1900 Census, Davidson County, Tennessee

1900, Enumeration District 145, State Penitentiary, Dist. 13, Davidson County, Tennessee, page 168a

William Green age 31 appears to have been the same William George Washington Green who was the first husband of my great grandmother Mary Mahala Jane (Mahala) Bray. William cannot be found in any other jurisdiction in the 1900 census, and his name appeared in criminal court cases in Loudon County, Tennessee in a time frame which matches up with him being in prison in 1900. The William Green who married Mahala Bray was born about 1868 in North Carolina and his parents were both born in North Carolina. William's family was living in Tennessee by the time of the 1880 census.

The only discordant piece of data is that this census entry reports that he was married, whereas he was divorced from Mahala in 1897. However, the court record for the divorce reported that he could not be located in Loudon County at the time the divorce case was heard in court. The divorce was granted because he had deserted his wife and child, and it's possible he did not even know that he was divorced.

Further research on Tennessee prison records is merited to verify further that this William Green is the same William Green who was married to Mahala.