Have you tried the Horton in Fl for info??? He has tons, and has helped me out more than once. If interested my address is nelpal@lisco.com. Give me aholler, and will connect you. If not TRASH cdp Barbara Fullwood wrote: > I am searching WILSON, HORTON, BARNETT, and > HAINES, from 1860 to 1910 in Madison Co., and Dallas Co. > > Here is an excerpt from the History of Madison County, pub. 1879. > It is fairly long for an e-mail, but I thought it > interesting....... > > GREAT SNAKE HUNT > > One of the historic events of the county is the great snake hunt > of 1849. It has been faithfully handed down by tradition, and > some of its events have been so strongly put that its > authenticity has been doubted by some of the late settlers of the > county who have thought that it had something of the air of a > "fish story". Such, however, is not the case, and there is no > event in the history of the county better established than the > snake hunt of 1849. > > It seems that in the early times the county was badly infested > with rattlesnakes, the many rocky places furnishing them fine > dens where they increased and multiplied with great rapidity. > Prior to the organization of the county they were so numerous as > to be a great pest and even greatly dangerous to life. The > often-heard deadly rattle became a source of great alarm and > terror to the "women folks" of the new community especially. It > was quite common for men to wear leather leggins as a protection > from rattlesnakes. In a little "snake frolic" indulged in on > North River, Irwin Baum and William Combs killed ninety > rattlesnakes in an hour and a half,and, as one of them remarked, > it was not a very good day for rattlesnakes, neither. It was > related that George Guye once killed thirty-five rattlesnakes > which he found rolled up together in a round ball. The tenant on > Mr. McKnight's farm on Hoosier Prairie once declared that there > were enough snakes on the place to fence it, and then have enough > left for a grand snake hunt. > > (to be continued) > > I thought I would post this in segments, so that those of you who > weren't interested, wouldn't have to download it. > > Barbara in NC