Hello Harkeys-- Last Saturday, Yolanda Derstine's query to the message board was forwarded to the list: > My great grandmother, Lucy Carolina Harkey Walters > had a brother Jack Harkey in Cuba, MO at the time of > her death 8/11/1932. Their parents were > John Harkey and MM Kiddenhower. Census records > (Burnet Co., TX 1900) show me that my John was born > in Germany. Lucy was born in Springfield IL in 1865. > Her mother was from NC. Other siblings were > Mrs. Ed Edwards of Cresco, CA, JA Harkey of Hatton, AR, > J.F. Harkey of Austin TX. IF this sounds familiar to > anybody please contact me! I thought for sure someone from the John HARKEY/Sarah WALCHER or the Martin HARKEY Jr. line (the Montgomery Co. IL settlers) would jump in with information, and maybe they did, privately. The query piqued my interest because I was sure the mother's name should be RIDENHOUR/RIDENHOWER, not Kiddenhower and I doubted that Lucy's father was born in Germany. Thus began a couple of days of searching. The clues in the query enabled me to find Lucy Caroline (HARKEY) WALTERS and two of her siblings in the 1900 censuses: 1900 TX Burnet Co. 5 just pct (p 269), hh 52-54 WALTERS, William head w m Mar 1861 39 m15 MS ENG AL --LUCY C. wife w f Dec 1865 34 m15 7ch/6liv IL GERM NC --Acy F. son w m Jan 1886 14 s TX MS IL --Eddie M. dau w f May 1888 12 s TX MS IL --Jessie A. son w m Aug 1891 8 s TX MS IL --Mary C. dau w f Jul 1894 5 s TX MS IL --William H. son w m Nov 1896 3 s TX MS IL --Lizzie E. dau w f Jan 1900 4mo s TX MS IL 1900 TX Travis Co. 1 Just. Pct. (p 56), hh 140-147 HARKEY, JOHN F. head w m Apr 1862 38 m13 IL IL NC --Neoma E. wife w f Mar 1867 33 m13 6ch/5liv TX OH MO --Jessie F. dau w f Oct 1886 13 s TX IL TX --Maud E. dau w f Mar 1889 11 s TX IL TX --Bertha A. dau w f Nov 1891 8 TX IL TX --Thos. W. son Jun 1895 4 s AR IL TX --Robert E. son w m May 1897 3 s TX PAUSSELL, Jack boarder w m Jun 1883 16 s TX 1900 AR Polk Co. White twp (p 374), hh 402-407 HARKEY, JAMES A. head Apr 1854 46 m20 IL IL NC farmer --Mary A. wife Dec 1856 43 m20 7ch/6liv MO IRE IRE --Agnes L.? dau Dec 1897 12 s TX IL MO --Charles N. son May 1886 14 s TX IL MO --Robert S. son May 1891 9 s AR IL MO --Alleen T. dau Feb 1893 7 s AR IL MO --Frank A. son Jan 1899 1 s AR IL MO Aha! The older children say that they and their parents were born in Illinois. I started poring over my old files on the HARKEY-WALCHER and Martin HARKEY JR. families, from the apprecnticeship to Mr. Lipe, through the religious education of (Simeon?), through the move from Iredell Co. NC to Montgomery Co IL, through the cemetery inscriptions, through the censuses. Not finding what I needed, I went to the HARKEY GenForum and started reading queries. Jerry E. Harkey's posting provided the key: "John.Weilie HARKEY is my GGGrandfather. He is the son of John and Christina Beaver HARKEY. John W. was born Nov. 20, 1824 in Cabarrus Co NC. Died abt 1875 in Phelps County MO. John W. married Margaret CORL in 1844. Margaret died about 1849. John W. remarried Mary Caroline RIDENHOUR in 1851. John W. is listed in the 1860 Iredell Co. NC census along with his wife, daughter and 2 sons, of which William P. is my GGrandfather." Here are the 1850 and 1860 entries for John Weilie HARKEY and (1860) Mary Caroline (RIDENHOUR): 1850 NC Cabarrus Co. ( p 432), hh 461 HARKEY, JOHN W. 25 Cabarrus taylor (in hh of Peter Lentz, tailor) 1860 NC Iredell Co. Slaterville School Dist. 53 & 54, hh 81-83 HARKEY, JOHN 35 NC taylor --Mary 27 NC --Margaret 14 NC --James 6 NC --William 3 NC  Since John W. HARKEY died in Missouri in 1875, I figured I could find him either in Missouri or in Illinois in 1875. It turned out to be Missouri (census taken 25 Aug 1870): 1870 MO Phelps Co. Rolla St. James twp, hh 195-797 HARKEY, JOHN 47 NC farmer $700$180 --Mary C. 37 NC --Jas A. 16 NC --Wm. P. 12 NC --John F. 8 NC --Lucy C. 4 NC --Laura A. 11mo (b Sep 1869) In 1900, Mary C. HARKEY, the widow of John, is living next door to her son James in Polk Co. AR: 1900 AR Polk Co. White twp (72 1 374), hh 401-406 HARKEY, MARY C. head Feb 1834 66 widow 12ch/5liv NC NC NC JONES, Joseph W. grandson May 1889 11 s TX TX MO (I might as well throw in the kitchen sink: on the other side of John is his married son: 1900 AR Polk Co. White twp (72 1 374), hh 403-408 HARKEY, JOHN W. head Aug 1880 19 m1 MO IL MO --Iva A. wife May 1873 17 m1 1ch/1liv AR GA TX --Jody? M. dau Jan 1900 6mo. AR MO AR ) But where are they in 1880??? When John died in 1875, he left a 40-year-old widow and five children, four of them very young. They have to be somewhere in an 1880 census, but I can't find them. If they are in the 1880 MO Soundex, I missed them. Data in the 1900 census show that Lucy, James, and John were all in Texas by about 1885, but I don't find them in Texas in 1880--or in California, Illinois, Kansas, Arkansas, or Oklahoma. And the last question is: Why did all the HARKEYs suddenly leave Montgomery Co. IL? In 1850 and 1860, Montgomery Co. was full of HARKEYs. In 1870 there were none. No, that was the second-to-last question. The last question is: What is the connection between John W. HARKEY (m Mary Caroline RIDENHOUR) and Montgomery Co. IL? Did they live there between the 1860 and 1870 censuses? John and/or Mary says in the censuses that their children were born in NC, and so they probably were. But why do the children say they were born in IL? I think they must have lived in Hillsboro, Montgomery Co. IL after they left North Carolina, and perhaps they left IL for Missouri at the same time as David Valentine HARKEY did. Does anyone have the answer? Another interminable posting from Alma Roark Johnson