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I'm sorry it has taken so long to reply. I haven't been on here for a while. I have been, however, working on this whenever I can. I've also found some more death certificates including the ones you've found.
I don't have Lulu G. Spears in my records yet, but I can tell you who her husband was, I'm sure. There were two Jesse Spears' in the area at that time. One was my GG Grandfather, born in 1864, the son of Henry Peyton Spears, Sr. and Telitha Ann Fry. The other was Jesse C. Spears, the son of Wesley Spears and Nancy Ann Webb. Wesley was the oldest brother of the other Jesse. I have a copy of his death certificate which shows him being born on July 17, 1866 in Millersport, Ohio and dying in Cabin Creek, Kanawha Co., W.Va. on November 22, 1940. He was buried in Woodmere Cem. in Huntington, W.Va. His birthdate would have made him about 33 years old in 1900. However, the certificate lists his wife as Elizabeth Stevens. Is this one of the three women you mentioned?
I have noticed that Nona's last name is Elkins on her marriage certificate as well. This, unfortunately, is easily explained. Her mother, Mertie, was an Elkins and apparently Nona, like my G Grandmother Malinda, was born out of wedlock. It has been passed down that Jesse Spears was Malinda's father and was supposedly Nona's as well. There are other children who are supposed to be Jesse's and Mertie's too, but I'm having trouble verifying just how many are theirs. Most of the existing death certificates and census records I've found show these children as belonging to Jesse and Mertie. Some show her name as Alice, which I believe was her last name though there is a strong possiblity that this is the name of a sister. Malinda died a few years before I was born, but many in the family remember her very well. A cousin of mine told me recently that she suffered much abuse and embarrassment when a child because Jesse, who was supposed to be married to Mertie's sister, raped Mertie and fathered Malinda. Another relative called her a "woods colt" and she never really got over it. Malinda was adopted by her aunt Lucinda (Spears) Vance and Elisha Vance and it is noted in the 1900 Census. Also her marriage certificate lists her as Malinda Vance. There are at least seven children listed as Jesse's and Mertie's. Some are known to be theirs, others...well I don't know yet. I've heard that Jesse probably fathered children by several women. I've seen it on anothe website that Mertie had children by at least three Spears brothers while married to one of them. But other information on that site was so wrong, there's no way to trust the rest of it. It had Jesse's youngest brother being wounded in the Civil War and he hadn't even been born yet. By the way, do you know who the S.H. Egnor is who is mentioned as Nona's guardian?
If Jesse was married to Mertie's sister, it would have been Angeline Elkins (Alice?)and so far I haven't been able to locate any record. For that matter, I've never found a record of him being maried to Mertie either. Since so many records were lost in the 1909 fire, we may never find them. I also wish to find out if Mertie's middle name was Alice. So far, I've not found any birth, marriage or death records for her. Jesse I know died in 1897 and is buried at Price, on Nine-Mile Creek. I'm still working on it.
I have a death certificate for Loyd Lee Spears who apparently was stillborn at 8 months. Also have a cert. for his twin brother Lowell B. Spears. They died in 1933. Their parents were Ward Spears and Stella Cooper. Ward was Malinda and Nona's brother. Apparently there are more than one Loyd Spears. The only Sam Spears I have is the son of Orlando Spears and Alvira Fry.
I'm going to continue working on this and maybe one of these days we'll get to the bottom of it. I'll try not to be so long in posting next time. It's been pretty busy around here and I've just recently dug up a few things. I hope all is well out your way too. Take care, and let me know if you find anything else.
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