1805 Davy Crockett Unexecuted Marriage License
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GUEST:
They were cleaning out the courthouse at Dandridge, Tennessee, and they were throwing away everything they thought was unimportant. This document never happened-- David Crockett didn't marry this woman. She ran off and eloped with someone else.
APPRAISER:
We have a little runaway bride situation, huh?
GUEST:
Yes, so they felt that it had no value whatsoever, and therefore it was going to be pitched out. And my uncle saw it, and being a fan of Crockett--
APPRAISER:
Of course.
GUEST:
-- he grabbed it right quick. And it's been in the family ever since.
APPRAISER:
Ever since-- well, he knew a lot more than they did.
GUEST:
And you can even see where it's been folded up and put in the pocket.
APPRAISER:
Yep. It's incredible. What we have, as you know, is the actual license that was never executed, but it was filled out. And you can see "From the State of Tennessee," "David Crockett," and his bride-to-be-- her name is a little bit harder to read, but it's right here. "Margaret Elder, October 1805." Crockett was 19 years old at the time, so he was a young man. He was a backwoods statesman, later to become the hero at the Alamo.
GUEST:
I don't think he had done all of those things...
APPRAISER:
He hadn't done those things.
GUEST:
...at that point.
APPRAISER:
No, you're absolutely right.
GUEST:
He was just a young guy in love.
APPRAISER:
Young guy... He had just learned to read and write the year before.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
So he was a very late starter. But boy, did he really make his impression on the world in later life. It's well documented in the lore of Crockett that he had been about to be married, and that there was a license issued, but it was never executed. Less than a year later, when he was 20, he did marry then, for the first time.
GUEST:
I think so.
APPRAISER:
To a woman named Polly Finley.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
And they had two children together, and he then moved himself down to Texas and moved up and outward and throughout the world. But it is an incredible story that such an ephemeral document survives. It is a real treasure. We feel that it's worth $20,000 to $30,000.
GUEST:
My goodness, really?
APPRAISER:
Yes.
GUEST:
That's amazing.
APPRAISER:
It's irreplaceable and it's...
GUEST:
It is irreplaceable.
APPRAISER:
And that's an auction estimate. You know, that's the kind of thing that, two people want it, a historical society wants it...
GUEST:
And nobody's going to put it up for auction, either.
APPRAISER:
For insurance value, that would be at about $45,000 to $50,000.
GUEST:
I see.
Appraisal Details
www.courthousenews.com/2011/08/01/38616.htm
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