Considering the time period, it would be very unlikely to have two Ralph Ellisons in the county at the same time, unless they were closely related, such as father and son, or close cousins. If the 1840 census only shows one Ralph Ellison, I would consider him to be the signer. Of course, the 1840 census doesn't give you the children's names, but if your Ralph and the listed children were listed in subsequent Murray County census, I would feel pretty confident on using the petition as an additional source. It might be worthwhile for you to search next a microfilm of Murray County Superior Court minutes in the earliest days of the formation of the county. As I recall, there were some cases involving disputes and incidences of violence between parties who had had disputes around the time of the removal. It may be a long shot, but we are talking about an era where there were only a handful of white settlers already inside the Cherokee Nation before the removal, which brought an influx of new settlers. The microfilms are at Dalton Regional Library (also called Northwest Georgia Regional Library). Also, some LDS centers probably have the microfilm or will rent it cheaply for you if you locate it in the LDS catalog. Other large libraries or good history/research libraries might also have these. It is time-consuming to search them--I can't remember if they are indexed in any way. D.K. Pritchett Visit Southern Muse: http://www.southernmuse.com --- Lldurham@aol.com wrote: > > In a message dated 8/30/02 9:24:27 PM, > jcdeben@vvm.com writes: > > << Thanks to Leo for posting the petition. Was the > Ralph Ellison mentioned > in > the petition the father of Carolyn Ellison who > married Drury F. Hall? They > had three children: Martha Jane Hall, Thomas > Randolph Hall, and a son > Joseph A. W., who was called Whit. (pronounced with > a short i - like in > it). Carolyn Ellison was b ca 1832 in GA. She > married Drury Flurrow Hall > on 20 Sept 1849, Murray co GA. She died when the > children were young. The > census lists them in Holly Springs. Jane Debenport > >> > > Jane, except for John and Ambrose McGhee I know > nothing of the signers. Wish > > I could help. I would say, though, that unless there > was anothr Ralph > Ellison > hanging out in Murray CO in that time period, this > would be a good bet for > you. > > Leo > > > > > ==== GAMURRAY Mailing List ==== > --- Author Retains Copyright --- > -- Copyright 2002 Author -- All Rights Reserved > Post to List: GAMURRAY-L@rootsweb.com > http://www.selfroots.com > Unsubscribe request To: > GAMURRAY-L-request@rootsweb.com > ARCHIVES: > http://searches2.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl >