Hi Harry Hogan: I also have an ancestor named William Cloud from Fairfield Dist. SC. He migrated to Madison Co., AL, and late in life, to Davidson Co., TN. In his will, which was probated in TN shortly after his death and almost 50 years later in AL, his 500 acres of rich fertile farm land was divided and recorded. The apparent reason for the delay in AL, was that he willed his estate to his grandchildren; so his adult children apparently agreed to stay on the properties where they resided at his death. It was only after they died, that his grandchildren requested the court to probate his will in AL. So the land records for his property did not show up for all those 50 years. And sometimes, the court appoints some lawyer friend to do the legal work, and his name sometimes shows up in the property deed record indexes. Sometime the local sheriff's name! I don't recall the exact details as regard the division of the 500 acres of fertile farm land. Best wishes. Tom King, Sr.

Tom, Harry, Ray, et al ... Thank you very much for all of your input. I hope something you have contributed helps my line break a hole in our ancestral brick wall. We (think) we are looking for a William Cloud who almost certainly lived in Georgia in 1784 (that's when our Jeremiah was born there) and who we believe subsequently moved to South Carolina and/or possibly to North Carolina. The South Carolina clue comes from the Youngblood-Armstrong book that says Jeremiah was "formerly of South Carolina". That is the only reference we have to his ever being there, but the other details the book gives for him and his family are correct. The North Carolina clue comes from the fact that Jeremiah's slaves indicated they were born there, and the Tennessee clue is that their children were supposedly born in TN 1870 Austin Co., TX (P.O. Hempstead), p. 276, fam. #228 Daniel CLOUD 55 NC Tempie 57 NC Thomas 21 TN Brick 18 TN Huston 14 TN Robert 09 TX This indicates they were in TN at least 1849 through 1856. We don't know when or how these slaves came to Jeremiah. Looking for them to come from another Cloud family is just a shot in the dark, and I very much appreciate everyone's input on this subject. Perhaps the primary clue to a William being Jeremiah's father is the fact that the eldest son of four generations from Jeremiah were named William. The second generation was William Jasper Cloud and the third was William Lafayette Cloud, but I have no theory as to the significance of their middle names. .... and, should this prove to break our logjam, I want everyone to know that it was a descendant of those slaves that gave us the break. I have included their family in our history at: http://mykindred.com/cloud/TX/pages/b189.htm#P50665 (In the Old Testament, there was a special sacrifice prescribed for sins committed unknowingly. I would like to think that having slaves was something that slipped below the moral radar screen for many people because it was such common practice. We know our forefathers were no different than people are today -- some wereevil, some were self-centered, and some made honest, unwitting mistakes. I don't know the reasons any person did (or does) any particular thing, but we should work to clean up a mess when we finally do see it.) thanks again, Tom Cloud At 03:32 AM 2/18/2005, you wrote: >Hi Harry Hogan: > >I also have an ancestor named William Cloud from Fairfield Dist. SC. He >migrated to Madison Co., AL, and late in life, to Davidson Co., TN. In his will, >which was probated in TN shortly after his death and almost 50 years later in >AL, his 500 acres of rich fertile farm land was divided and recorded. The >apparent reason for the delay in AL, was that he willed his estate to his >grandchildren; so his adult children apparently agreed to stay on the properties where >they resided at his death. It was only after they died, that his grandchildren >requested the court to probate his will in AL. > >So the land records for his property did not show up for all those 50 years. >And sometimes, the court appoints some lawyer friend to do the legal work, and >his name sometimes shows up in the property deed record indexes. Sometime the >local sheriff's name! I don't recall the exact details as regard the division >of the 500 acres of fertile farm land. > >Best wishes. > >Tom King, Sr.