Here is Benjamin and Carmelite's marriage record along with the whole page from which it was cropped;
Name: Benjamin Absher
Event Type: Marriage
Event Date: 02 Sep 1842
Event Place: St. Landry, Louisiana, United States
Spouse's Name: Carmelite Boullet
Citing this Record
"Louisiana Parish Marriages, 1837-1957," FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKJH-B9YW : 4 April 2020), Benjamin Absher and Carmelite Boullet, 02 Sep 1842; citing St. Landry, Louisiana, United States, various parish courthouses, Louisiana; FHL microfilm 870,694.
Benjamin Franklin Abshier II was born 21 June 1820 in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana to Benjamin F Abshier Sr. (1788-1864) and Hannah Weed (1792-1878). After marrying Miss Boulet, I next found Ben Jr. in Liberty County, Texas in 1846 after the young couple moved from Louisiana with other family members.
You will recall that Texas had become a state just a year before in 1845. With the Mexican Army gone, the Apache were still raiding new residents. Gamblers and swindlers often duped immigrants and American citizens out of their land. Stories from the many newspapers from the 1850s online tell of the profiteers now lauded as honored sons of Texas.
My hero Sam Houston had a home and a law office in the village of Liberty. While researching family, I often fantasize that Sam had more than a casual acquaintance with my kin. I'm still looking for that document prepared by him or his signature on some deed as a witness to my ancestor's property transaction. Oh, let it be!
The Tax Rolls for 1856 Liberty County show the land Benjamin Abshier bought from Levi Barrow and the taxes due:
Abshier Benj Jr
ACRES: 409
VALUE: 400
ORIGINAL GRANTEE: Levy Barrow
FROM WHAT TRACT TAKEN: 4,428
ON WHAT STREAM: Turtle Bayou
NEGROES: -0-
HORSES: 30, valued at 450
CATTLE: 165 valued at 990
POLL TAX: 30
STATE TAX: $3.26
COUNTY TAX: -0-
See the actual document here. Benjamin Jr. is second on the list, and his dad, Ben, Sr., is third. Go ahead, click once to enlarge it. It's a lovely record!
Source: "Texas, County Tax Rolls, 1837-1910," FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939J-HM9Y-QH?cc=1827575&wc=M63X-4PK : 22 May 2014), Liberty county > 1856 > image 2 of 21; State Archives, Austin.
Carmelite and Ben stayed busy raising their family of 13 children. Their eighth child was my Great-Grandmother Sylvina, born in 1858. (Yes, that's correct. She died in Tulsa in 1921).
Ben served with Capt. Thomas Wooten's home guard (Confederate) during the civil war in 1863. I have not yet learned what that meant or if he even had reason to leave the area and/or fight the Union forces.
Meet Ben and Carmelite in their later years. Be amazed that Mrs. Abshier had thirteen children.
Ben died in Wallisville, Texas in June of 1884. Carmelite followed him in early February of 1889. She missed applying for Ben's Confederate Pension by ten years. The applications prepared by old soldiers and their widows are worth their weight in (Yankee) gold as they are chock-full of details craved by family historians.
https://www.tsl.texas.gov/arc/pensions/amounts.html
CARMELITE'S BIRTH RECORD:
Name: Carmelite Boulet
Event Type: Birth
Event Date: 7 Dec 1827
Event Place: Louisiana, United States
Event Place (Original): Lafayette
Gender: Female
Father's Name: Jean Boulet
Mother's Name: Adelaide Hebert
Citing this Record
"Louisiana Births and Christenings, 1811-1830, 1854-1934", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HSR4-85T2 : 14 January 2020), Adelaide Hebert in entry for Carmelite Boulet, 1827.