At 10:48 PM 5/23/00 -0500, you wrote: >Hello -- > >This is what some people call a fishing expedition. I hope I catch a good >one! > >My great-great grandparents were John Roper Billingsley (descendent of >Clement) and Martha J.D. Scott Billingsley. The 1860 Autauga Census >(Kingston Beat) shows a Scott household at house 758 and at house 759. It >shows John's family (father C.C. Billingsley) at house 811. John >Billingsley and Martha Scott married in Autauga Co. in 1872; John was age 25 >and Martha was age 16. Both died and were buried in Chilton Co. > >The occupants of house 758 were all named Scott: John (26 yrs, born AL), >James (52 yrs, born NC), Martha (29 yrs, born NC), James (6 yrs, born NC), >Martha (4 yrs, born NC), Carie (2 yrs, born NC), and Mary (<1 yr, born NC). > > >Occupants of house 759 were all named Scott: a 50-year-old woman, two men >in their 20's, one girl age 15, and one girl age 13. They were all said to >have been born in SC. > >Questions: >1. Does anyone know anything about these Scotts? I believe the 4-year-old >Martha is my ancestor, John Roper's wife. >2. I wonder if 52-year-old James and 29-year-old Martha were married and >had just recently migrated into Autauga Co. (since baby Mary was born in >NC). >3. I wonder if Martha was perhaps James's second wife, since he was 31 >years older than she. 4. I wonder who 26-year-old John Scott was; he was >born in AL >5. Was John a relation of James? >6. The marriage certificate for John Billingsley and Martha Scott says that >John and Martha were married at "John Scott," which I take to mean "at the >home of John Scott." Did house 758 belong to John (I need to look at the >original census page to see about this)? >7. Were James and family staying with John until they found a place to >settle? >8. What was the practice at that time when a family migrated to a new area? > >9. Is it likely that the second houseful of Scotts, born in SC, was related >to the first, most born in NC? >10. Did clans of families settle in nearby houses in early Autauga? > >11. Is there any way to guess at the distance between house 758 and house >811? I suspect that John Billingsley and Martha Scott were neighbors in >1860, and then they married in 1872. > > >Pat, in Texas > > Pat, I find the POB to be unreliable. I find my ancestor Jesse Dennis listed as born in NC, SC and GA in different census' even though only GA seems likely. You might try the Bureau of Land Management website to see if they bought land from the fed. government. <http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/> While they may have bought land from individvuals this is still the most likely source at that time. David Dennis, dddennis@concentric.net, UsGebWeb webpage for Lincoln Co., Ga + Chilton Co., Al, and Rootsweb mailing list owner for them and the SWORDS-L lists, among other things.