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Subject: [BLACK-L] Eliza Black and Martin Snodgrass Jr. of VA & WV 1845-1891
Date: 4 Feb 2004 19:46:33 -0700

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Surnames: Black, Snodgrass, Toney
Classification: Query

Message Board URL:

http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/JNE.2ACIB/3070

Message Board Post:

Who was Eliza Black who married Martin VanBuren Snodgrass, Jr. and Carey Toney? Who were her siblings, parents and ancestors? The first record for her is her marriage record to Martin Snodgrass dated Oct. 5, 1845 in Kanawha Co. VA (now WV). Although she was probably under the age of 21, no marriage bond, marriage license or consent to marry has yet been found. Her date of birth is thought to be between 1824 and 1828.

Census Records from 1850 through 1880 indicate she was born in VA. She gave her place of birth as Kanawha Co. on her marriage record to Carey Toney. Based on US Census records, no families by the name of Black were in Kanawha Co. until 1860. The closest family with the name of Black was that of Adam Black in neighboring Cabell Co. He did have a daughter Eliza; however, his will dated June 11, 1855 gives her married name as Eliza McCown. In the 1840 Census, in what is now WV, 20-25 families with the name of Black are recorded. Several families had daughters in the correct age for Eliza. However, their names are not known.

Eliza Martin had 6 sons and 4 daughters. Descendants of several of their children have stories that Eliza was a full-blooded Indian, possibly Cherokee. Could this explain why there is no record of her before her marriage to Martin Snodgrass?

After she and Martin married, they lived until the 1860’s near Peytona, Boone Co., WV. Boone Co. was formed from Kanawha Co. in 1847. The 1870 Census records them in Walton Twp., Roane Co., WV. In 1880 they were in the Washington District to Kanawha Co.

Martin Snodgrass died in March 1891 and in on Jan. 10, 1892 Eliza married Carey Toney in Kanawha Co. Their marriage records give her age as 65 and his as 84. It may have been a marriage of “connivance” for an older couple. In late 1984 they filed for a divorce that was finalized in Feb. 1896.

One reference of her date of death as Feb. 1897 has been seen on the Internet.

Would be very grateful for any information regard this Eliza Black.

Dean

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