Hi all-
I am helping a fellow researcher locate a marriage record for Eli Shepherd Day(1857-1920)(could be Elisha, Elihu, Elijah, and is Elie on his death record) and Barbara Ellen Boyer(1864-1940).
There is an IGI record for a Eli Shep Day marrying a Barbara Ellen Boyer in Mill Spring, Wayne County, Missouri, in 1880, giving Barbara's age as 15, Eli as 23. But to me it looks like an estimate of where Barbara was at the time and their known ages at the time?
Their first son(that we know of) was Clarence born in August 1882, in Missouri.
It appears that Barbara's father Alexander Boyer owned land in both Wayne and Carter County., according to land records found on Ancestry. I'm wondering these acres were given in return for military service perhaps in the Mexican War?
We have located Barbara's sisters marriages, one was married in 1877, the other in 1882 in Carter County. We find Barbara and her mother(Susan/ Susannah) and siblings living in Wayne County in 1880 and also find them in Carter County in 1880.
We cannot find Eli and his family in 1870 or 1880, so we don't know where he was. We believe we find him as the son of James H and Denica Day in Missouri in 1860, and on the 1860 and all the other census records, Eli is listed as born in Illinois. On his death record his birth place is listed as what appears to be Saintralia(perhaps Centralia?)
We find Barbara and Eli together on the 1900, 1910 and 1920 census.In 1900 they are in Mill Spring, Wayne, MO they had been married 19 years acording to the census. In 1910 and 1920 they are in Crystal, Jefferson County, MO. We have their death records, and we have a photo of their tombstone.
So what I'm trying to figure out is where would Eli and Barbara marry? Would they have married in Carter or Wayne counties in MO, or would there be a reason they would go to Illinois and marry instead. Its possible that the marriage record was too faint to transcribe?
I have checked and rechecked the Missouri marriage records on Ancestry, I have tried many spellings, used just Eli and Barbara, Day and Boyer.
Any ideas?
If anyone would like to see the documents we have I will post them, the lady I am helping is trying to complete her research for her mother, and for a Family reunion in September, so any assistance is deeply appreciated.