Proving Stephen Casey's Marriage to Sarah Wilkins

To date no record has been found to document the marriage of Jim's 3rd great-grandparents Stephen Casey and Sarah Wilkins. By piecing together various direct and indirect evidence, however, it is possible to conclude the pair were married.

The event likely took place about 1840 in Arkansas. Stephen Casey along with his father "Elder Jesse E. Casey" represented the Mount Gilead Church at the 2nd annual meeting of the Buffalo Association of churches in October 1840. The event was held at Zion Hill Church in Marion County, indicating Stephen was already resident in the state and participating in church life.¹ If married in Marion County, Arkansas, any marriage record was likely destroyed, however, when the county’s courthouse burned four separate times, first in the Civil War, then in 1887, 1897, and 1943.²

By 1850, the couple resided in Jackson, Newton, Arkansas, with a family of four children, aged 2-8 years. All the children’s birthplaces were noted as Arkansas, including their eldest son James Wilkins Casey, who at age 8 was born about 1842. By 1860, the couple and their family of eight children resided in Marion County, Arkansas, and all children of the couple were listed with Arkansas birthplaces.³

Though no relationship is explicitly stated between Stephen and Sarah in these censuses, census enumerators were instructed how to record the household members: "The names are to be written, beginning with the father and mother..." Instructions for 1860 were unchanged.⁴ As Sarah is listed just after Stephen in both censuses, it can be assumed she was his wife and the mother of the children listed below them.

1850 census shows Stephen and Sarah Casey.

In 1860 Sarah is once more listed below Stephen.

Direct evidence that Stephen had a wife named Sarah is found in a deed of conveyance signed on 10 January 1863, “Stephen Casey and his wife Sarah Casey” sold 135 acres of land to John W. Mode in Marion County; Sarah also released her dower rights.⁵ Sarah relinquished her interest in the property so that the title could pass freely to the next owner.⁶

In addition, four of the couple’s children each named a daughter Sarah, possibly to honor their mother:

• Francis Marion Casey’s daughter Sarah Elizabeth, born 1871⁷
• Nancy Caroline Casey’s daughter Sarah Ann, born 1872.⁸
• George Washington Casey’s daughter Sarah Elizabeth, born 1885⁹
• Thomas Benton Casey’s daughter Sarah Malissa, born 1885¹⁰

While the evidence so far concerns Stephen's wife's first name, what about her maiden surname? Other indirect evidence supports Stephen Casey's union to a woman with a Wilkins surname:

• Their first son James was given the middle name Wilkins, Sarah’s maiden name.¹¹
• In 1860 two Wilkins children are living with the couple, Nancy, aged 12 and David, aged 8. These could be Sarah’s young niece and nephew, or some other relatives.¹²

Sarah died sometime after the signing of the deed of conveyance on 10 January 1863 and before 12 January 1876, when Stephen and his “wife Jane”—Mary Jane Angel Riggins—sold land to Daniel McEntire in Marion County.¹³

As with any genealogical conclusion, future record discoveries could overturn it. And while any single piece of evidence may be insufficient to conclude the couple's marriage, taken together many pieces create a stronger argument. 

I will offer proof for Stephen's marriage to Mary Jane Angel Riggins in a future post.

Until next time...

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NOTES

¹  J.S. Rogers, History of Arkansas Baptists. (Little Rock: Executive Board of Arkansas Baptist State Convention, 1948, p. 313, "The Churches in Buffalo Association...Mount Gilead represented by Elder J.E. Casey and Stephen Casey..."; digital images, HathiTrust (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt : accessed 11 March 2022); citing University of Wisconsin, Madison.

² Encyclopedia of Arkansas (https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/marion-county-courthouse-8100/ : accessed 1 March 2022), "Marion County Courthouse," rev. 21 April 2021. “Since the Civil War, four courthouses have burned down. Union soldiers burned the first one, and additional courthouses burned down in 1887, 1899, and 1943.”

³ 1850 U.S. Census, Newton County, Arkansas, population schedule, Jackson township, p. 10B, dwelling 133, family 133, Stephen Casey household; image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/8054/images/4193068-00218 : accessed 15 February 2022); citing NARA microfilm publication Roll: M432_28. Also: 1860 U.S. Census, Marion County, Arkansas, population schedule, Blythe township, p. 57, dwelling 384, family 1, line 10, Stephen Casey, age 39; image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7667/images/4211305_00061 : accessed 15 February 2022); citing NARA microfilm publication Roll: Roll: M653_46.

⁴ Jason G. Gauthier, Measuring America: The Decennial Censuses from 1790 to 2000 (U.S. Census Bureau: nl, 2002), p. 10.

⁵ Marion County, Arkansas, "Deed Record Book I," page 260-261, Stephen Casey & Sarah Casey to John W. Mode; County Courthouse, Yellville.

⁶ Robert W. Baird, Bob's Genealogy Filing Cabinet (https://genfiles.com/articles/dower-and-curtesy/ : 9 April 2023), "Dower and Curtesy."

⁷ Ancestry, Find a Grave, database with images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/89645323/francis-marion-casey : 10 April 2023), memorial 89645232, Francis Marion Casey (1845-1934), Highland Cemetery, Okemah, Okfuskee, Oklahoma, information by Vonda Dihm.

⁸ 1880 United States Federal Census, Boone County, Arkansas, population schedule, ED 21, Blythe Township, dwelling 212, family 224, line 48, Sarah Smith, age 8, in the Thomas Smith household; database & images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YBM-XCT); citing NARA microfilm publication T9, Washington, D.C.

⁹ 1900 United States Federal Census, Marion County, Arkansas, population schedule, ED 82, Dodd City and James Creek Twp., dwelling 50, family 53, line 65, Sarah E. Casey, age 14, in the George W. Casey household; database and images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-64VQ-147); citing NARA microfilm publication T623, Washington D.C. 

¹⁰ 1900 United States Federal Census, Boone County, Arkansas, population schedule, ED 29, Harrison Twp., dwelling 276, family 303, line 84, Sarah M. Casey, age 15, in the Thos. B. Casey household; database and images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DZKQ-P9P); citing NARA microfilm publication T623, Washington D.C. 

¹¹ Bastrop County, Texas, Report of Death, No. 22, James Wilkins Casey, 15 March 1905; database & images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GY14-DFC7 : 9 April 2023); citing County Courthouse.

¹² 1860 U.S. Census, Marion County, Arkansas, population schedule, Blythe township, p. 57, dwelling 384, family 1, line 20-21, Nancy and David Wilkins in Stephen Casey household.

¹³ Marion County, Arkansas, Deed Book D, page 32, Stephen Casey and Jane Casey to Daniel McEntire, deed recorded 15 January 1876; digital image, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-XXNC-BCB : 24 February 2022); County Courthouse, Yellville; FHL film 004326236, image 38.