Good to talk to you again, lots of water under the bridge since we last communicated, by snail mail in those days. Yes, I quit Harkey hunting in 1972!!! when I was promoted to a six day a week job and didn't have time. I retired in 1998 and slowly got interested in this again but have things changed! your brother, Cliff, right? contacted me when I first got started again. he said you were living the life of Riley now. I have not learned much more than when we meaning Lillian Lowance, Joe Cook, you and I were at it constantly. I have a couple of knotty problems and am trying to sort them out. I was off kilter and spinning out of control when I wrote that John who married Sarah Walcher could be Jacob's son. Alma sent me a nice reply and supplied me with info that I knew nothing about which proves I was wrong. So, here goes. Let me run it by you for your opinion. Based on the info supplied by Alma, John Harkey whose wife was Sarah Walcher, was born 4 Apr., 1789, he was orphaned and was bound to Jonas Lipe of Cabarrus Co. but ran away when he was 19 which would be 1808. He married Sarah in 1811 and moveed to IL in 1830 along with other Harkeys and family members. He is listed as having 3 children however, one Sidney Levi Harkey states that he was John' and Sarah's son and was born 3 Apr., 1827. He is not listed in John's will of 1862 but his other children and grandsons were. Sidney says his grandfather was also named John and died when John 7 was years old, that would be ca. 1796. Based on the old 20 year rule of thumb, he would be born abt. 1776. The only other known John during that period was John b. ca.1765, son of Martin Luther Harkey Sr. OK, so where did he come from, I ask? All the known sons of Martin Harkey Sr. were too young to have this John, I'm thinking, but then I think of the shadowy David or John David Harkey a/k/a Tory David. He is the right age( someone gave him a birthdate of 1745) and joins the British army and then flees to Canada after the war and is never heard again. Remember, the Widow Harkey has one male over 16 in 1790 which means he was born 1774 or earlier. I have always felt that the Widow Harkey was David's wife or widow as we do not know if he was alive or not. Since we are only talking 2 years, there could be a connection. The legend has always been there were three brothers who moved to NC but we never found a John who would be a brother to David and Martin Luther, Oh, I'm sure his name was John, what else would it be? Knotty problem #2 is I have this family of David Harkey, a Methodist minister born 11 Oct., 1793 and has 4 wives marrying the first on 4 June, 1818. He lives and dies in Verona, MS on 10 Nov., 1861 and has 18 children by the four wives. None of my bond records, church records even gets close to him. So, I assume he is either in Montgomery, Iredell or Rowan co., NC. Any ideas? In his childrens names are the usual, John, David, Martin, Daniel but no Jacob so I have ruled out Jacob Harkey b. 1768, besides there was no bond record for him in Cabarrus co.