Ok, here's another quandry! <G> My ggf, Terrill Wilkie BRUCE, son of George Osborn and Phoebe Kuykendall BRUCE, of Woodstock, Cherokee Co. GA, was in the 1850 Cherokee Co. census with his widowed mother and younger siblings. In 1852, he is in Long Shoals, Greene Co. GA where he married Martha Rebecca THIGPEN. A few years later, before 1860, he, his family, his m-i-l and her younger children moved to Sparta, Hancock Co. GA where many of them lived out their lives. Terrill's father died around 1848, and he was the eldest son. I find it odd that he would leave his mother alone with all the younger children and go so far to be married. What on earth took him to Greene Co.? Were the other BRUCES there kin???? The earliest I have that line is as follows: James, of Wolf Creek SC; James, Jr. Habersham Co. GA; George Osborn; Terrill Wilkie. That brings me to the family story. Dad said that one of his female ancestors was SO mean that she lived out in the woods alone. When she was found dead of UN-natural means, no one bothered to find out who did it, as they considered it a service to the community!!!!!!! Now, this could very well have been Phoebe Kuykendal BRUCE, as ALL her children, but one, left the area where she lived when they married. One son, Abraham, who lost an arm in the Civil War, never married, and I believe he lived with his mother. Anne Bowden Searching: Clark, Bruce, Thigpen, Kuykendall, Sheppard, Pittard, Tanner, Cole http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/3387 ___________________________________________________________________ Get the Internet just the way you want it. Free software, free e-mail, and free Internet access for a month! Try Juno Web: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tagj.