Matrilineal Monday : Marriages of Melissa Ann Welch

Matrilineal Monday is a blogging theme to celebrate or share something of your mother’s line.

This week I have been cleaning up files from my to-do list and found some COOR, WELCH, and KETHLEY marriages from Copiah County, Mississippi. I had the dates of these marriages from marriage indexes but not the images of the actual marriage record page from the county clerk. I found these records from films at the Family History Library.

Today I’ll share the two marriage records for my third great-grandmother, Melissa Ann Welch. Melissa was born 8 May 1840 to Dempsey Welch and Elizabeth Rebecca Young.[1] She married first to J. T. Pittman on 31 Oct 1855 in Copiah County, Mississippi.[2]

Marriage for J.T. Pittman & Melissa Ann Welch in 1855

There is not much information given in these marriage records and lots of blanks spaces left blank. So would have been nice if the clerk had filled in the parent’s names! The bondsman, Thomas G. Welch was her brother, Thomas Griffin Welch (1831-1875). They were married by the Justice of the Peace, John Terry. Although there were no ages given, from cemetery records, her birthdate of 8 May 1840 would have made her 15 years old at the time of the marriage.

I know nothing else about Mr. Pittman. All I know is he either left her or died. She was found again marrying my third great-grandfather, James Madison Coor on 9 Oct 1856, barely a year after her first marriage.[3]

Marriage of Mellisa Ann Pittman to James Madison Coor in 1856

Again, most of the blanks were not filled in. The bondsman, D.P. Welch was probably her brother, Dempsey Perry Welch (1822-1902). They were married by the Judge of Probate Court, J. Millsaps.

Melissa and James had 10 known children, but their life together lasted just 20 years. Melissa died 20 Sep 1876 in Copiah County and she was buried at the Coor Cemetery near Crystal Springs.[4] There were two children under the age of five in the household. James never remarried and later moved to Erath County, Texas.
[1] Mississippi Genealogical Society, editor, Cemetery & Bible Records Vol 1 (Mississippi: n.p., 1954.), 1.
[2] Copiah County, Mississippi Marriage License Record Bk C, p 382, Pittman-Welch, 1855, FHL film 904433.
[3] Copiah County, Mississippi Marriage License Record Bk C, p 444, Coor-Pittman, 1856, FHL film 904433.
[4] Mississippi Genealogical Society, editor, Cemetery & Bible Records Vol 1 (Mississippi: n.p., 1954.), 1.











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