I'm enclosing some information (thru her permission) given to me by a kind soul who has been helping me locate my father's roots. Thru her efforts much has been discovered, all credit for any help this information gives others is hers. God blessed my life with a genealogy angel! Janina, I have spent the last three days(not all the time but the time I had to devote to research) working on the family of Jesse Scruggs Jr and Gracie B. Harper. I have gone through all my research material trying to put their children together. I thought I knew how it was made up but now I am convinced that I had it wrong. I believe that the 1860 and 1870 census did not list them correctly or the girls switched their names! The 1860 census lists them as Emmer Jane age 3 and Julyan age l. The 1870 census lists them as Jane age 13, Julia Ann age 11, and Jesse Age 9. Here are the marriage records I have found for them from the Sabine County Marriage Book 1875-1910. (It has a section in the back that lists other marriages people shared with the author, and gave approximate dates, or sometimes the actual date) N. E. J. Scruggs m Alex McDanial 13 Dec 1876 (I believe her name to be Nancy Emma Jane Scruggs with what I found on the census and page 707 of the Garlington book) Mary Jane Scruggs m W. C. "Kit" Smith 29 Mar 1877. (Again here is a deviation from the name we have been using, but I will go by the court house Wed. and check for myself) Julia Scruggs m Charles Conner ca 1875 (This marriage was contained in the last portion of the marriage book, an approx date. But in the 1860 census on page 32 where it lists the Willis Conner family, the added information beside son Charles W. Conner says he m Julia "Jesse" Scruggs dau of Jesse Scruggs Jr and Grace B. Harper!!! Beginning with the 1880 census the ages check out correctly for the eldest to be Jane Scruggs McDaniel b 1857, Julia Scruggs Conner b 1859, and Mary Scruggs Smith Harper b 1861. Charles Conner is the one who went to prison for killing Kit Smith, his brother-in-law!! I seem to have a faint recollection of reading this in the manuscript that Palmer Conner let us read - it must have been 25 yrs ago and my memory is not what it used to be. I do remember that after Charles Conner got out of prison he moved to Huntington, Angelina Co TX and lived the rest of his life. That is about 50 miles west of Sabine County. Your Dad can start planning his trip now. He will get his maps, etc. There is only one of the cemeteries that I have not been to and it is the Old Mill Creek Cemetery where Rev. William Smith is buried, and that will be no problem to find. I was very touched by the story of your Granny who was given away when she was 13. I tried to place myself, my daughter or my granddaughter in that position and it is just impossible to imagine. We don't give thanks often enough for the good life we have had - most of us. I still have not found a sign of a marriage for Docia. She might have gotten married in Newton County, Jasper County or Vernon or Beauregard Parish LA. These two parishes are across the Sabine River from Newton and Jasper Co. And we only have the statement in the Garlington book that she married John Harper. They gave his birthdate as 6 Jan 1872 - there is a John Harper buried in the Harper's Cemetery with that birth-date, and a death date of 25 Feb 1928. Do you know if Docia and this husband divorced? She would have been abt 50 yrs old by 1928, and that would have been a little old to have had the two Mitchell children after that. Did you think that your family progressed this way: Elmore Harper, Jesse Harper, Robert Bruce Harper Sr, Robert Bruce Jr, and then your Dad? One of the bits of info that I had sent you out of the book Sabine Co Historical Sketches and Genealogical Records stated that Elmore Harper Sr was buried at the Harper Cemetery by his eldest daughter Gracie Harper Scruggs Cooper. Well that did not sound right to me, and I found Elmore Sr buried at the Springhill Cemetery(one set of my g grandparents are buried there) which is not too far from Hemphill, the county seat. I have not located Gracie's grave yet. Elmore has a Civil War marker and there does not appear to be another grave too near him, but you can never tell if it never had a marker. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. I found a record that states that Elmore Harper Jr. (He was born after the Civil War to Elmore Sr's 2nd wife) married Nancy "Nannie" Conner, dau of Willis and sister of Charles! I will copy all these records that I am referring to and send you a copy. Well, I have gone on and on. Hope you could follow. I am really enjoying your family. Most of my lines are back to a stone wall that we can't seem to get past. I enjoy finding some new material evem if its not mine. Till next time....................