Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Ebenezer Denyer Registers to Vote

Below is the Voter Registration of my second great grandfather, Ebenezer Denyer. (bottom line of cropped images below.)


Transcription:

Date of Registry: Nov 24, 1869
Name: E. Danyer (Denyer)
Place of Residence: Hays County
Precinct: 1
In State: Twelve Months
In County: Thirty Days
In Precinct: Thirty Days
Native: Pennsylvania
General Remarks: White

I don't learn much I didn't already know from this record (retrieved from a database of Texas Voter Registrations at Ancestry). I believe his state of Nativity positively identifies him as my second great grandfather, as opposed to somebody else with a similar name. 

The length of time in State, County and Precinct is of course the minimum requirement, not the specific amount for each individual.

I did at first wonder why he was registering in November of 1869 - what seemed an off-political year. Of course, I'm not overly familiar with Texas history. He appears to have been registering to vote in the first election following the Texas Constitution of 1869. From Ulysses S Grant's First Annual Message (Dec 6, 1869)

Elections were called in Mississippi and Texas, to commence on the 30th of November, 1869, and to last two days in Mississippi and four days in Texas. The elections have taken place, but the result is not known. It is to be hoped that the acts of the legislatures of these States, when they meet, will be such to win your approval, and thus close the work of reconstruction.

Was he registered to vote anywhere else in Texas prior to 1869? That I don't know.

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