My grandfather Jesse Monroe Whaley was born in Searcy County (per family oral history, no documentation). The date was approx. fall 1877; he never knew his birth date for sure. His father (possibly Will or Tom Whaley) disappeared by the time Jesse was 2. Jesse and his mother Mary J. Renfro appear on the Van Buren County, Ark., census in 1880, and in October 1880 Mary married a Wm. Henry Gordon in Van Buren County. I have a copy of that marriage license. Mary was born in Arkansas and was part Indian (according to family lore she was Cherokee). (Van Buren adjoins Searcy Co.) Mary died about 1885, and Jesse was raised by his stepfather Henry Gordon. I've never been able to identify Jesse's father; Jesse possibly had a brother Tom or Will Whaley). Legend has it that the father and other son may have ended up in Texas. I've never found proof of a marriage between Mary Renfro and anyone named Whaley. I've checked at least 20 counties in Arkansas. Jesse lived in Arkansas most of his life, in these counties: Searcy, Van Buren, Woodruff, Faulkner, and Yell. He died in 1924 in Pontotoc County, Okla., at age 47. His wife was Mary Adeline Miller, and they had 7 children (Rosie, Mirlon, Frances, Oma, Clarence, Dollie, Maude). Can anyone give me any clues I might trace? I'd like to know about Mary's parents, and I'd like to identify the Whaley who fathered Jesse (possibly out of wedlock). Thanks, Bev Graham Springfield, MO