I don't know what county Gee's Bend is located, but I read an interesting article about it in a quilt magazine that had info that may apply to other places. The article was about quilter's but one of the people interviewed mentioned that people living on the Pettway place were expected to change their name from whatever to Pettway. The example given was his mother. She had married Ed O. Pettway. He was born a Williams but as long as they lived there he used Pettway. Including on the census. Ed's father was Ottoway Williams and he changed his name to Pettway also. I read this info in the June 2003 issue of Quilter's Newsletter pages 49 to 53. The article is called "Our Quilts by the Women of Gee's Bend". Sandy P - near St. Louis, MO