My grandfather, Charles Henry White, was an orphan. Both of his parents died between 1880 and about 1885, when he was 5 years old. I've never been able to discover exactly when they died or how, nor even where they were buried, though I believe that William A. White must have died about 1882 and his widow, Sarah Spears/Carter/Norton/White must have died about 1885. The only thing I have to go on, really, is that it appears that they routinely failed to pick up their mail in Thomasville and their failure to do so was published in the newspaper there. At a certain point William's name dropped out and was replaced by Sarah's... Plus, it appears that the newspaper found amused interest in a lawsuit Sarah brought against a man who "bought" hogs from her then refused to pay for them... and she most likely would not have been engaged in such a lawsuit if her husband was still alive. I'm not sure where they lived exactly, and it may have been in present-day Thomas County or in what is now Grady County. My oral history focuses around Boston, and Sarah's sister Nancy who married Amon H. Thompson definitely lived there and is buried at the Presbyterian Church in Boston. The 1890 census being nonexistent, though I know that grandpa was "raised" by his half sister Hattie Norton (Mrs. William Hartley), I have no idea where that was. Oral history indicates that at some point the Hartleys relocated to the Columbus area, but my impression was that occurred much later. In 1900 grandpa was living with his half brother James H. Carter probably on Tired Creek south of Cairo... as the census district was in that general area and James H. Carter and his sister Martha A. ("Maggie") Carter (Mrs. George Pleasant Jordan) jointly inherited a grist mill and 100 acres of land on "Tyred Creek" from their grandfather, Herring Carter. Herring Carter's will was contested and the records of that are in Thomas County, but I believe that the mill and land were actually in Decatur County. James H. Carter was a minor when he inherit this property, so the court appointed his mother's brother, John (sometimes mis-written as James) A. Spears, as his guardian in that matter. Though he was buried in the family plot in the Old Thomasville City Cemetery, Sarah's father, Allen Spears, remarried in the late 1870s and relocated to Decatur County, probably in that same general area southwest of Cairo. In 1879 when he died, Allen Spears rated a newspaper obituary, as did John A. Spears in 1891... but the press appears to have been silent about both Sarah Spears and William A. White's deaths. So... my point is... If anyone has a clue as to anywhere to find Thomas County death information in the 1880-1886 time frame other than newspapers, I would love to hear about it. I've looked through the compiled books of newspaper extracts, and found nothing... Allen Spears' grave is unmarked, but appears in Mr. Craigmiles' Thomas County index anyway. Neither Sarah nor William A. White appear in Thomas or Grady County grave listings, so I presume that their place(s) of burial are both unmarked and unknown. The William A. White whose wife, Adella Clay, is buried at Long Branch Baptist Church was William A. White and Sarah's son... who is probably buried in Bay County, Florida... though I have not been able to find his grave either. The White & Richard M. Sellars family graves at Long Branch are together. Richard M. Sellars bought a part interest in a grist mill on Tired Creek and so far as I know that must have been the same grist mill owned by the Carters. My best guess is that R.M. Sellars bought Maggie Carter Jordan's interest, and that should be easy enough to find out... but so far I have neglected to look for that information. If that is correct, R.M. Sellars would have in essence been a partner with James H. Carter in operating that mill. RW Debra Crosby wrote: >Janet Sumner has added approximately another 30 obituaries from the early newspapers >that she is transcribing. These are mostly for the years 1904 - 1918 during that time before >we had death records and I'm sure many of you will find these very useful. >Be sure to check the archives for these obituaries. >http://www.rootsweb.com/usgenweb/ga/grady/obits.html >And a big thanks to Janet for sharing these!!! > >Debra Crosby > >