The birthdate of March 1843 is from the 1900 census. It might be off by one year, since he was listed as age 8 in 1850 and age 18 in 1860.

Information that John Hall who married Amanda Donohue is the same person as John the son of Jacob Hall and Nancy Brown is from email correspondence with Jackie Pottle, a great-granddaughter of Francis M. “Frank” Hall and Mollie Cox. I had already conjectured that he might be, since Jacob and Nancy had a son named Francis M. Hall, and John might have named a son after his brother. Also this John had a son named Jacob. But since John Hall is such a common name, I did not link him in that way until I got confirmation from a descendant.

Information that the first wife of John Hall was named Amanda Donahue is from a post by Jackie Potter dated 25 June 2002 on the Rowan County Message Board at Rootsweb.

There is no marriage record for John and Amanda in Morgan County. They were probably married in either Rowan Co., where Amanda was living with her parents in 1860, or in Menifee Co., where they were living as a family in 1870. (Marriage records for Rowan County do not exist between 1862 and 1879; I don’t know about the availability for Menifee Co.)

1870 census of Menifee Co., Ky, Beaver precinct (2), enumerated 18 July, lists on p.7 as family #46:
Hall, John, 26; Amanda, 24; Sarah, 6; Cordelia, 4; William, 2. All born in Ky.

The next household is Amanda’s brother Jesse Donahue, and the one after than is John’s widowed sister Elizabeth (Hall) Byram.

1880 census of Menifee Co., Ky, Beaver precinct (2), p. 28, lists as family #164:
Hall, John, 39; Manda, 36; Sarah J., 15; Cordelia, 14; William, 12; Frank, 11; Jake, 5; Clay, 2; May, 2; Lee, 1. All born in Ky.

If the ages are correct, then Clay and May must be twins. The next three households are those of Amanda’s brother Thomas, her brother Jess, and her first cousin William Wells Donahue (all listed with the unusual spelling Donyhue.)