PO: New Florence, Enumerated 20 Jun 1870, 172/175
John Ambrose 30 M W Shoemaker $1000/350 PA
Sarah Ambrose 26 F W Keeps House PA
George N. Slick 9 M W PA

Enumerated 4 Jun 1880, 31/32
Ambrose, John W M 35 Farmer PA PA PA
Mary W F 35 Wife Keeping house PA PA PA
Nels. W M 20 Son Laborer PA PA PA
John W M 4 Son PA PA PA

Wife, Mary, may simply be a mistake by the census taker, as "Nels." appears to be Sarah's son, George Nelson SLICK. The 4 year old son John is a puzzle as the 1900 census shows Sarah had only 2 children, Nelson and the baby who died, both fathered by William SLICK.

• Married: 21 OCT 1869
• Note:

  When Sarah applied for a widow's pension, the legality of their marriage was questioned. In Nov 1858, when she was 15, Sarah was pregnant and was married to William SLICK at her parent's home by some county officer -- she couldn't remember just who he was. Her parents moved to Indiana, and she and William went with them. She lost the first baby, but had a son, George Nelson Slick, born Nov 1860, after she had left William and returned to her father's home. William SLICK went to war, returned to Pennsylvania, and married there. When Sarah later found out about his marriage, she sued him for bigamy and his wife for bastardy. In return William started divorce proceedings. Sarah's case was thrown out of court as being over the time for the Statute of Limitations, and William dropped the divorce case. There was a question as to whether her first marriage was legal. In 1900, Sarah was living with her son, Nelson, in New Florence, Pennsylvania. Finally in 1905, when Sarah started getting a pension as the widow of John AMBROSE, she was living with a sister in Indiana, and she died there. Apparently she and John had no children. [MEA]
  
  The following article appeared in the Indiana Weekly Messenger, Indiana, PA, Wednesday, 2 Oct 1901:
  "Wife or Widow?
  "A strange case from New Florence, presenting many complications is before the Westmoreland courts. John Ambrose, of New Florence, died in 1898, leaving, presumablly, his widow, Sarah Ambrose. It is alleged, however, that Sarah Ambrose was the undivorced wife of one William Slick, of the same place. The present claimant of the estate, Sarah Ambrose, it is known was married to the decedent in 1869, but it is alleged that she was previously married to William Slick, who she admits is the father of her one child which is dead. Neither she nor Slick have shown proof of divorce and the latter is now married to another woman and has eleven children. The suit was instigated by creditors of the estate of the decedent."
  

  ²

1. Title: National Archives and Records Administration, Washington D.C., compiler, Civil War Pension Index (Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2000)
   Page: dl 1 May 2008
2. Title: Mary E. Ambrose, Ancestors and Descendants of Amos Ambrose and Mary Brough, of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania: Self, 1996)
3. Title: U.S. Federal Census (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com [images online],)
   Page: 1870PAM593_1465-0413-24
4. Title: U.S. Federal Census (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com [images online],)
   Page: 1860PAM653_1195-0459P343
5. Title: U.S. Federal Census (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com [images online],)
   Page: 1880PAT9_1204-0589PN4SD8ED116