Gloria wrote: > ....................when I > was growing up in Nilwood. SNIP > Gloria Dear Gloria et al, Maybe what I need is a local perspective to help me solve a mystery. I am trying to find out who the "J. READER and Co., Grain Merchants" were/was in Nilwood in 1880. They/he may or may not be connected to my READER family. I found this reference in the Archives in the Nilwood History. My grandfather also knew about this J. READER, because it was also mentioned in the Nilwood chapter in "The Story of Macoupin County", printed in 1979 to celebrate the Macoupin County Sesquicentennial. I know the following: 1. Paschal L. READER, my gg-grandfather, owned land in Western Mound Township near Chesterfield (farm was near the later village of Reader). He had a brother named James H. READER, born in 1823 (family bible record). The READER family came to Macoupin Co. from TN in 1830. Their father was Jeptha READER, who died in 1839. There is no further mention of James H. READER in family records. 2. Paschal's son George W. READER left us a diary from 1867 while a student at Blackburn College in Carlinville. In it there are references to his father (Paschal) going to Nilwood on business in 1867, shortly before leaving on a trip to Texas and his subsequent death there (Paschal's). There are mentions of visiting "Uncle James" but this could be James Rafferty, brother of his mother Margaret (RAFFERTY) READER. 3. George's brother James K. Polk READER, also a student at Blackburn, graduated in 1868, then studied medicine in St. Louis, graduating in 1872. Dr. James K. READER began practice in Auburn, IL (Sangamon Co.) where he married a Louisa POLEY. He subseqently moved back to practice in Macoupin County before moving to Oregon in 1880. They had no children. 4. There is a marriage record for a James READER and a Rebecca BOOTH about 1868 in Macoupin Co. My questions (or theories) are: - What happened to James H.? Did he die young in TN or come to IL in 1830? - If so did he have any family/descendents? - Was he "J. READER", grain merchant in Nilwood, and partners with Paschal? - Did he marry Rebecca BOOTH or was she a first wife of James K.? - Did Dr. James K. READER relocate to be near his Uncle James H. READER? - Does anyone have any burial information on any J. or James READER in Macoupin? Any help? Don Reader St. Louis, MO e-mail: readerd@storz.com