Individual Details

Nancy was living back in Missouri with her parents in 1870
1870 Census. Irontown P.O., Iron Co MO, Hh 15
James Woods, age 70, b. KY. Phoebe, age 66, b. KY [their ages off by 10 years and they seem to have listed all their children - even those married and counted elsewhere.]
Nancy, 35. Wm F. 33. Sarah A., age 30. - born Kentucky.
Children born Missouri: Thomas 27. Hannah F. 25. Valentine 23 [he was on the same page with wife and child]. Laura age 23. Joseph 20. Mary E. age 18.
Born in Arkansas: Martha J. age 15.
Phoebe J. Ausman, age 10, also b. in Arkansas. (surname was Asbill - she's Nancy's daughter by John Asbill)

1880 Census. Salem Twp, Dent Co, MO, Hh 305
William Duty, 59, working Iron Mines, b. NC, parents b. NC
Nancy, wife, age 58 b. KY, parents, b. KY [she was probably about 45]
Pheoby J. Asbell, 19, Stepdaughter, b. AR, parents b. KY

1904
John Asbill deserted Nancy during the Civil War. It is unlikely there was a divorce. Both remarried. I found one page of a Deposition, undated, apparently for a pension made by Nancy Duty. It seems that James' second wife, Sarah Bates, had already applied. Nancy does state that she never tried to locate James, just let him go. Her brother Valentine Wood of Union, Fulton Co, Arkansas, had taken her to live with her parents in Ash Flat, Sharp Co, AR - about six months after the surrender. She had Phoebe J. with her until she married. She said she lived with her parents eleven years, three of those a Ash Flat, eight at Calladonia in Washington Co Mo (note below that in 1870, they were in Iron Co, MO). She said her mother had been dead nine years; her father 12 years. (this would date the deposition in 1904 - so I think this deposition was about the same time as her sister Martha's). She said she married William W. Duty, 26 Dec 1878 (in another place she says 22 Jan 1876) and the marriage was on record at Ironton, Iron Co MO. She said she learned that he died through her son James Ross Asbell, now somewhere in California. (continued but I don't have anything else)

Testimony of Nancy's sister, Martha Jane (Wood) Horton, on 14 Mar 1905 at Sunlight, Washington Co MO.
"I am nearly 49 years old, I am the wife of John A. Horton... This Nancy Duty is my sister. I never knew her first husband John Asbill. My understanding always was that he married my sister years before I was born & deserted her during the War & took up with another woman.
From my earliest recollection of my sister Nancy & I both lived with our parents first in Sharp Co, Ark., then her in Iron Co till her marriage to Wm. W. Duty.
I never heard of John Asbill getting a divorce from my sister and I know she never got one from him. She was never married after John Asbill deserted her till she married Wm. W. Duty.
I was present and saw her married to Wm. W. Duty at our father's house just over the county line from Iron Co. They were married by Rev. Jesse Bird about two months before my marriage and as I showd you by my marriage certificate I was married March 22, 1876. I am not able to give the exact date of her marriage, can not say whether it was during the Christmas Holidays but am positive that it was two months or maybe a little more than that before my marriage that she married Wm. W. Duty.
This testament has been read to me. It is correct.
Signed: Martha J. Horton

Birth	Abt 1835	Madison County, Kentucky
Marriage	Abt 1852	John D. "Black John" Asbell
Marriage	Jan 1876	William W. Duty
Death	1906	Crawford County, Arkansas

Spouse	John D. "Black John" Asbell (1832 - 1876)
Child	Sarah A. Asbell (1853 - )
Child	Thomas F. Asbell (1856 - )
Child	James Ross Asbill (1858 - 1942)
Child	Phoebe J. Asbell (1861 - )

Spouse

William W. Duty (1821 - )

Father	James Warren Wood (1810 - 1892)
Mother	Phoebe Caroline Hardin (1811 - 1895)
Sibling	William Frank Wood (1836 - 1910)
Sibling	Sarah A. "Sally" Wood (1838 - 1907)
Sibling	Thomas A. Wood (1841 - )
Sibling	Hannah Frances Wood (1843 - 1936)
Sibling	Valentine Wood (1845 - 1929)
Sibling	Laura Lamina Wood (1847 - 1879)
Sibling	Joseph Buchanan "Joe Buck" Wood (1850 - 1938)
Sibling	Mary Elizabeth Wood (1853 - 1920)
Sibling	Martha Jane Wood (1856 - 1930)