On Thursday, March 20, 1845, Martin Hall and Margaret Harris were married in Jefferson County, Ohio. Documentation of their marriage may be found in Jefferson County Marriage Records, 1841-1850, Volume 6, page 62:
"No. 183 Martin Hall & Margaret Harris.
The State of Ohio, Jefferson County, S.S.
I hereby certify that on the 20th day of March A.D. 1845 Mr. Martin Hall, and Miss Margaret Harris, were legally Joined in Marriage by me a Minister of the Gospel.
Given under My hand this 25th day of March A.D. 1845.
E. S. Hoagland
Filed & Recorded June 18th 1845."
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| Jefferson County Marriage Records, 1841-1850, Vol. 6, p. 62, familysearch.org. |
In addition to providing the date and place of marriage, this record also tells us something about Martin and Margaret. First, it specifies "Miss" Margaret Harris, indicating that she had not been previously married, so Harris should be her family name. Next, it tells us that their marriage ceremony was a religious one, as it was performed by a "Minister of the Gospel." Finally, it provides the name of the officiator: E. S. Hoagland, a Methodist minister, indicating that the couple, or at least one of them, may have been of the Methodist faith.
In 1846, Ezekiel Stout Hoagland was a minister for the Methodist Protestant Church of Steubenville. A Book For the Times: or the Philosophy of Christian Baptism, by the Rev. Hiram Gillmore, Methodist Episcopal Church, was a religious volume published in Steubenville in 1846. It contains an introductory page with a recommendation signed by C. D. Battelle, Pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and E. S. Hoagland, Pastor of the Methodist Protestant Church, both of Steubenville.
Born in New Jersey in 1814, Hoagland married Mary Brown in Trumbull County, Ohio, in 1834. The couple lived in various counties in central Ohio (Jefferson, Licking, and Guernsey) during the nineteenth century, presumably because of Ezekiel's work as a preacher. During the 1860s he saw Civil War service as a chaplain, and he died in Steubenville in 1883.
The March 27, 1845, edition of the American Union, a newspaper published in Steubenville, contains a notice of the marriage of Martin Hall and Margaret Harris:
"Married . . . On Thursday evening last, by the Rev. [E.] S. Hoagland, Mr. Martin Hall, of this county, to Miss Margaret Harris, of this city."
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| American Union, March 27, 1845, page 3, column 1. |
This small item reveals that Martin Hall's residence was "of this county" (possibly Wells Township, as that is where he was listed on the 1850 census), and that Margaret Harris's home was "of this city," meaning that she lived in Steubenville. It might be assumed that Martin and Margaret were married in Steubenville, as it was customary for weddings to occur at or near the bride's home, and the Rev. Hoagland was a pastor for a Steubenville church.
Although these records document the marriage of Martin Hall and Margaret Harris, they also prompt further questions. Was Margaret Harris living with her family in Steubenville in 1845, or was she employed and living on her own? How did she meet Martin Hall?