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On November 15, 1870, Luther Dodge was married to a young woman by the name of Lucy in New Haven, Shiawassee County, Michigan, by H. Riley, Justice of the Peace. Lucy was 20 and living in New Haven; she was born in Shiawassee County. Luther was 20 and living in Argentine in Livingston County; he was born in Genesee County. Their descendant line appears below. The family name given on the transcription of the marriage record is "Lucy Fry."
I am convinced, however, that this Lucy was Lucy Fay, daughter of Rosanna and Nathan Fay. Lucy Fay was living with her mother and brother in New Haven, Shiawassee County, on September 12, 1870, the time of the census. She was 20. Her parents were living in Shiawassee County by the time she was born; they moved there before the time of the census of 1850. Thus she was born in Shiawassee County.
- At the time of the census, she was one of eight women named Lucy in Shiawassee County, whose ages varied from Lucy Fay at 20 to Lucy Finley at 74. Lucy Fay is the youngest and the next older Lucy is already 28. If Luther's wife was not Lucy Fay, where was Lucy Fry two months before her wedding in New Haven? Especially in view of the fact that Luther's wife was born in Shiawassee County.
- There are only two Fry people in Shiawassee County in 1870. One is himself 20, and born in Germany. The other is Silas G. Fry, who lived in New Haven in 1870. He was 36 in 1870. However, Silas is not married. He was in Bay City, Bay County, in 1860, and he was not married then either. He was born in New York and seems to have been there still in 1850. So there is essentially no chance that he could have been the father of Lucy, born in Shiawassee County shortly after the date of the census in 1850. He did not marry until about 1882, which also makes it most unlikely that he had anything to do with Lucy.
- Handwriting can be very difficult to read. There have been many cases of errors in transcriptions. Once a mistake is made in transcribing something, the error tends to persist. It would be easy for the first person reading that record some time later to make a mistake and transcribe 'Fry' for 'Fay.'
- With this in mind, I requested a copy of the marriage certificate from the Shiawassee County Clerk. I hoped to see a photocopy of the original handwriting, but what I received was a certified transcription of the marriage document -- names carefully typed. And on this certificate is "Lucy Fry." So I still have no real proof for my conclusions. But also on this document is another piece of evidence. The names of two witnesses to the marriage are given: Oliver Hopson and Julia A. Hopson. If you look at the census of 1870 with this in mind, you see that the second house away from Rosanna and Lucy Fay is inhabited by Oliver and Julia Hopson and their family.
We have already seen the early census documents on Nathan's page. It remains here only to look more closely at the 1870 census.
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In 1880, Luther and Lucy and three sons are living in Gaines, Genesee County. The census taker has added ten years to the ages of both Luther and Lucy.
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By 1900, Lucy and Luther are divorced. Luther can be followed in the census further, but Lucy seems to disappear. In 1900, she would be 50, not too old to remarry. It is also possible that she died before 1900; the distinction between widower and divorced are not always clear in the census.
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