Warranty Deeds and a Third Marriage

While I was on the road, the Jefferson County, Tennessee Archives sent a set of copies of warranty deeds and index records which provides further information on my third-great-grandfather Joseph Thomas Jones' late years in Tennessee, and uncovered a surprise third marriage. These span the period from the mid 1870s before Joseph departed for Boone and Montgomery County, Indiana through his return to Tennessee and later years between 1897-1910.

As noted in February and in July, Joseph Thomas Jones was born in Jefferson County, Tennessee in April 1837 and died there on 21 January 1910. From the deed records, it looks like Joseph Jones maintained some property in Tennessee after his siblings and children moved to Central Indiana.

On 1 December 1897, Joseph married his second wife, Martha Cordelia "Cordie" Hart, daughter of Floyd and Mary Hart. The couple were married in Jefferson County, and they bought and sold land in the area around White Pine, Tennessee. I'll have more on the transcriptions of the deeds below in a future post.

Deeds Involving Joseph Jones

Grantees - Joseph and Mary C. Jones
Grantor - William S. Biddle
Record Vol. 12, Page 156
Date of Instrument - 23 Feb 1876
Date of Filing - 23 Sept 1876
Location - 26 acres, District 12, Long Creek

Grantee- Joseph Jones
Grantor - Jno. H. Jolly
Record Vol. 14, Page 74
Date of Instrument - 4 Nov 1876 (70 acres)
Date of Filing - 24 May 1881 (20 acres).
Location - District 10

Grantees - Joseph and Mary C. Jones
Grantor - J. F. Carter
Record Vol. 18, Page 489
Date of Instrument - 4 Mar 1878 (70 acres)
Date of Filing - 2 Mar 1889 (20 acres)
Location - District 10 
Grantee - Cordie and Joseph Jones
Grantor - Henry Wigington
Record Vol. 27, Page 240
Date of Instrument - 15 Apr 1899
Date of Filing - 21 Jul 1899 (1 acre)
Location - District 12, White Pine-Morristown Road

Grantees - Cordie and Joseph Jones
Grantor - J. F. Saville
Record Vol. 32, Page 115
Date of Instrument - 18 Aug 1903
Date of Filing - 2 Sept 1903
Location - Lot, Church Street, White Pine, Tennessee

Grantees - Cordie and Joseph Jones
Grantor - J. F. Saville
Record Vol. 32, Page 71
Date of Instrument - Aug 1903
Date of Filing - 25 Aug 1903 (25 acres)
Location - District 12, White Pine

Grantees - Cordie and Joseph Jones
Grantor - Annie B. Bradley
Record Vol. 39, Page 488
Date of Instrument - 9 Mar 1906 Date of Filing - 29 Mar 1909
Location - Lot, Main Street, White Pine

Grantee - Joseph Jones
Grantor - E. T. Rice
Record Vol. 36, Page 173
Date of Instrument - 30 Mar 1906
Date of Filing - 3 Nov 1906 (3 acres)
Location - East of White Pine
 
A Third Marriage

The deed index also uncovered something unexpected. After Cordie Hart Jones passed away on 28 December 1906, Joseph remarried in neighboring Hamblen County. On 4 July 1907, Joseph (age 70) married Pearl Cox, who was only 19, although the marriage record notes she was 22 (she was born on 1 November 1887 according to her Find-A-Grave entry).

Source: Tennessee State Marriages, 1780-2002

After Joseph died, Pearl appears as a widow in the 1910 US Census (taken 11 May 1910).

Pearl executed a transfer deed in 1911 for three acres in White Pine.

Grantee - Joseph, Pearl Jones (Transfer Deed)
Grantor - Pearl Jones
Record Vol. 43, Page 113
Date of Instrument - 4 Feb 1911
Date of Filing - 6 Feb 1911 (3 acres)
Location - District 3, Main Street, White Pine

After the closure of the estate, Pearl married widower Harvey Bales in Jefferson County. Bales signed a marriage license on 10 April 1911. Interestingly, like Joseph Jones, Harvey Bales was much older than Pearl. He was a Civil War veteran, born on 27 May 1844 in Greene County.

After Harvey Bales passed away, Pearl married her third husband, widower William Lafayette Newman, on 8 July 1929 in Hamblen County.

Pearl is buried with William Newman in Hopewell Cemetery, Dandridge, Jefferson County, Tennessee. She passed on 26 October 1956.

One More Thing

On a hunch, I checked on Fold3 for a pension file on Harvey Bales, with the thought that maybe Pearl filed a widow's pension. Notice the name on the bottom of the card - Joseph Jones. I haven't yet looked up this file.