The name "Loofborrow" in records may well refer to a real surname, LOUGHBOROUGH (and variant spellings). It's an English surname and place name. I think it would most likely be pronounced "Loff-burrow." There must have been a family by that name which settled in the vicinity of Vicksburg, Miss. before the Civil War. I make this suggestion because a woman named Mary Ann (Webster) Loughborough published a book in 1864 about the Siege of Vicksburg, entitled "My Cave Life in Vicksburg." No, I haven't seen a copy of it. It's possible that the John Loofborrow was an ancestor of that family. If Thomas Loofborrow turns out to be Thomas Hoffpauer, perhaps his surname was misunderstood by a clerk and confused with John's name. It might be useful to know which name was written first in the records, John's or Thomas's. Barbara Hill