Dear Cousins, I am still engaged in the wars -- not the Taliban, but the Landlord Wars. It was almost a successful campaign, but when I examined the fine print, not all all the t's were crossed, and none of the the i's were dotted, and the compensation dangling above my hot and oh (!) so needful fist turned out to be darn near Bupkas! So, gotta watch the bottom line when dealing with lawyers. However, whatever the outcome, I will be moving back to my homeland in Eastern Oregon, (at least for awhile) where my Oregon pioneer ancesters first began settling in the 1850's. One of the greatest influences on my genealogy and history research methodology was the association of the Van Winkle family with my Watts family. I now believe this goes back to pre-1700. My mother's paternal grandfather, George Strather Smith was killed in Eastern Oregon's Blue Mountains during the Bannack War of 1878, the last major war of the Northwest. Both Grandpa Smith's father, George Strather Smith. Sr., and his mother, Florence Josephine Watts came to Oregon from the western Missouri area of Jackson, Johnson and Cass Counties, which are along the Mississippi River, the same area which the many wagon trains used as a jump off area to make the journey across the plains. As I began learning about all the families who came here with my families, I found they had been connected for a very long time before their pioneer migrations began. The Watts came to Oregon in the 1850's; the Van Winkles in the 1860's; and George Smith, Sr., in the 1870's. My grandfather was born posthumously in 1879, and as was prescribed by the circumstances and times, his bereaved and bereft mother remarried in 1880, to William "Sam" Grant. Because of the nature of my Great-Grandfather's death, his ubiquitious surname, and the lack of information about his family (Grandpa was raised believing Sam Grant was his father,) the research on the family has been very difficult. I began my search in 1969, especially hoping I would be able to find Grandpa's Smith's elusive ancestry. At that time, Grandpa was 90 years old, and as fate would have it, died a scant two years after I began and still knew almost nothing of the Smith's. Instead of finding Grandpa's ancestry, I am writing it for my Mother's 90th birthday, which was yesterday. It is not down to where all the i's are dotted and the t's all crossed, but it is very wonderful for me to be able to tell Mom that I'm certain I've determined the origins of her Smith family. Because of the Smith research, and its dependence on associated families, I've learned to apply the principles of that 32 year search to my other families and also to pass on what I've found to you. This is the heart of the American Crossroads community. We are all related in this way, either by locality or blood! We truly are a United country. One of our cousins, Mary in Arizona has Penningtons (my father's ancestry) and Carters (my mother's ancestry,) and the name Ephraim VanWinkle Coffee/Coffey. In my packing up and regrouping, I've just come across a copy of a land patent for Abraham Van Winkle, in Wayne County, KY (where my Watts and Markham families lived, (also in IL, and MO, as well as Fentress County, TN) and additionally a very nice local history for Ransom Newton Van Winkle, detailing his Van Winkle history to the early Dutch settlement of NY. (You will have to copy and paste this address, as it is two lines.) http://www.ukans.edu/carrie/kancoll/books/cutler/ atchison/atchison-co-p37.html From these valuable late 19th century biographies of cousins of your ancestors, you can learn a great deal about your own ancestors. Remember the KY genweb has an extremely good biographies collection, as we've found with the Sizemores and Penningtons (and others.) Next, applying the Crossroads concepts, I started poking around Morgan, Overton, and Fentress County, TN which lie in proximity to the Wayne County, KY border. There are both Pembertons and Penningtons in Wayne County, and it is my contention that they are likely ALL Penningtons. Next, I believe that I found some interesting clues for our Cousin Barb T. whose ancestor bore the unlikely name of Arrod(!) -- a distinctive name the rest of us pray for, and we end up with John or Bill! Barb's family is up the crick, through the holler, and cross the mountain in Pulaski County, KY. However, I have surmised that Arrod was given an ancestor's surname. BUT, what is the origin of this Unlikely Surname? I think it could have been Arrant originally, or likely some other similar Dutch surname, like the Van Winkles and Alleys. Alley Watt's birthdate is my Revolutionary War John Watts ancestor's prayer book. And the Alleys are also found in NY, NJ and later in SW Virginia with the Smith, Watts and Markhams. Barb, they're also with John Watts (Sr. and Jr.) in Fentress county aplenty, along with Allrods. Toss in some Burtons and we have come full circle! The TN genweb has the most beautiful maps available at their website. These show clearly the proximities and confusing localities that we have to cope with in SW Virginia, NW North Carolina, and Tennessee. Have a look, and keep scrolling down to find whatever state you want: http://www.livgenmi.com/1895 I will be putting up some of this at the website, (I hope today): http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~amxroads/Tenn/fent.html Love, Your Cousin, Carolyn Carolyn McDaniel cmacdee@teleport.com ========================================= --- Visit American Crossroads --- http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~amxroads