Elaine, Good to hear from you. Yes, my great-great grandmother Emma Jane Bearce's maiden name was Decker. I will find out more. I have her picture. My mother, who is 88, after all those years of never being sick, has been in intensive care...but has now returned home in Los Angeles. I will have to quiz her. I think I mentioned that my Bearce family's daughter married my great grandfather John Patton in Macon, MO. I'm very confused about all of this. Orin S. Bearce came to Macon, MO, before the Civil War..from S. Illinois. But, he left the family farm near Auburn, Maine, to work on a medicine wagon. He became a pharmacist, treated horses, raised horses...and shipped horses back and forth from the East Coast..through a brother who remained there. For those times, he did very well. I've looked at his picture and have said: "Darned if he doesn't look like an Indian." My mother is not amused by all of this being revealed to her during her 88th year. This is because all her Mayflower cousins are via the Bearce family line... Elder Brewster, Miles Standish, John and Pricilla Alden. I have letters discussing visits back east to see Bearce and Brewster relatives..and I will dig those up and try and scan them..and send them to you. There was a Billings on the Mayflower. No relation, because my name is German. The Billings on the Mayflower (the bad boy of the Mayflower) was the first Puritan hanged in Plymouth for killing a neighbor over a boundary dispute. Really sounds like my side of the family, to think about it. Sorry for the confusion. I seem to think some of the Bearce line and Decker families came from upstate New York around the finger lakes. Or I may be overdosed on chocolate. Cordially, Tom Billings -----Original Message----- From: ElaineDecker@cs.com [mailto:ElaineDecker@cs.com] Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2000 1:53 PM To: BEARCE-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [BEARCE COUSINS] Augustine and Mary.....Part 2 In a message dated 9/13/2000 10:50:09 AM Eastern Daylight Time, BillingsT@missouri.edu writes: << What about Cannonicus, the Sachem who provided the land for Providence , RI? I thought there was family connection there. Nice work. Keep it up. Thank you for your efforts. Tom >> Tom, Are you the one that said you have a Decker in your line? Do you know anything about them? I have a lot of the line but I am always looking for more. Welcome to this crazy site. Hope you like crazy people (not that I am one of them. I am, of course, referring the rest of this family.... The Sane One, Elaine ==== BEARCE Mailing List ==== We are glad that you are a part of the list!! The more the merrier!! ============================== Personalized Mailing Lists: never miss a connection again. http://pml.rootsweb.com/ Brought to you by RootsWeb.com.