Be careful not to confuse him with his first cousin Alexander A. Short, born Aug 1859, who married Sarilda’s first cousin Josephine Elam.

Morgan Co., Ky birth records list Cerelda Elam, born 15 Dec 1855 on Strand Creek, father Wm J. Elam, mother’s maiden name Elener H. Wheeler.

The handwring is cramped; it may say Corelda. Ancestry.com has indexed it as Cordela, but the ending part looks a lot more like “elda” to me; there is considerably more space between the first ascender and the following loop than there is between that loop and the next ascender. So this is probably a variant spelling of her first name, although considering that the marriage record called her Surrilda C. Elam, it may be that she had similar first and second names.

Her death certificate has her name very distorted. It records Seilte Elmon Short, age 75 years 11 days, born 15 Dec 1855 in Morgan Co., Ky, died 26 Dec 1930 in Middletown, Butler Co., Ohio, residence 1604 Pearl St., divorced, ex-husband Alexander Short, father James Elmon, born in Ky, mother’s maiden name unknown, born in Ky, cause of death bronchial pneumonia, informant Eliza Short, Middletown, Ohio, burial in Torrence, Ky. (Probably Torrent, which is a town in Wolfe Co.)

In 1880 she is recorded in Grassy precinct, Morgan Co., Ky, as Sarilda Elam, age 24, single, servant, with the family of Ezekiel McClure age 30 and his wife Sarah J. (nee Rose), age 26.

Morgan Co., Ky marriage records list the marriag on 15 May 1881 of Wolford A. Short and Surrilda C. Elam, at James Elam’s by William L. Gevedon, witnesses J. H. Wheeler and James Elam.

1900 census of Wolfe Co., Ky, Torrent precinct, enumerated 14 June, lists on p. 7B as family #126/133:
Short, Alexander, 37, b. Jan 1863, farmer; Zerilda, wife, 37, b. Dec 1862, married 17 years, mother of 6 children, 5 living; Merideth, son, 17, b. Mar 1883; James, son, 10, b. Aug 1889; Elijah, son, 7, b. Mar 1893; Alexander, son, 4, b. Apr 1896; Jesse, son, 3, b. Mar 1897; Victoria, dau, 5/12, b. Dec 1899. All Ky Ky Ky.

Note that there are six children in the household, even though Zerilda is reported as the mother of only 5 living children, and they married in May 1881. Either this is a recording error, or one of the children here is not hers. I am tentatively assuming the latter, and putting Victoria as a child of Alec and his second wife Arzella Whitt. They may have already been carrying on an extended relationship, which eventually led to Alec and Sarilda’s divorce.

I cannot find Arzella or their children in the 1910 census. Nor can I find Sarilda.

Alex may, however, be the following, with Alex Jr. being listed as “Allison”:

1910 census of Wolfe Co., Ky, Stillwater precinct, enumerated 6 May, lists on p. 8A as family #115:
Short, Alex, 50, second marriage, married 14 years, laborer on farm; Allison, son, 13; Jessie, son, 12. All born Ky Ky Ky.

Fourteen years prior would be 1896. If it is the same Alex Short, then in 1900 he was still married to, and living with, his first wife Sarilda Elam. But he may have begun his relationship with Arzella in 1896.