Hi DeeDee, This was the only thing that I found close. I located an Elizabeth Messer but she was married to a William Hodges in Va.. HODGES, Mary L (F).................... B: 15 May 1865 Father: John HODGESS Conecuh, Alabama Mother: Ellen E. MESSER [ maybe the initial E. is Eliza? ] As to the death certificate, when my wife's Grandfather died his daughter-in-law supplied the information. She not only didn't know the names of his parents but she put down the wrong place of birth. In my line of Hodge, my G-Gpa apparently didn't much care for his father and would not list his name on any records. There were many reasons for wrong or incomplete info. Ken in Orlando At 10:34 PM 09/09/1999 EDT, you wrote: >Hello Group- > >It has been a while since I have posted my query. Today I received the Death >Certificates on John James HODGES (1871 AL - 1955 MS) married to Hannah >DOBSON (1870 - 1972). Needless to say I was depressed to find only one >parent on John's death certificate, and none listed on his wife's. > >John James HODGES' father was listed as (Unknown) HODGES, and his mother's >maiden name is ELIZA MESSER. Has anyone heard of Eliza MESSER? > >I had a suggestion that my John HODGES might be a descendant of Fleming >HODGES, or a descendant of the Lawrence Co, Alabama HODGES. > >Question: If a death certificate from 1955 states that the father's first >name was unknown does that mean that the mother and the father might not have >been married? Any suggestions appreciated. Thank you. I have looked >everywhere, and there are hundreds of John HODGES listed in the 1870 census >in Alabama. > > >DeeDee >Baton Rouge, LA > > >==== HODGES Mailing List ==== >Searchable Archives at: http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl >Archives help at: http://www.shelby.net/shelby/jr/robertsn/rwsearch.htm >New threaded Archives at: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/ > >