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In some of the original research material sent to us by Mrs. Alice Forsyth, the St. Louis Cathedral Archivist, she stated that Lott McArthur and Marcelline Celeste D’auby married on August 3, 1831 but did not give her source. Later she said that a Mr. Paul Bernard of New Orleans, now deceased, found this record while researching this family several years ago. While Mr. Bernard was considered a reliable researcher, Mrs. Forsyth failed to find out where the date had been taken from. It was apparently taken from some civil or church record other than St. Louis Cathedral, for Mrs. Forsyth had not been able to find a marriage record on or about that date. We suspect this date is accurate for Marcelline’s oldest child, James McArthur, Jr., was bom on November 1, 1833, according to his baptismal record in St. Louis Cathedral. Marcelline would have been 18 years old at the time if the 1831 marriage date is correct.
Then, Mrs. Forsyth found what appeared to be their marriage record (St. Louis Cathedral, Book 4 of Marriages 1821-1830, p. 86, act 443). The page was all but deteriorated, but she could make out a marriage date of July 26, 1826. Lott’s parents
were listed as “Jacque (James) McCarthy and Sally Lake, natives of................nd.” If this
was in fact Marcelline’s marriage record, she would have been 14 years old at the time of her marriage. From later census and other records, it has been determined that Lott McArthur was approximately the same age as Marcelline - perhaps a year or two older at most! While it is possible that a 14 year old female was allowed to marry an older male, we doubt that two “children” in that age bracket would have been allowed to marry.
Even Mrs. Forsyth conceded that it was a bit young, and there was a good possibility of an error in dates of the early priests. Until we can find something more accurate, we will stick to the August 3, 1831 marriage date as offered by Mr. Bernard.
To prove the marriage of Marcelline D’auby (Doby) to Lott McArthur, we have located the death certificate of one of their children - Lott McArthur. This record is on file in the Mississippi State Board of Heath’s Bureau of Vital Statistics. It states that Lott McArthur (Jr.) died on February 2, 1921 in Baxterville, MS at the age 75 years, 4 months, and 29 days, and was the son of “Marceline Doby and Lott McArthur.” We also have some adoption papers from the Hancock County, Mississippi Probate Court that was establishing legal guardianship of a minor child - “Thomas J. McArthur, the son of Lott and Marceline McArthur on June 28, 1858.” Thomas J. McArthur is our (Jerry’s) greatgrandfather on his mother’s side. He and his brother, Lott, were left orphans with the premature death of both their mother and father.
Additional proof of the McArthur/ Doby union came from one of their descendants - Ernest McArthur of Baxterville, MS. He is a grandson of Lott McArthur, Jr. and remembers plenty of information about his ancestors. He remembered that one of his ancestors was a Doby from Hancock County but could not remember exactly how.
He also remembered that his grandfather, Lott Jr., telling the sad story of how his father, Lott Sr., died when he was only around 3 years old, and his mother dying when he was around 10, leaving him an orphan.
The names Celeste, Marcelline, Solomon, James, and Lott are continuously used by the McArthur family descendants, even to this day. They are not found, to any degree, in the unrelated McCarty or McCarthy families who also lived in the Pearlington area.
The final piece of evidence is found in the land sale of the Jean Baptiste D’auby estate in 1836 in Hancock County (Deed Book E, p. 237). In this land record,
Marcelline is referred to as “Marcellite Doby, wife of the said Lott McArthur.”
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