Re: William J. Smock --Marriage?
SMOCK
Posted By: Ann Cejka (email) In Response To: William J. Smock (Robert Smock)
Date: 4/17/2011 at 21:26:08
William J. Smock --Elopement?
In response to your inquiry, I think I can say with a fair amount of confidence that it could be quite difficult to find a marriage certificate for William J. Smock.
I say this, because I am currently sifting through approximately four years of love letters William Smock wrote to his sweetheart Emma Kercheval, of Brookville, Iowa. I have a strong interest in the 1st Iowa Cav, Company I, due to another connection, and these letters came to me quite by accident.
From the little I have gathered. Smock was apparently courting Emma when he enlisted with the 1st Iowa as the regiment formed in 1861, and though it appears he did propose to her, he felt that her parents would be opposed to their marriage. (His occupation prior to enlisting appears to be teaching school). He writes to her very frequently throughout the war, and also comments upon what appear to be regular bouts of illness --it sounds like malaria.
There is one letter, written in the summer of 64 shortly before he died in which he refers to her in parentheses as (wife). Perhaps there was a secret marriage or elopement? I don't know. I am still trying to organize the letters and identify dates and locations where they were written.
What I do know is that Emma Kercheval later married Lossen Baker (an officer in the 4th IA Cavalry) sometime after the war, and had a family with him. These letters I am currently researching come to me by the way of a friend who is a direct descendent of Emma Kercheval and Lossen Baker.
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