GWJCAL -- whoever you are, I love you!!! The marriage notice concerning Thomas Howell and Elizabeth Cherry is "mine!!!!" This may or may not have been in the Christmas gift catagory -- but to me it is a real treasure.... thank you, thank you, thank you. Now I will also try tracking through Pitt Co. and New Bern for some other information that I have wished I could find ... who was Whitney Howell's father? I think he may have been Thomas Whitlock ... think he was the son of James, grandson of Jethro of Martin Co. NC... but have never found any real ties other than proximity of where they lived. Thomas Howell was the son of Whitney Howell, brother to Levi Howell (who married Doratha Bryant Watson) and sister to Elizabeth Dorothy Howell (who married Ruben Staton Manning). I knew that Thomas and Elizabeth were married, but had never located any proof of their marriage record. They moved to Hardeman Co. TN in 1840 ... Thomas died in November of 1844 just before my great grandfather -- Thomas Polk Howell, was born in January. A couple of years later, Elizabeth married Thomas C. Harrell ... a neighbor from both Martin Co., NC and in the Hickory Valley area of Hardeman, TN. Harrell raised the 6 Howell children as well as the several children that he and Elizabeth had together. The family moved to Drew Co., AR in 1860. Elizabeth's mother was Jennett Cherry who married her cousin, Roderick Cherry. Elizabeth's birthday was 11 Oct. 1815; died 13 June 1870, she and Harrell are buried in Selma, AR, Drew Co. I believe Thomas to be buried in Hickory Valley, though there is no proof. Thank you again, Happy Holidays Margaret