Sarah Johnson in 1860

     Yesterday we showed the marriage record for James H. Matthews and the much younger Sarah Johnson.  
     In the 1860 Census, there is a Sarah Johnson living in Lafayette County, which is the county where they married.  Is this our Sarah?
     Here is some information that should lead us to believe that it is.  Only five pages in the census separate James and this Sarah. They were both enumerated in the Paris Postal District, so they lived in the same general vicinity.
     In 1850, James H Matthews was enumerated adjacent to an older couple, Ire D. Mathews and his wife Lucy.  In 1860, Sarah Johnson is living with I. D. Mathis and his wife Lucy.  This has to be the same couple that live next to James in the previous census.  (Remember that Mathis and Mathews are used interchangeably throughout known records.)  
     Some later family records also show Sarah's daughter Lena using the name Lucy.
     Putting this together would lead us to believe that the Sarah, who lives with I. D. Mathis is the Sarah, who marries James.   In addition one might be inclined to think that this I. D. Mathis is related to James and possibly his father.
More research is necessary. 

1850 Census showing Ire D and Lucy Mathews living next to James H. Mathews¹

1860 Census showing I. D. and Lucy Mathis along with Sarah Johnson²

1. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Census Place:  , Lafayette, Mississippi; Roll: M432_375; Page: 269B; Image: 95.

2. 1860 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Census Place:  , Lafayette, Mississippi; Roll: M653_585; Page: 52; Image: 56; Family History Library Film: 803585.