Hi cuz Sharon Leigh - (2nd once removed or whatever) - I still spend most of my time on HASTINGS, but just now got off onto WILEYs in Belmont Co., OH, - my Mom's home territory - and then to the WILEY archives and copied below stuff that you had sent - What is the source of story re Alex Porter in PA first - Do you think it's the same Alex. Porter? You wrote - 1 - 'Some stories have it that Alexander Porter came first and worked in the coal mines of Pennsylvania in order to bring more of his family over. I don't have any evidence of this.' 2 - 'Alexander Porter did show up in eastern Indiana near his sister and her husband. In fact, I believe he married Isabella Wiley, a niece of his sister's husband. They lived in Jay County, Indiana. They had no children but her unmarried brothers, Richard and Isaac Wiley, lived with them.' ------------------------- Me again - mmhh - 1 - Yes, our 'Uncle Alex' did m. Isabella Wiley 23 June 1871 in Mercer Co.OH, and they plus her sibs Richard and Isaac Wiley and parents Joseph and wf lived together just north of Fort Recovery, OH, on what we called the 'hill road' (or on a lane off of it) going down from Rte. 49, across the Wabash River and on to the state line. [Hastings farm was on up the state line about 2 miles north on Indiana side.] 2 - Where are they shown in eastern Indiana? Some of the ancestral family of Ruth Wiley - parents Moses & Bertha Fennig Wiley - Heidegger (whom you and I visited in '82) were and are in Jay Co., IN (and also were/are across the state line in Mercer Co., OH--Celina. Uncle Alec and Aunt Belle did not have children, so I haven't pursued them, but we know he was guardian for Aunt Sis, Preston, and Willie after Samuel & Sarah's death. [As was Uncle Eli Hastings, oldest bro. of Zach, for awhile.] Alexander Porter and William Porter were received into Macedon Assoc. (ARPresb) church membership Mercer Co., OH, shortly after founding - 1857. Samuel and Sarah Porter Wiley were among charter members 1857 [from 'sister church in Ireland' (Knowehead - Muff)]; (also some McGees, as well as Stevensons from Salt Creek Church. in Muskingum Co.) Samuel & Sarah emigated Donegal/Londonderry 1847. Were they somewhere else 1847-1857? Or just didn't get around to joining a church? Muskingum Co., OH maybe? (See below re son Moses in Roseville, Musk./Perry Co. Roseville sits on the county line.) I don't have record of when Samuel & Sarah Porter Wiley acquired land in Wash. Tp., Mercer Co. or where they were in 1850 census. Do you? Alex' wife Belle and her sibs and parents Joseph and ?Mary? were not received at Macedon until 1869, from Ballyarnett, Ireland (also Co. Donegal not far from Muff). I believe Ruth W. Heidegger had record of when they emigrated, but I don't see it here. I also believe that Samuel and Sarah's oldest son, Moses Wiley, who went to Roseville, OH - Perry/Muskingum Co. - after his parents died, must have gone there to help out Moses PORTER whose wife Rebecca WILEY had died at a young age. Moses was married (7 June 1877 to Sarah COWAN) and in his own household by 1880? Haven't followed that up. I never heard of them having any children, did they? Samuel & Sarah's son Moses was older than Minerva and old enough to be on his own and not an extra mouth for already-married (at abt 17) Minerva and Zach Hastings (m. Oct 1873) to feed - younger sibs Aunt Sis (Mary Frances), Preston, and Willie living with them on Jay Co., IN, side of state line, although under Uncle Alex;s guardianship. Aunt Sis lived there with them all her life (I remember when she died 1926). I suppose Preston and Willie were soon old enough to go to Kansas to work on the railroad. So is Moses PORTER also a brother of Sarah and Alex? and does Rebecca fit into our WILEY's? I think I saw that some descendent of hers had them entered into LDS records, signed and 'sealed', but what is their farther-back ancestry? [It seems Mormons must get a few generations, but are not required to keep going back.] Wm Porter is next name after Samuel and Sarah Wiley on ship "Venice" passenger records 1847. And, as stated above, Wm Porter joined Macedon Ch. with Alex. 1857. I've tried to find William Porter, wife Mary, ch W. Moses b ca 1846 and Martha Anne b. 1850-1860 - W.Moses rec'd as young adult and Martha Anne bapt. as child - no ages given - in Macedon records. I've thought they might be in ancestry of a Rev. Albert N. Porter, some relative who visited us on the State Line farm in 1930s from farther west - IL or Iowa. My searches for him have also been in vain. I have from Aunt Floss Hastings' mementoes a picture of two BARR girls - other unknown cousins. Photographer was in Joliet, IL. Queries on them have also gotten me nowhere. I may have mentioned before that Samuel & Sarah's Wiley's Bible has WYLIE engraved on it. Some WYLIEs who were at Muskingum College with my parents and me were thought to be related, but HOW?. Ernest Wylie, Musk. plant engineer 1920s-1940 or so. His ancestors were in PA in 1740s , then on to Muskingum Co., OH. J. Howard Wylie, a now-deceased cousin of Ernest, lived near me here in OC and I have a copy of that ancestry, but it doesn't say where they were from in Ireland, just that he was . Big families, hard to tie together. Several Samuels there. ------------------------------ Hope you had a nice Christmas and 2004 will be fruitful. We had all 5 kids and spouses, 14 grands and most spouses of the married grands + 2 great grands (from Grand Rapids and St. Louis). Grands range from age 28 - 3 yrs. (3 was/is an adopted Chinese baby girl). I have yet to get my old 2.31 PAF program updated. Hope to soon and then I'll put this stuff into a gedcom. Happy New Year! -mmhh [My main concern is the first questions I asked. Maybe other items can clarify things a little. I'm copying this to several sites - hope names will arouse someone's interest.] M. Hastings Hendrix - HASTINGS & BENNETT, COLLINS & WALSTON in Sussex Co., DE 1700s, to Ohio 1846. WILEY & PORTER - Co. Donegal & 'Derry, IRLD > Western OH 1847 GIFFEN 1700s SCTLD & BENTLEY 1600s VA > Eastern OH Also MORRISON, HENRY, NICHOL, THOMPSON, TAGGART, STITT,, CLARK, DOWNS et al. Additional for my kids - HENDRIX, TOMLINSON, CAMPBELL, PATRICK,