This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: burries/burris/burres (?)--vandivier, hamner, dollins, watson Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/iBH.2ACIB/968.1.1.2 Message Board Post: >From some of the information I have it looks like William T. Burries was in the area of Franklin, IN (Johnson Co) from the late 1800's till his death in 1901. He and Joshua and Lewis (2 of his sons) bought and sold large tracts of land, as did Ralph (my husband's grandfather). All of them raised horses for the women's colleges in the eastern US and/or for harness racing. Two of the families into which, or with which the Burries married (Hamner and Vandivier) were from Virginia, but had quite a significant representation in the same area of Indiana during that same time period. Where were your folks during the mid-1800's ? My mother was a genealogist in Mississippi and used to talk about how both with poor penmanship and/or illiteracy the spelling of many family names was changed over time. I was a Melton. She said that Milton, Middleton, and Melton were probably all the same name, at one time. I think of that often as I read about the Burries and Burris and Burres and Burress, and, even Burroughs spellings. I hope to hear how the information I've sent "fits" with what you know about your family! Keep in touch.