I worked for several hours for Ms. Howard's request, because it was in my "neighborhood." In the process I found - or refound - the answer to where my ancestor Thomas Barton, and other Ruhama settlers including her possible Cunningham, a very interesting bunch - came from in Tennessee - Rutherford County. Lots of folk recorded Tennessee, but no county. However dear ol' Anson West recorded Rutherford County in his history of Methodism in Alabama. You might think that Thomas came directly from South Carolina as he was born there (census), as so many did (one-third of Jefferson County's adults were born there as of 1850). Anyway, as most of you know, such answers, or leads, quite ofen turn up in the various historical renderings, especially the earlier ones where the personal and familial was more important and more known to the writers. I have listed some from time to time. I am not sure that people always burrow into those places. I did it for 40 years at work for identification answers or leads. Indeed, in our research on the ancestry of several families there, the far back has oft been tracked by some connection, sometimes in genealogies and sometimes in histories of one sort or another - swinging from one hunch to another. Anyway, I cannot tell at all that notification of such sources has been helpful. In many cases, people will have known them anyway. Others do not live near them. Bill Erwin

Bill, My TAYLOR line also came to Jefferson Co., AL from Rutherford Co., TN. Aaron Taylor and his brother, Jesse married in Rutherford Co., TN in 1816, received land from their father, James in 1816, sold the land in 1818 and came to AL about that time. Information on them comes from many sources. As you said, a bit from here and a clue from there, etc., put together makes for a connection. Melba ----- Original Message ----- From: "William Erwin" <wrerwin@nc.rr.com> To: <aljeffer@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, August 20, 2007 11:10 AM Subject: [ALJEFF] Sources >I worked for several hours for Ms. Howard's request, because it was in my > "neighborhood." In the process I found - or refound - the answer to where > my ancestor Thomas Barton, and other Ruhama settlers including her > possible > Cunningham, a very interesting bunch - came from in Tennessee - > Rutherford > County. Lots of folk recorded Tennessee, but no county. However dear ol' > Anson West recorded Rutherford County in his history of Methodism in > Alabama. You might think that Thomas came directly from South Carolina as > he was born there (census), as so many did (one-third of Jefferson > County's > adults were born there as of 1850). Anyway, as most of you know, such > answers, or leads, quite ofen turn up in the various historical > renderings, > especially the earlier ones where the personal and familial was more > important and more known to the writers. I have listed some from time to > time. I am not sure that people always burrow into those places. I did it > for 40 years at work for identification answers or leads. Indeed, in our > research on the ancestry of several families there, the far back has oft > been tracked by some connection, sometimes in genealogies and sometimes in > histories of one sort or another - swinging from one hunch to another. > Anyway, I cannot tell at all that notification of such sources has been > helpful. In many cases, people will have known them anyway. Others do not > live near them. > > Bill Erwin > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ALJEFFER-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.484 / Virus Database: 269.12.1/962 - Release Date: 8/20/2007 > 1:08 PM > >