Notes for: John Harry Bodine

From Ronny Bodine:

St. Louis Marriage Records: "On the 24th of June 1867 the undersigned has united in the holy bonds of matrimony John H. Bodine son of Charles Bodine & Sarah Cox & Margaret R. Manney daughter of James Manney & Honora Gibbons. /s/ W. Wheeler"

From the time of his marriage in 1867, John Bodine lived in St. Louis working as a painter. In 1870, John was aged 30 and Maggie was 22, in 1880 they were aged 39 and 28 respectively and in 1900, their births were recorded as Aug 1846 for John and Dec 1845 for Margaret. In 1900, John reported that in 30 years of marriage his wife had borne 7 children of whom 5 were then living. In 1910, he reported his age as 62 and that of Margaret as 52, that they had been married 42 years and 5 of their 7 children still lived. His Missouri death certificate, no. 1918-30548, reported he died of apoplexy and was buried in Valhalla Cemetery. His widow, Margarete Bodine was the informant and did not know the names of his parents. In 1920, Margaret Bodine lived with her son William in St. Louis. According to her Missouri death certificate, no. 1923-17261, she also died of apoplexy and was buried in Valhalla Cemetery. The dates of birth given in their death certificates, 24 Aug 1848 for John and 25 Dec 1853 for Margaret are inconsistent with their ages in the 1870 and 1880 censuses and would mean that Margaret married at 13 and had her first child at 14. Whereas the day and month of their birth may be accurate, their years of birth for John range from 1840 to 1848 and for Margaret from 1848 to 1853. Until such a time as the dates can be precisely determined from more accurate references the birthdate for John of 24 Aug 1840 and 25 Dec 1848 for Margaret based upon their ages in 1870 have been chosen.