I am anxious to find ancestral information on the following problem but also love find living cousins so if anybody qualifies but has no further ancestral information, please contact me anyway! For decades I have been researching my 2 Greats Grandmother Martha A. (Gentry) Nowland unable to find parents or siblings for her. What I knew to be “facts” about her were: Maiden Name-Gentry; she married John T. Nowland in Carroll County MO on 22 Dec 1864 (this is documented in the Carroll County MO Marriage Records). Born 27 Aug 1842 or 1843 (depending on the source you go by) and she reported on Census Records that she was born in Missouri. She died 20 May 1908 in Carroll County MO, unfortunately no death certificates at this time and have found no obit. I found a possible Census Record for her prior to her marriage on the 1860 MO Carroll County living with the Peter Baugh family showing her to be 20 years of age (which is a little off but reasonable; could have been a guess by someone other than her giving the information). Once she is married her age corresponds with her being born in 1842/1843 on the Census Records of 1870, 1880, and 1900.

I had been unable to find any further clues until checking once again these new Census Indexes on the Internet and suddenly something I hadn’t found before - a Martha A. Gentry on the 1850 MO Andrew County Census, Nodaway Twp, page 47 (16 Sep 1850); Family/Household 225/224; Eli Cornelison 52 MW born NC; Lucinda A. Cornelison 36 FW born KY; Eli Cornelison 1 MW born KY; William Gentry 16 MW born KY Farmer; Arzelia/Angelia Gentry 14 FW born KY; Mary E. Gentry 12 FW born KY; Martha A. Gentry 9 FW born KY. The question: Is this the same Martha A. Gentry who moved to Carroll County MO and married John T. Nowland? If so, then I have found the mother and step-father of my Martha at long last!

A search of Forum Boards began to reveal the possible soap opera of Martha’s life, though. The gist of it all seems to be that Gentry is her Mother’s maiden name NOT hers and that her father is Augustus Pean. Reports seem to be that Lucinda and Augustus were married in Madison County KY 14 Jun 1836 but I have been unable to document that via the Internet. A search of FamilySearch.org found an IGI Marriage Record - IGI North America Kentucky; Batch Number 7504411, Sheet 52 Lucinda Gentry married August [Peam] 14 Jun 1836 in Madison County, Kentucky. However, this is NOT a County Marriage Extraction record but rather patron submitted so I don’t know it’s source. A check of Madison County KY records available on the Internet (1789-1843 MARRIAGE RECORDS OF MADISON COUNTY, KENTUCKY; page 205; Transcribed and indexed alphabetically by Charlotte Ramsey) does NOT show this record that was submitted to the LDS records: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~cramsey/madco_r.htm.... Another resource of transcribed Madison County KY Marriage records also fails to show the record: http://www.rootsweb.com/~kymadiso/research/marry/index.htm#i....

I don’t know who divorced whom (apparently about 1843) but Lucinda apparently remarried to Eli Cornelison (some reports have it as 10 Oct 1846 in Garrard County KY) and they moved from KY to Andrew County MO and then on the 1850 MO Andrew County Census she reports her children’s names not as Pean’s or even Cornelison’s but as her maiden name of Gentry. It may have not always been the case, though, as there is a Mary E. Pean of the correct age enumerated on the same 1850 MO Andrew County Census with Edward R. & Elizabeth Cornelison (relationship to Eli unknown for sure but probably a brother) about 9 days and 36 households prior to the enumeration of Eli and Lucinda’s household. Apparently Eli Cornelison is also the source of quite a bit of “scandal” as a drunkard when married to his first wife although he apparently divorced her rather than her him.

Lucinda is NOT on the 1860 MO Andrew County Census with husband Eli and son Eli, Jr. so I assume she had died by then but I suppose there are other explanations also until I find proof of her death. I also have Eli Cornelison located on the 1870 Census but back in Madison County KY with his son, Webster, (from his first marriage).

Research on Augustus Pean hasn’t revealed much yet but he did remarry - to Janetta Autry 29 Oct 1850 in Daviess County KY and had two children – Lafayette and Mary (a second one). St. Joseph MO (Buchanan County) City Directories reveal these two living there in 1887-90 which is the county south of Andrew County MO. Would be interesting to know why they seem to have chosen to move to the area. Lafayette married Mary Whitaker and had two children – Ida May and Homer. Homer married Ethel and had three children some of whom MAY STILL BE LIVING! I would love to find them!

I have tried to research the rest of the children listed on the 1850 Census with Eli and Lucinda but haven’t gotten very far. I have found no trace of Arzelia/Angelina (hard to read) or Mary. I POSSIBLY have William Gentry in Ray County, which is between Andrew County and Carroll County, in 1870 and 1880. The age would be right. Both times it is William J. Gentry and wife Nancy A. and a total of 9 children between the two census records – Tyre M., Richard, Harry, Charles, Sally, Jane B., William, Robert, and Austin. He states he was born in Kentucky and both his parents in Virginia. Ancestry World Tree records indicate that this William J. Gentry is the son of Richard and Nancy (Guthrie) Gentry IV which would mean it is NOT the same William Gentry.

Any help will be GREATLY appreciated!