious marriage record is for Spencer Mhoon and Fanny Mhoon.  The security was signed by Gilbert Demumbrie.  TO ANY MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL, JUDGE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, JUDGE, JUSTICE OR ANY OTHER OFFICER OF TUNICA COUNTY, AUTHORIZED TO CELEBRATE THE MARRIAGE CEREMONY—GREETING:

You are hereby authorized to celebrate the RITES OF MATRIMONY, between Spencer Mhoon colored, and Fany Mhoon colored. A certificate of the solemnization thereof you will transmit to the Clerk of the Probate Court of said County within six months from the date hereof.

In Testimony Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of my office, this 3rd day of February A.D., 1866

(illegible), Clerk

By virtue of the above License, I have this day joined in the holy bonds of Matrimony Spencer Mhoon colored, and Fany Mhoon colored.

Given under my Hand, This 4th day of February 1866

(illegible) J.P.

THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI

TUNICA COUNTY

Know all Men by these Presents, That we Spencer Mhoon colored, as principal, and Gilbert Demumbrie colored, as security, are held and firmly bound unto the State of Mississippi in the sum of Two Hundred Dollars, payment of which well and truly to be made, we bind ourselves, our heirs, executors and assigns, firmly by these presents. Given under our hands and seals, this 3rd day of February A.D. 1866

The Conditions of the above Obligation are such, That, whereas, the above bounden Spencer Mhoon colored, has this day obtained a license to marry Fany Mhoon colored; now if there be no lawful cause why said marriage should not take place, then this obligation shall be void, otherwise remain in full force and virtue.

Spencer (his x mark) Mhoon (seal)

Gilbert (his x mark) Demumbrie (seal)

I cannot find a Gilbert Demumbrie in Tunica County, Mississippi at all.  In fact, the only Gilberts that could have been old enough to sign a security had the surnames: Davis, Hurt, Perkins and Smith.  However, Gilbert Smith does live next door to Spencer Mhoon and Fanny Mhoon and 1870 in District 1, Tunica County, Mississippi.  And I can say with certainty that Spencer and Fanny Mhoon lived in Tunica County, Mississippi until at least 1910, when they were in their 70s.  They probably passed soon after.

So, who exactly is Leah Demumbrie?  And who is Gilbert Demumbrie?  And what happened to them?