Will The Real J.G. Waddel Please Stand Up?

Marriage License, Georgia, Jackson County, To any Judge, Justice of the Peace, or Minister of the Gospel. You are hereby Authorized to join in the Holy State of Matrimony, Joseph ANSLEY and Miss Marietta WADDELL according to the Constitution and Laws of this State; and for so doing this shall be your sufficient License. And you are hereby required to return this License to me, with your certificate hereon of the fact and date of the marriage.

Given under my hand and seal, this 17 day of NOV 1875. W. C. Howard, Ordinary.
Georgia, Jackson County. I Certify, that Joseph ANSLEY and Marietta WADDELL were joined in Matrimony by me, this 17 day of NOV 1875. N. H. Pendergrass, J. P. & Not.


From the Atlanta Constitution, Dec. 1, 1875, Pg. 3 --
We omitted, last week, to state who the parties were so quickly united in the bonds of matrimony in the office of the ordinary. The happy groom was Mr. Joseph Ansley, formerly of Towns County, and the blushing bride was Miss Marietta Waddell, of Jackson County.


And so begins the saga of the Waddell family in my genealogical research.


This same marriage record states that the parents of Miss Marietta Waddell are J.G. Waddell and his wife, Emeline Waddell. Remember my blog concerning the theory of Emeline's second marriage to J.W. Brown? If you thought that was great fun stick around - she learned from the best - her husband J.G. Waddell, or is that J.G. Gable?


As a good genealogist I started my search for the Waddell family in the census. After much looking and not much luck finding J.G. Waddell, his wife, Emeline and daughter Marietta in the 1860 census, I stumbled across this in Hall County, Georgia:

J. G. Gable (25 male white farmer, Real Estate $150, Personal estate $100, born in South Carolina), Emaline (25 female born in South Carolina), Wm. (9 male born in South Carolina/ Georgia), and Marietta (2 female born in South Carolina).

Living next door to J.G. Gable is a Mary Gable, age 77 female born in South Carolina, who is shown as a pauper. Living with her are Elizabeth Gable, female age 19, born in Georgia and Sarah, female age 6/12 also born in Georgia. Living next door to them is a P. Waddle, male aged 21 born in South Carolina with his supposed wife, Eliza who is 29, born in South Carolina. There is also a 15 year old female, Martha, born in South Carolina, enumerated in the house.


And then I find this civil war record --

Name: J G Gable ,
Enlistment Date: 01 March 1863
Distinguished Service: DISTINGUISHED SERVICE
Side Served: Confederacy
State Served: Georgia
Unit Numbers: 416 416
Service Record: Enlisted as a Private on 01 March 1863 Enlisted in Company E, 64th Infantry Regiment Georgia on 01 March 1863. POW on 01 September 1864 at Jonesboro, GA Died Company E, 64th Infantry Regiment Georgia on 13 December 1864 in Nashville, TN

Finding ANYONE in this family in 1870 is at most a total waste of time. They just aren't to be found. Gone, just disappeared, possibly taken by aliens or whatever but they just disappear. The next time I can find a member of this family is the 1880 when I find Marietta Waddell Ansley enumerated with her sons, William & Andrew, and a husband who is no where to be found. No other family members in the vicinity.

I really can't swear to anything regarding J.G. Waddell - But I can have my theories. Documentation on the Waddell family has been sketchy & difficult to locate. BUT I believe that J.G. Waddell is his birth name. I believe that he was born to a daughter of Mary Gable's (remember her living next door on the 1860 census?), something happened to Mary's daughter (aka J.G. Waddell's birth mom) and husband and Mary & her husband end up raising J.G. Waddell/Gable as many families did in that era. Can I prove this theory? Nope! Why did J.G. Waddell continue to use Waddell & Gable as a surname - seemingly interchangeably? Is that civil war record for J.G. Gable really J.G. Waddell?


Documenting this family has been extremely difficult. I do believe that J.G. Gable is J.G. Waddell and that he died in Nashville in 1864. I do believe that Emeline remarried to J.W. Brown. Beyond that... its anyone's guess. The 1850 census was really no help at all, Mary Gable, widow living in Habersham County, Georgia with four of her children, including son, J.G., the other children, are initials only except for Mary's oldest daughter, Susan.


Is anything in this family really what you see is what you get? I find myself wondering if this saga will ever be resolved... for now I guess all I can say is...


Will the real J.G. Waddell please stand up?