HATCHER website: http://hatcherfamilyassn.com HALL DNA project: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~nhatcher/hall/HDNAtest.htm "If you can't stand the skeletons, stay out of the closet" - Val D Greenwood W W, There is no defining item or record. It is all a series of connecting dots based on multiple factors including feasability, location, time frame, documents, and logical reasoning. We will start with what we know and believe. We agreed we have no record, no dots, no nothing to connect John or Wm/Pris, etc to Robert of Richmond. We know Capt Ben of EdgefieldCo cannot be their father - a well-documented family. We are left to work with the only remaining Hatcher in the area - Tom/Wilmoth. The key was Dempsey's presence at the 1826 estate sale in BibbCo, GA, surrounded by Tharp family into which Elizabeth Hatcher, supposed dau of Maj John, married. Dempsey was not migrating thru, he was not living 10-20-30m away. He was a neighbor attending and buying at a local estate sale. He was the son of Thomas Jr, s/o Tom/Wilm, who lived in SC on Turkey creek near the Savannah and across from LincolnCo, GA. Just a bit north is ElbertCo, home of Wm/Pris. We also know that Maj John's son, Henry, died in BibbCo 1823 and the sale of his estate was held at the home of Vincent Tharp. We now have tied Dempsey, Elizabeth, and Henry together in a circumstantial way (location and time frame) that we were never able to do with Robert. We have them in the same room. And that goes beyond coincidence. We go back to Tom/Wilmoth. A record proves they were married before 1761. Had there been proof they were married after 1757, the year of John's birth, they would not likely have been John's parents. So they are still eligible as parents. Wilmoth is found in the 1790 EdgefieldCo, SC census with 2 sons, 1 16+, 1 0-16. They are who I believe is Dempsey (uncle of young Dempsey) and James/Martha Tate, born c1773 and 1775 respectively. It is logical and reasonable to believe Wilmoth did not have just 2 children born 15+ yrs after she married. There is much room to slot in other children. Wm/Pris's pens app states "Moved from Virginia in 1764 with his father and settled in Richmond Co. Georgia, five miles below Augusta, from whence he removed to Edgefield Co. S.C. where he first entered service about June 1778 as a volunteer private of infantry...." We know EdgefieldCo is the only place Tom/Wilmoth were known to have lived. We know we can't place Robert in SC in that time frame. 1764 is also the year Anne Knibb Hatcher, mother of Tom/Wilm, disappeared from ChesterfieldCo, VA. She ends up in LaurensCo, SC not far from Peter's creek where Tom/Wilm lived. Tom was a Capt in 1778 under Major Simmons. Maj John, Wm/Pris and James/Tate (1812) all served in the military. We have a houseful of "army brats" in this family. This is simply another "dot" to define a family lifestyle. The importance of location: Little river cuts east GA into north and south. All of Maj John's sibs as on our file remained in north EdgefieldCo, SC, lived north of the river in Elbert/LincolnCo, or in WarrenCo, GA, (earlier home of Maj John.) Some are found later in WilkinsonCo where Maj John died. There are minor connections to Augusta, RichmondCo (south of the Little) for marriages or residency in their later years but none of these people lived there in their earlier years. We have all of this family grouped in one area of north GA/SC. There is no document declaring John to be Tom's son. There is no document declaring Wm/Pris to be Tom's son. And there likely never will be. And my memory may be failing me, but I'm not sure we have any document that proves Wm/Pris is John's brother. We have, I believe, only slim circumstantial evidence of both of them being present in WilkinsonCo, GA at one point in time. Yet these 2 have been accepted as brothers for eons. We can, thru many documents, directly or circumstantially, connect various kids of Tom/Wilm. This family is all tied together by the cumulative effect of both the direct, indirect and circumstantial evidence. When the documents are not there or do not exist, you must build your case on what you have using sound logic and reason. We cannot pull an imaginary father out of the heavens who never left a footprint on this earth. The only logical conclusion is that Tom was the father of all those currently attached to him for we have no other possible Hatchers to draw from. And I would have no problem having a professional genealogist analyze this tree on the proper analysis of the evidence and the conclusions I've drawn from that evidence. In summary, 1) Tom/Wilm were there with no other possible candidates. 2) Tom/Wilm reasonably had more children than just the 2 young boys. 3) Their circa marriage date makes them candidates. 4) Wm's pens app states they removed from Augusta, GA to SC. 5) Wm's family arrived in 1764, the same date Anne Knibb Hatcher, Tom's mother, removed from VA. 6) Tom/Wilm and all kids lived in the same general area of northern SC and GA. Now, just as a side note. Tom/Wilm was a Capt in 1778 based on the pens app of a Richard Kirkpatrick. Yet I've no memory of ever seeing Tom listed on any RW "list" (official or otherwise) as a veteran and patriot. But just on the one record we have, it would seem to me the descendants of Tom should be eligible for DAR/SAR. I'm rather curious to know how/why he failed to get into the official records........ Nel