Hi all, This one has had me puzzled for several years, so I'm hoping someone on this list can help me find out whether the Sam King living in Forrest late in the 19th century was actually two different men or one and the same. Here's a summary of the data I've collected from various sources so far: Event Samuel S. King Samuel King ----- -------------- ----------- Birth Aug 26, 1842 August 4, 1841 Birthplace Orrville, OH Ohio Marriage August 20, 1863 August 20, 1863 Place Tazewell County, IL Married Fannie Yoder Veronica Yoder Died April 1, 1900 Dec 19, 1900 Deathplace Indiana Burial Forrest, IL 1880 Census Morton, IL (Tazewell Co.) ??? One very likely possibility is that one of these gentleman is the son of Samuel Koenig (1808-1895) of Tazewell County. However, this raises a very delicate issue in that the son of Samuel S., who is also named Samuel, married a daughter of Lydia King, who was a daughter of Samuel Koenig by his second wife Mary Garber. If the above Samuel S. is the half-brother of Lydia King, then his son would have married his first cousin. As this pair are my great-grandparents, I have taken it as a personal mission to disprove this finding. Lately, I have visited Samuel S. King's grave in Forrest, where he is buried with a woman named Fannie (1838-1894). I also located a short blurb in the Pontiac Daily Leader newspaper, dated April 6, 1900, that states: "Samuel King, who moved from near Forrest to Indiana this spring, died last Monday." Further, I have pulled a copy of Samuel Koenig's probate record in Tazewell County, which provides a list of his children and their residences at the time. His son Samuel, who I believe to be the gentleman shown in the right column above is listed as living in Forrest! That would place both of these Sam Kings in the same small town at more or less the same time (the mid-1890s). Another little piece of evidence working against me is that Samuel S. King's sons, Samuel and Daniel show up in the 1900 Census in the households of two of Lydia King Metz's brothers, but I'm hoping that they were merely friends (members of the same church, perhaps?) not family members. The younger Samuel appears to have met his future wife, Louisa Metz in the home of her brother Oliver in Pleasant Ridge, Livingston County, Illinois. I have a picture of Sam and his 3 sons and 1 daughter at http://users.erols.com/gpuccini/KingFamily/SamKing.htm . The dates in the right column above come from Gingerich-Kreider's Amish and Mennonite Genealogies, as another researcher has quoted it to me. I have not been able to locate any source mentioning the December 1900 death date. Does anyone have any idea where Gingerich got that date from? If we are indeed talking about two different individuals, it would appear that Gingerich-Kreider erroneously assigned my gg-grandmother to the wrong husband. I attempted to find multiple Sam Kings in the 1880 and 1900 Censuses, but found only Samuel S. in the former and none in the latter (he was probably already dead and had moved to Indiana when the census taker came by in 1900). In the 1860 Census, Samuel King is listed as a 19-year-old in the household of Samuel Koenig. The Tazewell County marriage record of Sam King and Fannie Yoder unfortunately does not list the parents of either. I've checked the 1870 Census Index, but found neither of these Sam Kings in Illinois. However, there is a Sam King listed in Marion County, Indiana (this may be relevant, as Samuel S. King's sons William and Daniel settled there in the early 20th century). A real genealogist's nightmare, don't you think? Lot's of data, but still no conclusive evidence one way or the other. Thanks for your assistance, Stan