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Family of John B VESEY and Mary A SHELLEY
John B VESEY b. 1836 May 222068 at Cayuga Co., OH2068. d. 1920840. bd. Cedarlawn Cem., Jackson, MS840.
Mary A SHELLEY
Married2072 1895 Mar 312072 at Elkhart Co., IN2072.
A marriage between John B Vesey and Mary A Shelley appears in Indiana Marriages2072, Mar 31, 1895, Gosehn, Elkhart Co., IN. The Goshen (IN) Weekly News, Apr 13, 1895 (newspaperarchive.com) lists the issuance of a marriage license to John B Vesey and Mary A Shelly. Another marriage is similarly recorded for Mar 31, 1905. However, John's wife Magaret in census records 1900 and 1910 is listed with father born Scotland and mother born New York, which matches the parentage of Margaret Newell. Whether Margaret Vesey in those censuses is Margaret Shelley, happening to have the same parentage is extremely unlikely. It seems probable that, at least with regard to this John B Vesey, there was some sort of indexing error. The coincidence of the date March 31 is improbable and Mary Shelley is likely the same person and Alice Newell. These marriage entries, for the time being, remain a mystery. This marriage is recorded solely to reflect the indications of marriage listed herein.
Son Wililam's passport application in 1920 states his father was then residing in Pocahontas, MS. In 1895, J B Vesey reported3153 in a letter to the Goshen Mid-Week News, that he had just returned to Chicago from a 3 months' stay on his ranch in Lake Co., South Dakota., a ranch consisting of 1370 acres. He had threshed 11,000 bushels of grain, and large quantities of other crops. John stated that the country could not be surpassed for farming, though water was sometimes difficult to get without much expense. The History2068 of Elkhart County, Indiana, states that John B Vesey moved with his family from Ohio to Middlebury, IN, in 1838. At the age of 16, John attended the Ontario Collegiate Institute (Lagrande Co., IN). He then was a deputy sheriff and tax collector, and a teacher in the common school. He married in 1860 Miss Alice Newell. He was, in general, a farmer.
In 1910, John and Margaret resided2084 with their married daughter Rena A Gray, Rena's husband Harley, and John B Gray, the son of Rena and Harley. Following Margaret's 1915 death, John continued to reside2086 with his daughter (Rena) Alice and her husband Harley. He died840 in 1920.
The obituary4601 of Edgar J Vesey, published May 24, 1920, mentions surviving brother John Vesey of Mississippi. That provides an early date for John's death - after May 24, 1920.
Somewhat of a mystery, an image of a license application and marriage certification in the Indiana Marriages2072 database, for Elkhart Co., Indiana, states that John B Vesey and Mary A Shelley were married March 31, 1895, by Henry B Townsend. The Daily Goshen (IN) News, Apr 12, 1895 (newspaperarchive.com) lists the issuance of a marriage license to "John B Vesey and Mary A Shelley."
To add to the mystery of the indications of marriages, a John B Vesey petitioned3154 for divorce from Angeline R Vesey in Elkhart Circuit Court in late 1857.
However, the 1900 (surname "Vesley") and 1910 censuses list Margaret A Vesey as the wife of John B Vesey. Another candidate for the John B Vesey of that marriage has not been determined. The above information is provided solely as information. No assumption or conclusion is made that John B Vesey was married to any other than Margaret Alice Newell, as many references (primarily newspaper articles) during the 1890s and later mention explicitly or implicitly that John B Vesey's wife was "Margaret A."