Dear Connie: I can't recall if I have talked to you directly before. There has been so much info on the Gillespie List and it has been hard for me to follow all of the threads. I hope, thanks to you, that we are related. This may take a while to explain so bear with me. My grandfather was Lantie Miller Gillespie. He had a brother John and we had very little knowledge of the Gillespie Family beyond that. John had given my cousin some oral history when he was quite old and he either had bad info or a bad memory because there seems to be some confusion over names and dates and this has really thrown us off in our search of our ancestry. Even grandpa Lantie is a mystery. My cousin just told me that Lantie is not even his real first name and no one ever knew what it was!! Our records showed Lantie's father as Sam House Gillespie, Jr., born 2 Sept. 1985 somewhere in Tennessee. He married Eliza Pressila Farris on or about 1878 presumably in Tenn. His father is down as being Sam House Gillespie, Sr. who married in about 1839 to Naomia Johnson in Tenn. You can't imagine how excited I was when I saw your post to Larry about Samuel Huston Gillespie. House is so close to Huston! And the birthdate of 1 Sept, 1845 is so close to what you have and you have him moving to Bastrop, Tx which is where the old homeplace used to be. I really think (or am I just wishing too hard!) this is a match. Also, your Samuel's dad is John Morgan Gillespie which is not even close to Sam Sr. but perhaps our records were totally wrong. And our naomia Johnson is very close sounding to Neoma Thompson. I really think Uncle John's memory was wrong. Does any of this sound likely to you? I also noticed the Farris name in your history. Could Eliza be part of the same Farris line? Here is the sequence of history as we know it: Samuel and a brother (sorry, have no names) moved from Tennessee. Samuel went to Texas and the brother went to Illinois, near Peoria. AT some later time the brothers family in Illinois contacted Samuel and told him that his brother was dieing and he sould come quick to see him before his demise. Samuel packed up the family and went to Illinois and ended up staying a long time after the brother had a miraculous recovery. My grandfather Lantie was born in Illinois, Don't know if his brother John was born there or in Texas. They stayed until Lantie and John were teens. At that point they left home on their own and headed back to the farm in Texas. I don't know if Samuel and Eliza went with them to Texas or came later but records show that Samuel died on 7 Dec, 1917 in Marlin Texas and Eliza died on 24 Oct 1925 in Marlin also. So there you have it. All my life the Gillespie ancestry has been such a mystery. I can't tell you how excited I am over the fact that we may have solved some of the pieces of the puzzle. I would really appreciate your opinion on this and if you have any further info I would really appreciate it. I don't have Family Tree Maker yet but will be getting it soon. I look forward to sharing more with you. I am leaving town tonite on business and won't be answering any email till monday but please feel free to write back. My dad always said he was the last surviving Gillespie and it excites me to no end to know there may be tons of relatives remaining. Rick Gillespie, DC San Marcos, TX