Dont all of you wonder if there was a great conspiracy at the turn of nineteenth century? All of the FARRISes from the South decided that every family would have at least one George Washington FARRIS in every generation. All FARRISes would intermarry with THOMPSONs and JOHNSONs. When they got to Indiana and Illinois they would scatter into diverse counties choosing at least one that would have one or more courthouse fires. They would not be content to stay in one place travelling regularly between IN, IL, MO, AR and KY before sending future generations to TX and OK. I just dont see it any other way. Anyway here is my revised FARRIS line: George Washington FARRIS b. 1811/1812 KY married (first) S (initial only on the 1850 census) abt 1835 (probably in IN since his first child was born there) J. male b. abt 1836 E. female b. abt 1837 Jasper male b. abt 1838 M. male b. abt 1839 H. male b. abt 1840 P. female b. abt 1844 I cannot find this GW on the 1860 census so his wife may have been dead by then and all of his children were old enough to be gone. In 1864 GW married Sarah E. JOHNSON WILLIAMS (daughter of Arthut Lewis JOHNSON) in Gibson Co. IN These JOHNSONs were back and forth between White Co. IL and Posey and Gibson Cos. IN They had the following children: (William) Thompson Rosetta John Lewis Martha Elizabeth (Mattie) Spicey Endia Sarah died (in childbirth with Spicey ?)in 1873 George W. took the children and ended up in Montague Co. TX by 1878 possibly via Arkansas. He is on the 1880 census in Jack Co. TX and he died shortly after. It is unlikely that a sixty year old man would take five children including a baby to some distant place without family there or some purpose. It is extremely probable that Thompson FARRIS b. 1809 KY and living in Hamilton Co. IL was his brother. He was there from the early 1830s through the 1870 census. His wife and children were: Julie (Juda) WEBB m. abt 1832 Henry W. b. abt 1833 IN - all the rest were born in Hamilton Co. IL William George Washington b. abt 1836 Sarah Permelia Naomi Jane (married Robert LYNN) Samuel Slocum b. abt 1842 Martin Webb b. abt 1844 Greenville Robert b. abt 1848 I think that there is a great likely-hood that these two are cousins to: Samuel Shelton, James B. , Elizabeth etc the children of George Washington and Nancy SHELTON FARRIS of KY which would make them the children of either John and Mary SHELTON FARRIS or Major and Nancy HUNGATE FARRIS. I hope someone is working on these same two FARRISes or has information on the above mentioned brothers John and Major that would help. Charmaine Riley Holley arkivemom@aol.com