Marriage — JOSEPH COOPER × ELIZABETH HOUGHTON, 12 Mar 1808, Fayette Co., Kentucky (bondsman John Houghton). Primary-source-locks [p.669]'s marriage + puts Daniel Jr's son Joseph in KY by 1808. [verbatim]

Transcription and notes

Source: Fayette County, Kentucky, Marriage Index, 1803–1814 (Ancestry coll. 5621) — maintainer screenshot 2026-07-07; also indexed in Kentucky Marriages, 1802–1850 (Ancestry coll. 2089). Surfaced via the Ancestry tree (4782603) for [p.669].

Data from the record [verbatim]

• Name: Joseph Cooper
• Gender: Male
• Marriage Date: 12 Mar 1808
• Marriage Place: Fayette, Kentucky, USA
• Bondsman: John Houghton
• Comments: "Personal and by parents"
• Spouse: Elizabeth Houghton

Significance (interpretation — flagged)

• Primary-source-locks [p.669 Joseph Cooper]'s marriage — Joseph Cooper × Elizabeth Houghton, previously only tree-tier ("married March 1808" per L.4). Now HIGH-confidence: 12 Mar 1808, Fayette Co., KY. (This is our Joseph, 1782–1816, age 26 in 1808 — NOT the look-alike Joseph Cooper d.1887 Lexington whose obituary the tree misattached; see [p.669].)
• The Cooper family was in KENTUCKY by 1808 — Daniel Jr [p.79]'s son Joseph (b. 1782 Long Hill NJ) married in Fayette Co. KY in 1808, so the NJ→KY migration of this branch was before 1808, earlier than the catalog's prior "1814–1832" estimate, and it was Joseph himself who went west (not his widow). Resolves the p.668 "born NJ or KY?" question (⇒ his children, incl. John Houghton b. 1810, were KY-born).
• Bondsman "John Houghton" = Elizabeth Houghton's kin (father/brother) — the Houghton family into which two Cooper brothers married (Joseph × Elizabeth; brother Daniel × Sarah Houghton). "Personal and by parents" = the standard consent notation.
• The family Bible corroborates ([F.227], "Bible of Elizabeth Cooper"): "Joseph Cooper and Elizabeth Houghton were married Mch. 15, 1808." A minor date variance vs. the county record — bond/license 12 Mar, solemnization 13 Mar (Rev. Creath), Bible 15 Mar — the sort of family-vs-clerk spread that's expected; all fix mid-March 1808.
• The NJ-probate hunt for Joseph is VOID — he's a Kentucky decedent. His ~1816 estate/guardianship is a Fayette Co., KY record (the remaining pr.14 target for naming his heirs).

Cross-references

• p.669 Joseph Cooper (groom) · p.79 Daniel Cooper Jr (his father) · p.668 John Houghton Cooper (their son) · pr.14

UPGRADE 2026-07-16 — the ORIGINAL marriage BOND + LICENSE obtained (-> [A.116])

The 1808 marriage is now primary-source in hand (was tree/index-tier): the original marriage BOND (12 Mar 1808 -- "whereas there is a marriage intended shortly to be solemnized between... Joseph Cooper and Elizabeth Houghton," signed "J. Cooper" + bondsman John Houghton; ark 3Q9M-CS4X-R9SK-G) + the marriage LICENSE (12 Mar 1808, ark 3Q9M-C9BJ-NQZY-7) + DAR-index abstracts giving the solemnization 13 Mar 1808 by Rev. Jacob Creath. On disk: Marriage/Fayette KY 1808 - Joseph Cooper x Elizabeth Houghton .... Joseph Cooper's SIGNATURE ("J. Cooper") is on the bond -- a likeness-tier datum for [p.669]. Consent "pers., by parents" (Elizabeth's).