I have a Nathaniel who was born abt 1800 in Emanuel County, GA, but he didn't have a son named Joseph and he married Catherine Johnson. That's one Brown line. The other is a James D. Brown who married an Elizabeth, no less. There seem to be a lot of unattached Browns who were born in NC in the late 1700's. My James was born in 1796 in NC. James had a son named James Duncan, so I'm guessing his middle name was Duncan. Elizabeth was probably a second marriage. He married her in Irwin County, GA abt 1840. I think the genetic approach may be our only hope in some of these James Brown lines. I saw on another list that someone sent out a query asking for family characteristics and compiled them as a research aid. We already did some of that with the crooked little finger and webbed toes. I just read, on the Melungeon List, that the crooked pinky is well known among Native Americans. Does anyone know of any documentation? I'm just wandering around in the dark with my James Brown. What do you all think about compiling a list of all our Browns born in NC in the 1790's and comparing it with the 1800 census? I don't have the census handy, but I could find out the number and location of Brown families in NC in 1800. Just an idea... I could compile the information if everyone with information on NC Browns in the 1790's emailed me off list...or am I just imagining this would lead to anything??? When DNA tests get less expensive, I can volunteer either my uncle or my first cousin: both James Browns, of course. <G> Mitzi