I went back over my notes, and I believe I understand the confusion and I have a theory that may help explain this confusion…
Here on RC, Sue in NY wrote: “…The daughter of Mr. And Mrs. Slack was married to a Mr. Thomas Mitchell near Monaghan. They had 6 daughters and 1 son, their eldest daughter was married to Mr. Henderson of Cash Hill near Ballinamallard…and their daughter Anne was married to Mr. James Copeland and resided first in Lissorty near Clones,…(then) Lisbellaw four miles from Enniskillen, about 1776” She said she found this information through Copeland references.
Sue also mentioned that according to the book, History of Methodism, Ann Henderson was sent for a while to live with the Little family at Florencecourt, however, the book only says, “Miss Henderson” but doesn’t mention a first name. Sue said that there is a footnote that says, “Anne Henderson was married to James Copeland of Lisbellaw”, but both these notes must have been handwritten in later because they are not part of the book.
Also, here on RC aghadowely shared a Flickr link to James Copeland’s headstone (last photo on that page) – which also includes his wife, ELIZABETH Copeland, and their daughter, Ann Thompson. These photos of the Old Magheracross Cemetery were taken by “Magheracross Boles” 13 years ago by John Boles who still lives in Ireland and is a known descendant of James and ELIZABETH Copeland.
The very last portion of the stone with Anne’s date of death and age is cut off in the photo, but the full text per John Boles via a later email reads: "Here lieth the body of James Copeland late of Lisbellaw who died the 22nd day of June 1815 in the 61st year of his age. Also of Elizabeth his wife who died the 6th day of January 1819 in the 62nd year of her age. And of Anne Thompson their daughter who depd (departed) this life the 8th day of August 1819 in the 28th year of her age".
https://www.flickr.com/photos/52897031@N06This clearly shows that James was married to Elizabeth, not Anne. However, even James’ FindAGrave listing only has the first part of the inscription with his information, but disregards the information about his wife Elizabeth and daughter.
These names and dates match the death records at the Ireland Genealogy Project Archives:
James COPELAND
Lisbellaw
24/6/1815
Elizabeth COPELAND
Enniskillen
8/1/1819
Ann THOMPSON
Enniskillen
9/8/1819
https://www.igp-web.com/IGPArchives/ire/fermanagh/churches/magheracross-bur.htm*Notes: The dates in Ireland use the format day-month-year. Also note that names were spelled as they sounded, so spellings can vary, as in the case of Ann(e) above.
It appears that after James passed, Elizabeth went to live with their daughter, Ann, at Enniskillen, who then passed just a month after her mother.
Here is my theory… I think all the information is correct, but the interpretation needs some context and clarification.
I think it’s very likely that Mr. William Henderson of Cash Hill was in fact married to the eldest daughter of Thomas Mitchell of Monaghan, but this would have been William’s first wife, with whom he had a daughter named Anne, born about 1745. William’s first wife passed away sometime shortly after the birth of their fourth child, Frances, who was born about 1752.
According to William’s grandson’s journals, after his grandfather’s first wife passed, William then married Jane Mitchell who had first been married to Joseph Hurst. In those days it was very common if someone’s spouse passed away, many times the remaining widowed spouse would then marry a sibling of their spouse - which would fit perfectly with the accounts above.
The wording of Sue’s account, “their eldest daughter married Mr. Henderson” sounds to me like a first marriage, it does not sound like an older woman who had been married, had children, and was now widowed when she married Mr. Henderson, so I think it is very possible that William’s first wife was the eldest Mitchell daughter – the oldest sister of his second wife, Jane Mitchell.
So William’s wife and Jane Mitchell’s husband had both passed and then they married each other, and THEIR oldest daughter, Elizabeth, born abut 1757 (much closer to Sue’s date of 1754 for who she believed to be Anne) and she (Elizabeth) is the one who married James Copeland - just as James Copeland’s headstone shows, “wife Elizabeth”.
I think the confusion is likely just a misunderstanding of who “their” daughter was. Someone wrote that “their” eldest daughter, Anne, married James Copeland, but I think someone just assumed it was Anne knowing she was William’s eldest daughter, not knowing “their” was referring to William second marriage to Jane Mitchell, and “their” eldest daughter, Elizabeth. We know William’s oldest daughter is in fact Anne, so it was assumed it was Ann when someone wrote that footnote in Sue’s book.
So, in other words, James’s Copeland’s wife was not the oldest daughter from William’s first marriage, but the oldest daughter of his second marriage, and it was this daughter, Elizabeth, who married James Copeland, just as the records show.
There is no way to know for sure at this point if William’s first wife was in fact his second wife’s oldest sister, but we do know with certainty it was his second wife who was Jane Mitchell and we know their oldest daughter was Elizabeth, and it was Elizabeth who married James Copeland.
