I had originally planned to write about the anniversary of one of Walt’s great-great aunts, Rhoda Hole. Our information had her marrying John Christy on January 13, 1861. But it turned out not to be the case.

The family information we had told us that she was John Swisher Hole’s younger sister, born in 1846. The notes also mentioned that she had been married twice, the second time to someone with the last name of Monroe, but that was all the information we had.

We were able to find her in the 1850 and 1860 census with her parents and siblings living in Darke County, Ohio. A few years back, when we we there doing research, we found some old marriage records that had a Rhoda Hole marrying a John Christy on the 13th of January 1861. Now, this is possible, but Rhoda would have been 14 at the time. Again, not impossible, but not clear.

From a photocopy of an old marriage record book.

It was hard to even find any information about John Christy. Some records, even this one, have his name as “Christy (Christian)” in the title. It’s also interesting to note that the bit about no legal impediment to the marriage is signed by a John Hole. It seems unlikely that her brother would be signing a document like this since her father was still alive at this time.

Now, we did find something else interesting in the 1860 census for Mercer County. There was another Rhoda Hole living in there, the 17 year old daughter of a Johnathon and Rabecca Hole. It is entirely likely that this was the Rhoda the married John Christy. And, according to information we found about her, her husband John Christian died in 1861 and she remarried a George McKuen in 1862.

Johnathon and Rabecca Hole and family, including a Rhoda.

Looking for more information

So, clearly, we had to do more searching. Who did our Rhoda Hole marry and when?

Tune in next week!