My sister, Judy Driscoll, and I have been brainstorming with several Stockton descendants to find the correct history of Mary Agness Stockton and her daughter-in-law Fanny. We think we have it worked out. The original story came to us from Milford Crowley in 1970 when he wrote down family memories to share with relatives. He had taken these notes as an 11 year old at a 1920 family reunion. I have the original pages. Samuel Craig, son of James Craig and Rhoda Niblick of Long Cane, Abbeville District, SC was married to Jane Cochran of Abbeville. Their children were James S. , Nancy. Ebenezer, Samuel C., John M., Jane. Rhoda Niblic, Mary, Daniel Gray and Alexander Porter Craig. Their son James S. had a family of boys and one daughter who are all recorded in McLean Co. records. Three of his sons , William, John Therian Wesley and Robert, went to California between 1850- 1853 to mine for gold in the Placer Co., CA area. William went back during the Civil War, but came West again to Nevada and Washington. John stayed in California and Robert returned to Illinois. Samuel and Jane�s son Samuel C. Craig married Mary Agness (E.) Stockton 14 May 1825 in Lawrence Co., AL. They moved to IL and then to Montgomery Co., MO, where Samuel and family appear in the 1840 federal census. Several children are shown, but we only know about Porter C. Craig, born in IL in about 1830. We cannot locate Samuel C. Craig or family on the 1850 census. Possibly they were on their way to California. In the 1860 Placer Co., CA census, Porter is shown as P.C. Craig, age 30 b IL, miner, estate valued at $600 with wife Mary 25 b MO, daughter Jenny 8 b MO and mother Mary 55, b KY. It appears that Samuel C. Craig had died by then. We find no further record of him. In his book, Milford stated that Porter was the son of James S. Craig�s brother. He said, �John T. W. Craig married Fanny Stockton Craig; she was the widow of Porter Craig � John�s children were Walter, Florence, Edith, Ida, Arthur, Eustace and May, all living when I wrote the 1920 notes, from which these names have been taken. We knew Edith best; she was married to John Maynard and they lived in Santa Clara where they had a fruit and nut orchard and also a thriving trucking business hauling fruit to San Francisco and Los Angeles.� This story has caused problems because even the Stockton family was unable to locate a Fanny Stockton in Lawrence Co., AL who had married a Porter Craig. We still are unable to locate Fanny�s marriage records. The Stocktons say Mary Agness Stockton was the daughter of Nathaniel Stockton and Margaret Sloss of Lawrence Co., AL. In 1870 John Craig is living in Petaluma, CA with wife Fannie M. age 38 b MO and Mary A. Craig age 66 born KY. After considerable discussion, we have decided Fanny Craig was so called because her name was Mary Frances and having two Mary Craig�s in the family was too confusing. The discrepancy in her age could be due to the time of year of the census or error. We all agree this is Mary A. Stockton Craig, his wife�s mother-in-law and his aunt. The children match the ones mentioned by Milford. In 1880, the John Craig family is back in Foresthill, Placer Co., CA which was the location of the 1860 census. This time, Mary A. Craig is gone � assumed to have died. John�s wife is called Fannie and is 45 years old, born in MO. On the California Death Index, three of Fanny Craig�s daughters stated that their mother�s maiden name was MING! We have wrestled with this and unanimously agreed that the maiden name of Stockton was an error possibly transposed from her mother-in-law�s name. Yesterday, one Stockton researcher noticed that in 1870 Fanny M. Craig said her father was born in Florida . Unable to locate a Mary or Fannie Ming in census records, I searched for Ming�s in Florida. The floodgates opened. Captain Frederick L. Ming's Company served in Major Read's Battalion Florida Volunteers in Florida Seminole Indian War in 1836. According to a tree on Ancestry.com, Frederick L. Ming was the brother of Thomas N. Ming who married Susanna Stephenson. This was quite interesting to us, since a Stephenson had performed marriage ceremonies for several Craig�s in Alabama. I do not show that Thomas ever lived in Florida, but this may have been confusion on Fanny�s part because she knew her uncle had been a soldier there. Actually, this Stephenson tree listed some members as Stinson. John Robert and William Craig had a brother named Stinson Lowery Craig. We have never been able to determine where this Stinson name originated. Maybe it was for this Stephenson family. There is a long Ming tree on Ancestry, but the donor has not stated his/her name. On that tree, born in 1835 in Missouri, is Fanny Ming the daughter of Thomas and Susanna � with no further information. After considerable discussion, we have decided that this Fanny Ming was the wife of Porter C. Craig and John Therian Wesley Craig. We would welcome any comments. Jean Creswick jeancreswick@earthlink.net