AS a result of a post I made over at Afrigeneas, I had someone email me regarding a possible marriage certificate for two individuals on the tree I am currently researching for the Fenner Family. Robert Rofe b. 1851 in Virginia married a Lina<sp> Smith. There is a DC issued for Lina that mentions the full names of her father and mother - George Smith and Annie Gaery<sp>. I will post the information regarding the marriage certificate below - keep in mind I have heard on several occaisions that there is a "Tillery" branch in this family :
Hello Alinda,
I was able to obtain the marriage certificate previously mention of Robert Rofe and Lina Johnson. Unfortunately, this information lends itself to more questions verses helping to give you additional
information on the family that you are researching.
It states:
STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, Office Register of Deeds, Halifax county. Oct. 24th, 1889
To any Ordained Minister of any Religious Donomination, or any Justice of the Peace of said County;
W. S. Tillery having applied to me for a Lincense for the Marriage of Robert Rofe of Halifax County, age 40 years, colored, the son of unknown and unknown, the father now dead, the mother living, resident of ----
and Lina Johnson of Halifax, age 35 years, colored, daughter of ---- and ---- the father----, the mother ----, resident of Halifax Co.
STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, Halifax County
I, Rev. D. F. Newby of A.M.E. Church, united in matrimony Robert Rofe and Lina Johnson the parties
licensed above on the 24th day of Oct 1888 at Halifax in Halifax Township, in said County according to law.
According to the above information, this Robert Rofe was born around 1848 and Lina Johnson around 1853. I did noticed that other documents such as death certificates listed a Tina Smith.
As in most things when researching until there's a clear answer or a major brick wall you continue to exhaust all avenues of research. I am right now waiting to hear back from Allen regarding the marriage license. The name of the church is not clear other than it seemed to be an AME church. If so I can contact the ame org directly (im a member of an AME church) and see what happened to the records and or the church itself. I already checked and didn't see any AME churches currently listed in Halifax, NC. There might have been one back then or they may have traveled a ways to get to church which would not be uncommon.finding all this out might prove helpful on several fronts - the main one of which is the scarcity of any marriage documents for most of the lines I am researching. There may only be church records to attest to their marriage. Unfortunately I have found that many black churches didnt keep good records and or didnt keep the records from that far back. Stay Tuned...
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