This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: mitchell, chesser, coon Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/RS.2ADI/609.1.1.2.1 Message Board Post: I am interested in your Isaiah Mitchell (b. abt. 1841, d. 1868). In my research I have found the same man except he is called Alexander (1860 Census, Newton Post Office, Dale Co. Al) and he has a son named Isaiah. Young Isaiah (aka.Tobe..interesting since I have seen the name Tobias pop up once or twice) is 1 year old and his mother is Rebecca. I have not found another Isaiah except the young one in 1860. This Isaiah is my gGrandfather. I learned all of this info through a very old relative on the Tuberville or Garret side in Florala. This Alexander is said to have died in 1868 of war injuries. My Grandmother Effie Lee Mitchell thought his name was Alfred Isaiah. Since he died so young, I can see the confusion between Alfred and Alexander. My Grand father was Lonnie Jackson Mitchell, Sr., son of Isaiah and Sarah Elizabeth Chesser. I have a picture of Isaiah and Sarah Elizabeth. I have also seen pictures of some of their children and it is remarkable how much they resemble some american indians. I have seen Sarah's Bible which has some family history recorded in it and still contains a letter dated 8 July 1862 from John Jerrel Coon to his wife Elizabeth and to his parents J.J. (James Jerrel) and Wineyan (his spelling) Coon. The current owner is Jimmy Garret and he told me that the Bible may have originally belonged to Martha Rebecca Coon, Sara's mother. James Jerrel and Wineyan were the parents of Martha Rebecca Coon. Martha Rebeeca Coon married John Chesser and were the parents of Sarah Elizabeth Chesser who married Isaiah Mitchell. My Grandfather Lonnie Jackson, Sr. told me long ago that he was offered free land in Oklahoma because he was 1/4 indian. He indicated that one of his grandparents was full blooded but he offered no more detail. As a side note, I have some oral history on the murder of John Franklin Mitchell. The way my grandmother Effie Mitchell told the story was that her brother in law was a "bad man". Once before his murder he had been attacked and he made his way home basically holding his intestines in place with his hand. Story goes that his mother, Sarah Elizabeth cleaned him up and sewed him up with sewing thread. His next attack would be his last. He supposedly was hit in the head and killed. His body was found laying partially submerged in a pond and story has it that he was quite disfigured due to the actions of the turtles, crawdads and other scavengers inhabiting the pond. As I said, this is only oral history passed down to me from his brother and sister in law, my grandparents.