This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/1NE.2ACIB/1.45.141.143 Message Board Post: Hi! Thought I would let you know that The Blacksheariana is online now. Also, when the author wrote it, he did not make an attempt to also identify African American Blackshear/shire/shere's so you may not find your family listed in the book. If you want the URL, email me and I will send it to you. Here is a US County formation site that may help you. It covers the county formations of most every early state beginning in the late 1600's. Also, it has census maps so you may want to check them as I have found at least one instance where a small southern portion of one TN county was actually counted in the census of another county! The URL is http://www.genealogyinc.com/maps/uscf.htm I checked it for Lincoln Co, AR. In 1871, land was taken from Arkansas, Bradley, Desha, Drew and Jefferson Co's to form Lincoln Co so you may have to check all those counties for a possible link to your line. My Blackshear line was white and they were in Union Co, AR only briefly (one child born there in 1849). They appear on the 1850 census and are in Anderson Co, TX by the 1860 census. However, I believe there were other Blackshear's who went to AR as well. There were many Blackshear families that settled in GA (including mine) before any ventured off to AR & TX. One thing you want to keep in mind, the classification of your family as "Black" or "Mulatto" does not necessarily mean they were African American...that said, many of the Blackshear's in GA DID have slaves. I mention this because MANY Native Americans who did not go to OK during The 1838 Removal were often shown as Black or Mulatto (some were shown as White, if their skin color was fair enough). Since the Indians were all" presumed" to be in OK, there was no "Indian" catagory on the census so the census takers often assumed (or were told) that the family was Black or Mulatto. That is not to say that your family doesn't have African American lineage...I just wanted you to keep your consideration of records very open to all possibilities. The most famous of the Blackshear's in GA was Brig Genl David Blackshear...and he was sent there to protect citizens (Twiggs Co, GA) from Indian attacks in the early 1800's. Perry Lynfield Blackshear, the author of The Blacksheariana was a descendent of the General's. I don't know if any of this will help you in your search, but I would not limit myself to just Arkansas & Lincoln Co's if I were you as it's very possible they were living in one of the other counties. ALWAYS try the many different spellings of the surname...you can not believe how I have seen it spelled (when you search a genealogy website, try just putting in "Blacks" in the Find search block and see what pulls up)! The name began, in England, as BlackSHAW! LOL Good Luck in your search, Faye