Hello Kathy. I would be very interested in any data you have on the DURMAN name in Indiana. I am from the eastern part of Tennessee and my grandfather migrated down here from VA about 1905. From family oral history, we know that he had relatives in this area before he moved. We have narrowed the search to a fairly small area, but have never been able to find any record of any DURMAN. This may seem a long way from IN, but let me continue. A few years ago, I contacted a DURMAN in MO, whose grandfather came from the Indianapolis area. All he knows is that a DURMAN family, husband, wife, and grown children, left this part of TN, working on the railroad moving north and eventually getting to Indianapolis. One of the sons met a local girl and left the railroad, settling down outside of Indianapolis. Now we think that this DURMAN man is the one who is the ancestor of the cousin in MO. Our problem is that we can't trace the family backward to TN to see where they came from originally. Any clue whatsoever is more than we now have. I would love to have a copy of the note and any information your father may have. We've traced our branch back to Smyth Co., VA, to about the late 1700's, but can't find any real data past that. There HAS to be a common thread linking all these DURMAN branches back to one common ancestor and one area of the country. So, we keep hoping for some tiny shred of evidence that will give us something else to go on. I'm fairly certain that the DURMANs found in IN are from the TN bunch, but just don't know how we all relate to each other. Looking forward to hearing from you again. If we can ever connect, I have some data from VA that might be useful in your genealogy research. Regards, George W. Durman DURMAN Listowner At 08:35 AM 12/6/98 , you wrote: > >I have some information about a woman named Melinda Thompson-Durman. >She was my Great-Great Grandmother and lived in Kingman Indiana. At >this > >time I only know that her date of birth was around the 187?. I found a >purse >she had made among my grandmothers belongings with a note attached with >this sketchy information. My father may know more and have more if you >are >interested. > >Kathy Burton-Walden