Notes on Our Genealogy

The story goes that William Hearn Simons and Alice Dora Morris met at a dance in Lovelaceville, Kentucky , and were married in the spring of 1880. William was 25, Alice was 18, and they were my great-great-grandparents. They were also the first of my ancestors on the Shelton line to be photographed. William Hearn Simons and Alice Morris Simons, circa 1900 What’s Going On? What was happening around 1880 when William and Alice are entering adulthood? Eleven-year-old  John Greenock arrived in Chicago with his mom, joining his father who had already been there a couple of years. Jacob Rebman and Sarah Ann Trier had a baby named Flora in Northbrook, Illinois. The United States was recovering from The Panic of 1873 . Down in Tombstone, there was a gunfight in the empty lot behind the O.K. Corral. Fonso won the 6th running of the Kentucky Derby. Wagon Train to Texas In the 1880 Census, the newlyweds were living with William's uncle William G Hearn in Ballard County . Alice was an orpha

Cinthelia Ann Hearn and William Louis Simons must have known each other their whole lives. They were both born around 1830 in rural Todd County, Kentucky, and grew up in intertwined families who likely saw each other in church every Sunday. Cinthelia’s grandfather Asher Shelton had officiated the wedding of William’s parents, and the wedding of William’s uncle, too. When William’s father died in 1845 the Hearns and Sheltons may have attended the funeral. In the 1850 Census, taken in June, the two families were living next door to each other. In August of that year, William swore out a Marriage Bond to get a license. The other individual on the bond is the amusingly named Hugh Bonar Wilkins, William’s brother-in-law. I found it interesting that the bond was still for 50 pounds, not dollars. Three days later, on August 15, 1850, Cinthelia and William were married. Cinthelia was eligible for marriage for the straightforward reason that she was over 18. William must have been a little und