Hello Coopers, et al, I'm just back from a month's trip that included research in TN and NC. My ggg grandfather, Edmund Blount COOPER first appears (or my first record of him) as a single head of household, age 16-26 in the 1790 census of Bertie Co. NC. He married Jinette PHILLAW in Bertie Co in 1799 and appears in the 1800 census of Bertie Co with a white female his age category, presumably Jinette, his new wife and an older white female, (almost certainly Jinette mother), and 9 slaves. In 1803 he begins to appear in numerous Wake and Granville County records and about 1826 moves from Wake County to Henry County Tennessee. He died in Henry County TN in 1845 leaving a lengthy will and a very substantial estate. He names the following children in the will: Whitmel H. Cooper, Sarah Alston Cooper Tharpe, Mary Cooper Cooney, E.B. Cooper, Jr., Jesse Christmas Cooper, John W. Cooper and Jane Elinor Cooper Harris. >From court records and wills I discovered while in NC, it is clear that his wife Jinette's mother was Mary ?? PHILLAW PIERCE, wife of John PIERCE who left her and her daughter, Jinette PHILLAW, his step daughter, a comfortable estate. Based on other references in the wills, I am conjecturing that Mary PHILLAW PIERCE's maiden name was LESTER, i.e. Mary LESTER. If anyone on the list can add anything about Mary LESTER or Blount COOPER'S parents I will be most appreciative. Otherwise I am left with the assumption, growing stronger all the time, that Blount COOPER was conceived by a flash of lightning, and suddenly appeared, full grown, in Bertie Co. in1790. Will Cooper Dorris, CA