Hannah McMurtry Hargrave was apprencticed by her mother's husband, Hezekiah Hargrave to William England of Kentucky in May of 1786. Soon afterwards, England tranfered his indenture paper to John Burney, who then transferred the document to his father William Burney. These events, should have taken place in Lincoln/Logan Co., Kentucky. By 1797 this William Burney/Birney migrated to the Ouachita area of NE Louisiana bringing his children and little Hannah. In 1815 Hannah was released from the indenture by the courts in Ouachita Parish, La. There is some confusing data surrounding all of this. First, John, who according to the indenture documents of the 1780's, was the son of William Burney, Sr. Papers found in the Ouachita detailing William Burney Sr's death and estate settlement, and the Senate Land Hearing of 1852 depositions---claim that William Burney Sr's son John was born about 1787---so he of course, could not have been the person who recv'd the indenture agreement from William England. A week only search of the Birneys in NC and Kentucky reveals numerous William Burney Sr's and William Burney Jr's---and a healthy quanity of Johns and James. What we know for sure--or from depositions, census and assessment type records is this. William Birney Sr. came to the Ouachita in 1797 as part of the Barron de Bastrop settlement bubble. He brought an unnamed wife and children, and a named son William Jr. Later documents claim William Sr. was the father of John who was 10, James 5 and William Jr 1 1/2 when they arrived on the Ouachita. That document also claims daughter Anne was born there on the Ouachita. This Ann married James Barton at the Ouachita in 1821. In the early 1800's Williams Jr. and Sr. claimed in a sworn statement against Zadoc Harmon in the Ouachita---to have been Harmon's neighbors in North Carolina. William Jr., William Sr's wife was Anne ?, and she is called a widow in 1815 when she testifies in Hannah's indenture hearing. Dates and palces do not match or add up. Do you know of a William Burney who perhaps lived in North Carolina, maybe Kentucky---and then finally settled in the Ouachita area of Louisiana. We know he was on the Ouachita in 1797, 1808, and in 1810. Thanks shirley