John A. Stagner & Sarah Elizabeth Stagner marriage in Sumner County, TN 1850 – Who were they and where did they come from?

John A Stagner and Sarah Elizabeth Stagner were married in Sumner County, TN on 17 October 1850.

I have struggled with the origin of John A Stagner and Sarah Elizabeth Stagner because there were no known Stagner families in Sumner County in the 1850 timeframe.

There was a John A Stagner who was 22 years old in 1850. He appears in the District 1 Warren County census living with his father Andrew and mother Mary Polly Moyers. John A was apparently unmarried and since his mother was a Moyers and there was William Moyers who witness the document, it seems reasonable to assume that this was the correct John A Stagner.

With Sarah Elizabeth Stagner, the Stagner could have been a married name or it could have been her birth name. The only other Sarah Elizabeth Stagner or Sarah E Stagner of appropriate age that was found in my database was a daughter of John W. Stagner and Susan Grubb. Sarah Elizabeth was unmarried and in the 1850 census she was 19 years old and living with her mother and father. It seems reasonable to assume that this was the same Sarah Elizabeth Stagner appearing in the document above.

It can only be speculated why the two apparently ran away to Sumner County, TN to get married. Perhaps there was friction in the family. There is a relationship chart in gallery showing that John A and Sarah E, if these are the correct people, would have been 1 cousin 1x removed.

The other critical piece of information that it is known that Andrew Stagner and John W Stagner lived in the near vicinity of each other, perhaps across the road. In fact Andrew was known to have lived on Moyers land. Given that the marriage was witnessed by a William Moyers, William and Andrew were likely friends since they most assuredly lived in close proximity to one another. The 1850 census shows William J Mayer (Moyers) living with apparent mother Catherine Mayers (Moyers) in District 1 Warren County, KY.

I believe that this supports the conclusion that Sarah Elizabeth Stagner was most likely a daughter of John W. Stagner and subsequently ran away to TN with Sarah Elizabeth, where the couple were married.