Nancy's full name seems to be Catherine (or possibly even Catherine Ann). See the wills and administration files in her husband's Notes. Here is what Joan Best sent me:
The problem with the wife's name is this: Jacob's wife calls herself Nancy. That is how she signed her name in the letter to Martha. That is the name given to the census taker in 1820. That is the name she used to renounce her right to administer her husband's estate. In fact she says, in the renunciation document, that she requests that her son, James Bodine, be made administrator. She says "my son." However, son James, in his initial petition to the court and repeated thereafter, says Jacob Sr.'s widow is Catharine, and then he lists all of the children, including Catharine, widow of Jacob, Jr. and their children. So three Catharine's are named: widow, daughter, daughter-in-law.
This can't be solved by claiming a second marriage, as Nancy and Catharine obviously outlived Jacob, Sr. Nancy and Catharine must be one and the same. A few weeks ago I was reading about early naming customs. I was trying to
understand the pattern employed in this family. But in the article it also told of the common practice of giving each child in the family the same "saint's" name for the first name, and the everyday name as the second name. So the children will be John George, John Peter, John John, etc. Or Anna Catherine, Anna Rosa, Anna Mary, etc. I think that is the story here. In fact, Nancy may be a nickname for Anna. (Remember Lea's parents were Jacob and Anna in the LDS straw church records....yes, I looked it up again.) This also explains why more of her children did not name a child Nancy. (I think Amy and Lea were the only ones.) While most named a child Catharine.
End of message by Joan Best.
Here is another message from Joan:
I place him [William Bodine, who died around 1801), tentatively, as the second son (of Jacob Sr. and Nancy]. My reason for this is that it is probable that Jacob and Nancy adhered to the traditional naming pattern. If they did, then the first son would be named Jacob if his paternal grandfather is Jacob, brother of Catherine Bodine Hendershot. I am guessing, at the moment (and investigating the possibility) that Nancy's parents were William Force and Elizabeth Wooliver. (Their son, who would be Nancy's brother, Jacob Force, was a neighbor of Jacob and Nancy, and Woolever and Eveland cousins were nearby also.) If Nancy's father's name was William then, by custom, the second son would be named William.
End of message.