Tuesday, June 21, 2016

The Short Life of Luvenia R.




Luvenia R.
Consort
of

This intriguing tombstone can be found in Smithland Cemetery, Smithland, Kentucky. It was photographed 6 February 2013.

A little more of the tombstone was visible when Livingston County, Kentucky Cemeteries 1738 - 1976 was published in 1977 by the Livingston County Homemaker Clubs. On page 334 of this book it states as follows: "Smith, Lovenia R., consort of Abner, 9 Nov  ..."  The rest was below ground.  That was enough, however, to learn a bit about Luvenia/Lovenia and Abner Smith.

On 22 September 1841, Abner Smith married Lavinia Smith. Her father, W.B. Smith gave consent for the license to be issued.[1]  The 1850 Livingston County census shows Abner Smith, age 38; Leovinia Smith, age 36 and Drucilla Smith, age 2. All were listed as having been born in Tennessee. This may be an error, especially for Drucilla.

Drucilla Smith, age 4 years and 20 days, died of cholera on 21 August 1853.[2] Her parents were listed as Abner and Luvenia R. Smith. 

No death record for Luvenia Smith was found, but she must have died between when the census was taken in 1850 and when Abner married Elizabeth Harris on 11 August 1852.[3] Sometime before 1860, Abner Smith moved his family to Catahoula County, Louisiana. He was listed as a ship carpenter on that census.  Left behind were the graves of his first wife, Luvenia, and their child, Drucilla.





[1] Joyce McCandless Woodyard. Livingston County, Kentucky Marriage Records Including Marriages of Freedmen  Vol II (August 1839 - December 1871, (Evansville, IN: Evansville Bindery, 1994), 18 .
[2] Ancestry.com. Kentucky Death Records 1852-1963 [Database on-line], accessed 1 May 2016.
[3] Woodyard. Livingston County, Kentucky Marriage Records, 70.

Published 21 June 2016, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/

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