Among of the most difficult records for genealogists to find is marriages. They can appear anywhere in colonial records (Colonial Records of Georgia by Candler), deeds (marriage contracts), estate records (look in the vouchers because husbands signed for wives), minister’s accounts (printed in books) to marriage records at the court house. The law to file marriages did not come until rather late, mostly after 1900. Before that time, if you can find it, the churches kept marriages with the births, baptisms and membership lists (look in the minutes). Tombstones also contain the maiden name of the wife, and sometimes list all of the children. One does not know for certain, until they search out cemeteries.
The marriage collection of Georgia Pioneers is mostly from court house records. Images of actual marriage records and some gleaned from old newspapers. In Georgia the marriage record is a two-part document. At the top is the acquisition is the marriage license. At the bottom is the date in which the marriage was performed. Transcribers sometimes overlook this fact, and that is why you see contradicting dates. Other States, like North Carolina, Virginia and Kentucky, named witnesses (mostly relatives and parents) to the event. If a daughter was under-age, she was signed for.
How often does one discover the name of the wife in a last will and testament which does not match the genealogy? In colonial times, especially during the immigration years, wives were not plentiful in the colony. Hence, a widow had suitors calling upon her soon after the funeral. Since the widow inherited the homeplace, etc., provisions were made for herself and her children via Marriage Contracts. Sometimes one sees this in the legal description of a deed or it could just be filed with the estate records. One has to watch for this as the birth dates for children can be quite close. I recently discovered that a woman had taken a second husband while she was pregnant and that, although the son took the surname of his step-father, he was partly named after his deceased father. The peculiar naming using a surname alerted me to something was different. I discovered the truth by reading all of the old wills in the county with that surname, and sure enough, a gentleman died before his wife gave birth. One has to understand how the children inherited and ask oneself what is that person doing with that name or so and so’s property?
The puzzle is there. It just has to be worked.