Hi Wayne! Thank you for your kind introduction. Now I am blushing!!1 Thank you also for the information you sent. It arrived yesterday and today I am pouring over it and am fascinated by several items. I decided to post this to the group to get other's comments as well as yours. I read carefully the letter from Dennis Bryant to you. It made me pull out the probate court packet I have on old Benjamin and read and reread it all over again. As I mentioned, I had the entire box number 4, package number 118 copied for me by the Archives. I wanted more than the will. Now, I don't begin to understand legal documents so want to be completely frank up front. I am only guessing at a lot of this. Dennis comented that: "The various fragments of Benjamin Busbee's will designate Reese Buzbee, son, in the body of the will and the Executor's accounts name him W. R. and Wm. Reese Buzbee." As you know, I feel that Reese Buzbee and William Reese Buzbee were two different people. I strongly suspect that Reese Buzbee was the father of William Reese Buzbee. Looking at all the documents, Reese Buzbee is definitely mentioned in the body of the will as the son of old Benjamin. The other two sons mentioned were Benjamin, Jr. and Miles. The "Account of the sale of the personal estate of Benjamin Senr. of Edgefield District deceased sold to on the 20th of November 1815," lists each purchaser, the article sold, and the amount in dollars and cents. Each purchaser was listed individually with all the items they bought. In order, the purchasers were: Susanah Buzbee, Stephen Norris, John Gosset, William Dent, Reese Buzbee, Lewis Sawyer, Thomas Rawls, Drury Fort, Ansil Sawyer, Thomas Spraggen, Matthew Witherson, Philip Buzbee, Micheal Reach, Willliam B. Norris, Charles Warren, Nathan Norris, Allen Bodie, John Howard, James Eidson, Drucilar Buzbee, Miles Buzbee, Ben! jamin Hartley, and W. Reese Buzbee. I find it highly significant that Reese Buzbee and Wm. Reese Buzbee were listed separately making me conclude that they were two different people. The pages that have me most confused are the pages listing amounts paid out to different people by Nathan Norris, over a long period of time. Some were probably debts incurred by the estate but several look like payments to family. Let me list some of the latter. On November 20, 1816 Miles Buzbee received $30. On November 20, 1816 Drucillar Hartley received $30. [Now, that one makes you stop and think!! Drucillar Buzbee was one of the purchasers at the estate sale. Here is a Drucillar Hartley. Did she get married some time between November of 1815 and November of 1816???] On February 27, 1823 Jeremiah Buzbee received $29.40. On August 13, 1816 Susannah Buzbee received $37.07 & $60.00. On May 15, 1821 Burrell Buzbee received $24.00 [Remember that by June 1817 Benjamin Buzbee, Jr. had died. I think Burrell received the money as the oldest som of Benjamin, Jr.] On March 6, 1822 Wm. R. Buzbee received $30.00 [I think his dad Reese had died by this time and Wm! . R. was receiving the money as the oldest son of Reese. This was much the same as Jeremiah and Burrell receiving the money for thier dad's.] I have a copy of the deed where the children of Miles Buzby (William, Benjamin, Mary Ann, Rebecca, Miles, and John) were selling land that had belonged to Miles Sr. in 1825. I feel that Miles had died by this time and his children were dividing his land. I believe the estate papers I have for a Miles Buzbee, dated November 11, 1831, are that of the son Miles, Jr. as a John Busbie is mentioned as executor. The only Busbee purchaser was a Susannah (wife of Miles?). If this had been for Miles, Sr. one would expect William, Benjamin, Mary Ann, Rebecca, Miles , Jr., and John to also be purchasers. Thus I feel that the three sons of Benjamin Sr. listed in his will died: Benjamin, Jr. by June 1817, Reese, by 1820, and Miles by 1825. Dennis also mentioned that he had Wm. R. Buzbee living on land in south Bibb Co., adjoining Houston Co., in 1827. I have a copy of an indenture for a purchase of land by Rese Buzby from Jesse McNeil on January 8, 1824. In that indenture Rese Buzby is listed as being from Bibb County so we know he was there before that date to be considered to be from there. Perhaps he left S.C. soon after receiving the money from his grandfather's estate. Better close before I raise too many more questions. I look forward to responses. Kathy

Kathy, I think I also have the full probate court packet, with the probate and the will and also Ned's petition for Emancipation. (Please don't read any negativity into the email, I am just looking for the truth too, emails always sound harsh.) I don't agree with you that William Reese and Reese are different people. But if they are different people, then I feel there is no proof to say who is the father of William Reese. With so many Busby's in SC, how would you able to assign him to one family? At that time, it was very common to name children after their paternal grandparents, then possibly their father or the father's older brother. If Reese and William Reese were two different people then it would be hard to say who the father was, as I have never seen William Reese named in a will or a land deed, or deed of gift in South Carolina. The governor's genealogist speaks to the question of Reese and William Reese, since his explanation is clearer than mine I will transcribe it here: "An interesting item to notice is that R. William Busby was a witness to Nathan Busby's land purchase in February of 1823 and the same plot of land that Reece purchased (lot 14 in the 4 District) was sold by William R. Busbee in 1826. All of the Busbys are listed in either Houston, Crawford or Bibb County in 1830. Since William R. sold land in Bibb County in 1829 and 1836, he should have been listed in the 1830 Census of Bibb County. However the only Busby's in Bibb County are James and Reace. There is no William Busby in the entire state of Georgia (census) in 1830. Another item of interest is that James and Elizabeth named their oldest son William R. Busbee. He was probably named in honor of James' father, William Reace. Because of the circumstantial evidence herein explained, we feel it is safe to assume that Reace, William R. and R. William Busby are one and the same person -- William Reese Busby, the father of James." I have a record of a grandchild of William Reese Busby, Reese Busby Schofield, said his mother's father's name was Reese Busby. So while this is something that we will continue to look at, I will stay with the notion that they are one and the same person. Two items in my life this week also point out how these things can occur : at my friend's mother's funeral, a woman I have known for over 20 years as Betty was actually Kathleen. My own Mother told me her name was Lois Emma and when I collected her birth certificate, Mama had never lied about her age, but she was Emma Lois. And as an aside about Benjamin siring children into a ripe old age on the news yesteday there was an item about an 80 year old man and his 40 year old wife having their first child. regards, Gaila > As you know, I feel that Reese Buzbee and William Reese Buzbee were two different people. I strongly suspect that Reese Buzbee was the father of William Reese Buzbee. Looking at all the documents, Reese Buzbee is definitely mentioned in the body of the will as the son of old Benjamin. The other two sons mentioned were Benjamin, Jr. and Miles. The "Account of the sale of the personal estate of Benjamin Senr. of Edgefield District deceased sold to on the 20th of November 1815," lists each purchaser, the article sold, and the amount in dollars and cents. Each purchaser was listed individually with all the items they bought. In order, the purchasers were: Susanah Buzbee, Stephen Norris, John Gosset, William Dent, Reese Buzbee, Lewis Sawyer, Thomas Rawls, Drury Fort, Ansil Sawyer, Thomas Spraggen, Matthew Witherson, Philip Buzbee, Micheal Reach, Willliam B. Norris, Charles Warren, Nathan Norris, Allen Bodie, John Howard, James Eidson, Drucilar Buzbee, Miles Buzbee, Ben! > jamin Hartley, and W. Reese Buzbee. I find it highly significant that Reese Buzbee and Wm. Reese Buzbee were listed separately making me conclude that they were two different people.