Some name and place connections in your query about Thankful French made me want to see if you know of any connection between our families. John Burgess and his wife Hannah (James) Burgess lived in Foster, RI and then moved to Sterling, CT, on the RI border not too far from Westerly. Their eldest son John Burgess married Urania Mowry, also of RI. They then moved to Winfield, Herkimer County, NY, where they died, but apparently kept their ties in CT and RI, as one of their sons, Morey Burgess, returned to Plainfield, CT, to practice medicine and died in the village of Moosup. It is the wife of the eldest son of John and Urania I am hoping to identify (I outlined my suppositions about her parents and grandparents in an earlier posting). Their eldest son, Gideon Burgess, married Sally French. Many of her close relatives lived in Moosup in Plainfield, CT, near the RI border. The oldest daughter of John and Urania (Gideon's sister), Dorcus, married James Wheeler and they are both buried on the old Burgess farm in Herkimer County, NY. Sally (French) Burgess and Dorcus (Burgess) Wheeler were both born in 1776. The fact that both Wheelers and Frenches married siblings very near where your French and Wheelers lived, and not too far distant in time, makes me hope you know something more about the French family I am searching. If you do please let me know. DEAN BURGESS