Today’s conundrum is Elizabeth Moyer, another of my 3rd great grandmothers.  Elizabeth was born circa 1822 in Indiana to unknown parents.  According to census data, her father was born in Canada and her mother in Ohio.  She married James Mattox in 1837 in Vigo County, IN and they were living in Riley Township at the time of the 1850 Census.  They had seven children who lived to maturity:  Pelina, Susan, Alzina, Napoleon, Marshall, Calvin (my 2nd great grandfather), and Alonzo.  By 1860, the family had moved to Clay County, IN.  James died at some point after 1860, possibly in the war, and Elizabeth became the head of the household for several years.  In 1873, she married Benjamin Coppock and was listed in his household in the 1880 census, along with her son Alonzo.  This is probably how Calvin and Rebecca got together.  What happened to Elizabeth after 1880 is questionable.  Benjamin married Mary Merrill Cutshaw in July 1882, so obviously something happened to her.  I have two theories:

• Benjamin and Elizabeth divorced.  Nothing was mentioned in Benjamin’s biography in the History of Clay County about Elizabeth being wife #2.  There weren’t any children born as a result of the marriage, so maybe she was just glossed over as unimportant by the author.  Or, maybe the marriage ended poorly and it was left out on purpose.  It’s hard to say since death records before 1882 are difficult to find and divorce records are even more scarce.  If they did divorce, did she assume the name Mattox once again?  There is a death record in Indiana for an Elizabeth Mattox in 1896 that seems to fit, however, without more information I cannot be sure it is my Elizabeth.  A trip to the Clay County Library needs to be added to my trip home in the spring to find the actual death record and ferret out a newspaper article to confirm the identity of Elizabeth.
• Elizabeth died between 1880 and 1882.  This is the more likely possibility, but again, I have nothing to document this at this time.