Porch Swings, Fireflies, and Jelly Jars: Martha McWhorter Married a Lewis, 1811

Friday, December 27, 2024

Martha McWhorter Married a Lewis, 1811

In the early 2000s, I was working from an undocumented list of Lewis siblings that I found on a Family Tree Maker site. They were supposedly the children of John and Susan Lewis. That list included an older son named Spencer Polk Lewis, aka Polk Lewis, who was born in Lincoln County, Kentucky, and who married Martha McWhorter in Knox County, Kentucky on 11 May 1811. If Spencer P. Lewis was old enough to marry in 1811, then he'd need to be at least 21 and born by 1790. I was never able to locate a Spencer P. Lewis or an S.P. Lewis of that age on the 1850 census.

Searching for this marriage record for Spencer P. Lewis in Knox County, Kentucky failed to turn up the record. However, Martha McWhorter did get married in Knox County, Kentucky in 1811, but she did not marry Spencer P. Lewis. She married Stephen Lewis!!

While this record proves that Spencer P. Lewis did not marry Martha McWhorter, it is not disappointing because it opens the possibility that Spencer P. Lewis was perhaps a younger man with a different middle name and a different wife or wives, and that he might turn up in later records. And he did! That will be the next post.

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About Me:

My favorite memories from childhood include visits to my grandparents in East Texas. At dusk we'd run around my grandparent's yard, catching fireflies and putting them in jelly jars. When darkness descended, we'd return to the porch. It was a special treat to sit in the porch swing. Inevitably, the adults would launch into family stories of Pink Kelley's brush with Sherman's troops, of Great Uncle Hood Brown's tragic death, and of the Kelley family's wagon trip to Texas, among many others. The stars on those nights were magical.

I began my genealogy research in the summer of 1975, less than a month after my high school graduation. When I married in 1983, I started researching my husband's family as well. I was fortunate to start this hobby as a youngster because it gave me an opportunity to correspond with researchers who are long gone; to ask questions of family members -although not enough, never enough; and travel a bit. The result is a lot of information. I've come to the realization that I will probably never be able to afford to publish, so this is my publication.

This blog contains a mixture of information on my husband's family and mine. I've expanded into a second blog called Flimsies and Frippery with the intention of focusing on quilts and dolls, but I have several historical research entries there with more planned, which is why I don't get more quilting done.

Ultimately, genealogy is my passion. This is where I plan to record family stories, research adventures and misadventures, and those serendipitous moments that happen out of the blue. You should be warned that I have a bad habit of going back and adding information and links to individual entries, so it is beneficial to check back often if there is a family of particular interest to you. If you wander in and discover that you are a cousin, please contact me.

Since many younger family members who are new to genealogy are starting to contact me about their ancestors, I've started adding family trees to help them see how everyone is connected. The trees are divided between my family and my husband's. You will find them below under the label's Family Trees - My Husband's Side and Family Trees - My Family's Side.

For better or worse, this blog reflects the research, thinking, and writing of a human.