The Meharg Problem - Additional Preponderance of the Evidence
The following record is found on page 80 of Old Records of Estates and Administrations, Benton County, Alabama, by Cathrine [sic] Cleek Mann, 1977. I have not looked at the original document:
23 September 1854
W[illiam] S. Meharg for his son, William H. Meharg, to be bound as an apprentice to James W. Shurbet until [… age] 21.
W[illiam] S Meharg for his son, James M Meharg, to be bound as an apprentice to William C. Bledsoe until [… age] 21.
Simply put, William S Meharg apprenticed his two sons, William H & James M, out to James W. Shurbet and William C. Bledsoe. The boys would have been approximately 8 and 6 (respectively) at the time. And again, I wonder if this could be an indication of when their mother, Sarah Meharg, died.
James W. Shurbet was married to Mary E. Meharg, the (well-established) daughter of John Meharg and Mary Y Moody Meharg Griffin. William C. Bledsoe was married to Lucinda R Meharg, whose exact parentage is debated but whom I contend was likewise the daughter of John Meharg and Mary Y Moody Meharg Griffin [see “The Meharg Problem,” 3 June 2015].
Furthermore, Mattie K. Martin Ellis, in her book The Story of Mattie Downing McAdams, states Lucinda Meharg Bledsoe and William S. Meharg were the sister and brother of Mattie’s mother, Nancy Caroline Meharg Downing.
In the 1860 Census, William H Meharg (erroneously listed as age 12) appears in the household of James W. Shurbet and Mary E. Meharg Shurbet in Ashville, St. Clair County, Alabama (across the Coosa River from Benton/Calhoun County). His brother, James M Meharg (also listed as 12), however, is not with the Bledsoe family (in Talladega County) but appears in the household of Washington Dickey [sic] in Alexandria, Calhoun County, Alabama. Their father, William S Meharg, appears in the household of Edward Dickie [sic] for whom he worked in Alexandria, leading me to wonder if Sarah Meharg was a member of the Dickie family.
While this record of apprenticeship does not prove the relationship between William S. Meharg and Mary E. Meharg Shurbet (or for that matter with Lucinda R Meharg Bledsoe) as siblings, it does provide further evidence of a close familial affiliation and credence to my Meharg theory.