The McSHAN family moved to Arkansas from Honey Grove, Fannin Co., Texas around 1882. The father, Francis Littleton "Litrell" McSHAN, was a school teacher. Daughter, Nancy Lucretia McSHAN, married "Prince Charlie" JAMES (a Chickasaw?) and had a son, Jesse JAMES, c. 1897. Charlie JAMES left her to go to Kansas. She then married Newton PETTIJOHN in Arkansas (c. 1899) and they moved to Oklahoma. I have no idea where in Arkansas to look for the McSHAN or PETTIJOHN families! One hint: The McSHAN family apparently lived next door to "Aunt Betsy Longaker" of Pattens Gap (a 1965 newspaper article descibes Aunt Betsy as "legendary character of that era" and recounts a story about the railroad being laid down through her property). Any clues about the MCSHAN or PETTIJOHN families, or the location of Patten's Gap would be much appreciated. I haven't found Patten's Gap in any maps! Thank you! Valerie

Hi, I checked around and couldn't find any listing for Pattens Gap,either. I found quite a few McShans through the rootsweb search,but none with your first names. Same with the Pettijohn name in connection with Newton. I then looked for maps in Ark concerning RR routes,etc,but no go. I finally thought to check out the Longaker name. I didn't find anything under that spelling, but if you put Longacre in the Ar search engine you will come up with about 6 sites to check out. None of them had a Betsy,but you never know. Also, if you go to Genforum(shhhhhh,don't say it too loud) and put Longacre into their search, you will be taken to the Longacre forum site. Maybe you can find your McShan people and Pattens Gap by going around in another direction. Just a thought. Dawn ----- Original Message ----- From: "VALERIE BURKE DELEON" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2001 11:50 AM Subject: [ARKANSAS] Brick Wall: McSHAN/McASHAN > > The McSHAN family moved to Arkansas from Honey Grove, Fannin Co., Texas around > 1882. The father, Francis Littleton "Litrell" McSHAN, was a school teacher. > Daughter, Nancy Lucretia McSHAN, married "Prince Charlie" JAMES (a Chickasaw?) > and had a son, Jesse JAMES, c. 1897. Charlie JAMES left her to go to > Kansas. She then married Newton PETTIJOHN in Arkansas (c. 1899) and they > moved to Oklahoma. > > I have no idea where in Arkansas to look for the McSHAN or PETTIJOHN families! > > One hint: The McSHAN family apparently lived next door to "Aunt Betsy > Longaker" of Pattens Gap (a 1965 newspaper article descibes Aunt Betsy as > "legendary character of that era" and recounts a story about the railroad > being laid down through her property). > > Any clues about the MCSHAN or PETTIJOHN families, or the location of Patten's > Gap would be much appreciated. I haven't found Patten's Gap in any maps! > > Thank you! > Valerie > > > ==== ARKANSAS Mailing List ==== > ListAdministrator of Arkansas-L > Diana Boothe [email protected] > > ============================== > Search over 1 Billion names at Ancestry.com! > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/rwlist1.asp >