I was thinking about something that may help to explain your Terry family.

About 3yrs ago at one of my family reunions, I had a lengthy conversation with a great Uncle about 85yrs who educated me on term I've never heard before...."puppywork". He was explaining how my great grandparents and their children came to own the land that so many relatives are fighting over today (but that's another story). Anyway, he told me that my grandfather and his other brothers did a lot of "puppywork". In short, some men would do a lot of odd jobs which would take them into neighboring counties or states for the duration of that job. These odd jobs could go on for weeks, even months at a time, but eventually they would return home. This would explain why the woman is listed as married but her spouse in not around. Just a thought.