Dear Mary, Teresa, and all, --BIRTH DATE-- Unless we find conclusive evidence to the contrary, I'm going to assume that 25 Mar 1797 is the birthdate of Daniel David HARKEY. (I had that date for years from the Liberty Cemetery records of Dunklin Co. MO, but last month it totally slipped my faltering mind.) Of the three sources for the dates in circulation-- (1) Joseph Harkey's family history (giving 1798) is the least reliable. (2) Typescript on LDS microfilm of baptismal records of St. Johns Church in Concord, NC (17 Nov 1797) is vulnerable to mechanical errors. (3) Tombstone (25 Mar 1797)--recorded in Dunklin Co. Funeral Records, in Lora Scott Harkey's history of the Harkeys of Dunklin Co., Missouri, and by Teresa Jones, who saw the tombstone--has to be the most reliable source! Mary is right, that the information on a tombstone is whatever the person who orders the tombstone says, and it isn't always correct; but I'd trust it more than a WPA(?) typescript of 18th century baptismal records. If someone manages to view the original baptismal records, he/she may find that the typist skipped a line or the page was torn. I hope someone can get a copy of the original baptismal records, because the typescript does have a Daniel HARKEY listed at Crooked Creek, b 13 Nov 1797, bap 1 Apr 1798, as the son of JOHN HERCHE and wife ELIZABETH, and sponsors Louis HERDES (HARTIS) and wife Elizabeth. My HARKEY notes don't show another Daniel HARKEY born at that time, but I don't have the names of all of Martin's grandchildren, much less those of David (the Loyalist) HARKEY's children and grandchildren. If only they didn't all use the same four or five first names! --MARRIAGE-- The Daniel HARKEY, said to have married Margaret THOMPSON in 1818 is still a big puzzle to me. Daniel David HARKEY would have been rather young to marry in 1818, but not impossibly young. But again, I don't have a record of any other Daniel of marriageable age in 1818. I am confident that the Daniel HARKEY who married Mary Ann (or Mary Elizabeth or Betty) BANKSTON on 17 Dec 1822 in Wilkes Co GA is the Daniel HARKEY who is Teresa's 4th- and my 3rd-great grandfather. The will of Samuel Jones, signed in Wilkes Co GA in 1840, effectively establishes a connection from that Daniel to the Bankston family and to Daniel's oldest son, Samuel Jones Harkey ("I give to Samuel Jones Harkey, son of Daniel Harkey one Negro which shall not be under five nor over twelve years old"). Alma Roark Johnson