Marriage of Eliza Ennis and Alonzo Benjamin Yates

[Lisa in California]

Could this be your Alonzo in 1863?
Civil War Draft Reg
Residence: Portage, Columbia, Wisconsin. Alonzo B Yates, age 1st July 1863: 24, ShoeMaker, born New York.  No former military service.

[Erato]

Yup, that's him [his age is way off, though].  I'd forgotten that he'd called himself a shoemaker at that time.  I think he was a man of many talents.  I've never believed the 'physician' business partly because, when my grandfather wrote about the doctors who practiced in Marquette County in the late 1800s, he never mentioned that his own uncle Alonzo was one.

[Lisa in California]

I don't know about the physician part of it, but I suppose one had to learn how to do many different things "back then".   

You most likely have seen this but at least one of Eliza's siblings apparently was not living at home at one point:
http://www.wiroots.org/wimarquette/ennisdiary.html
Eliza's brother, Hugh, "when he was a boy, lived with a Tiffany family for four years, I believe about 1856 to 1860."  Perhaps two or more of the children lived away from home?

[Lisa in California]

I see from another post that at one time you didn't know anything about Alonzo's past.  If that is still true this might be helpful: according to a private tree on one of the pay sites, Alonzo was born in Cayuga County (New York?).  I don't know how they arrived at this conclusion.

[Erato]

Sure, Hugh was my g-grandfather and the document was written by my grandfather.  I've seen that reference to Cayuga County but I haven't been able to find him there.

[J.J.]

It certainly does simply seem that the article was simply a decade out.... She may have not liked being the caregiver to the rest of the children, as was expected of elder gals, or perhaps she did not get along with her father for various reasons.

I just found that there is also a search for Alonzo posted here....
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=647539.0

[Erato]

Yes, it occurred to me that Eliza might have grown tired of doing the laundry for eight brothers.  There were only two girls in the family plus the mother so the cooking, washing and sewing work must have been just about endless for them. 

[J.J.]

and thus the saying, out of the frying pan...and into the fire!!!!

[Erato]

No kidding.  Eliza and Alonzo had fifteen children of which I have found 14; I suppose one must have died in infancy.  But there were a lot of girls.