I just saw this old post. You may have already found this info but here is what I have in a family history I put together:
J.C. and Edy separated sometime around 1872. He traveled to Auburn, VA, where he met Priscilla Howard. They had two children, a son Lee Clark Cehen (1873) and a daughter Martha (1874). J.C. married Priscilla in 1878. On his marriage license, J.C. states he is a widower but that was not true. He and Priscilla eventually ended their relationship and J.C. moved on again..
Returning to NC in the early 1900’s J.C, by this time in his mid fifties, met 20 year old Alice Bowman in Surry County, NC. They moved to McDowell County, WV, where J.C. found work in the coal mines. They had three sons, Elvert b.1906, Shirley (called “Charlie”) b.1904, and Manuel b.1911, and daughter Nettie b.1909. . The family moved back to Surry County, NC, when J.C. became ill with Black Lung disease and he died there on January 31, 1915 at the age of 70.