Hi Jean, This may not be a problem or inconsistent with the available data, or there could be 2 Mathew Meltons. Don't know..........in explanation: >From the 1842 County Court Minutes (note the 1842 date): July Term 1842: "Personally appeared in open Court Elexander McRea Guardian of Henry, Synthia Jose,, C. Chesterfield, John, F.L., Sally J., Julianna, A., and Roxanna Melton, Minor heirs of Mathew Melton Deceased and together with John D. Rushing and Lewis Brewer his securities and entered into and acknowledged their bond in the sum of Sixteen hundred dollars conditioned as the law directs for the faithful performance of said Guardian." <spelling, capitalization & punctuation as written>. This type of entry for Alexander McRae continued for years in the Court Minutes which as you know indicated that Alexander let the court review when & how much money of Mathews estate was spent for the welfare of Mathews children. As to Mathew being shown as working on the road in 1844: It was not uncommon for property to be bought in the name of or references made to homesteads of deceased individuals (as though they were actually living) until such time as a new landowner of record (deed) was recorded. Generally the transaction would be listed as or by "the heirs of Mathew Melton", in this case. The McKenzies bought property and deeds recorded in the name of Malcomb McKenzie, upto 12 years after his death. That changed when his minor sons reached majority and received their share of the estate with new surveys taken and deeds recorded. If you noticed from the above court citation, Chesterfield was one of Mathew's heirs, and if you recall from previous emails on this topic of road hands, Chesterfied eventually was listed as a 'hand' and indicated to be a landowner in replacement of Mathew in the court enumeration. I suspect Chesterfield reached majority, assumed his share of Mathews estate, and was recorded as the landowner of record, replacing Mathew. But then again, there could have been 2 Mathews. I'm not a Melton researcher so don't have any data. Some of you may also be interested in the Court entry just prior to the 1842 entry listed at the beginning of this email: "Personally appeared in open court Elexander McRea Guardian of Elizabeth McRea Minor heir of Elexander McRea to-gether with J.D. Rushing and Lewis Brewer his securities and entered into and acknowledged their bond ..<ommitted for brevity>......." What was the relationship between these 2 Alexander McRaes?? Were they Sr. & Jr. ?? Would a brother be a Guardian for a minor sister ???? Uncle yes, but brother ??? Hope this helps, Dave ========================================= At 12:39 AM 7/19/99 -0400, you wrote: > > I hope Doris won't mind my quoting her site, but if Mathew Melton d 1836, >who is the Mathew Melton working on the road in 1844? Jean S. > > ! Homes page of Doris Hightower <dorismh@iswt.com> 6/99 >http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Flats/5837/melton.html: "Matthew Melton >was the second child of Joseph Melton & Patience Hargrove. He was born in >1800 in North Carolina. Matthew married Mary (Polly) Holland sometime before >1819 probably in Tennessee. Mary was born in 1800 in Tennessee. > "Matthew Melton's life ended rather young at the age of 36 on Sept 17, >1836. He left his wife, Mary and eight children." >