Lewis Henry Nance is my 3rd great grandfather from his union to Anney Caldwell.

I am trying to put this Nance family into a timeline.

First Problem: Lewis' father, William Miles Nance (1755-1826) was married two times. However, his first marriage is in 1784, which is after Lewis is born. Something is probably wrong since this was rare in the late 1700s.
Mary Thorne Howard (1759-1804) is supposed to be his mother. She died in childbirth having Miles Alonzo Nance (1804-1883)
In 1818, William married Sarah Alcorn and they had more children.

Second problem: Lewis Nance was married at least once before he married my 3rd great grandmother Anney Caldwell. He and Lucy Kepler (born 1795 and married 1812) had two sons, James and Ezekiel (born in 1812 and 1816).
Lucy (or Susan) Kepler was said to have deserted her family in 1823 and Lewis divorced her in 1827. This was all announced in the "Arkansas Gazette".
Why would a 32 year old woman desert her husband and children? Where would she go? She was never heard from again. Some pages show Lucy's death date around this time. I find this very strange and the official word is desertion, but I question this.