Shirley wrote (constructed?): > A few of the names I'm researching; > > * > ** > Willett > > Bilbrey Looper > > Cook Pagan Gentry > > Padgett Howard Copeland > > Robbins Winningham Reeder > > Mullins Poor Perron Sellers Albertson > Green Allred > Smith Price > > > Merry Christmas to You and Yours, > Shirley Willett. > > Shirley (and other Overton County, TN Kin), It looks like your "tree" is a little crooked! <grin> I hope that does not say anything about your family tree as well! <hee,hee,hee> I can't quite manage a "tree" for Overton Co. since my 3G-grandpa, Jeptha READER and wife Winey HARRISON, left there in 1830 for Illinois with their son Paschal and other children, although a few "branches" got left behind! <grin> Though not directly related, that I know of, I believe that some LEEs (Obediah W. and Rebecca T.), BROWNs and others made the same trip. Tthe 1850 Census in Macoupin County, IL shows quite a few as being born in TN. Paschal's sister Nancy married a Williamson (or William) BROWN. Macoupin County, IL was formed in 1829, and cheap land was available from the federal government, so many farmers left TN at that time. Was slavery an issue? I mean more economic than religious or moral, as non-slave owners would have had a hard time competing in an increasingly slavery-dependent southern agricultural economy. Another branch of the READER/REEDER family (Jeptha's brother Robert, with wife Mary "Polly" MULLINS and sons Peter, Joseph , and Thomas) left for Morgan County, IN about the same time. I guess they left for the same reasons, leaving behind another son Jehu/Jahue REEDER (married Mary Elizabeth GARRETT) as well as the descendents of Jeptha's and Robert's brother Thomas (who died in NC in 1819, but his family came on to TN). Thomas and his wife Lucy (MULLINS) READER had four children, Abisha (married Jesse ROOKER), James, William (Shirley's ancestor), and Nancy (married Jacob L. Workman). Also, Peter's son John REEDER came "back" to Overton Co. to enlist in a Union Army regiment, the 1st TN Mounted Infantry, although he was born and raised in IN. John married his cousin Emaline BARNES after the war, and remarried after she died to Lady Ann CARGILE So you see my Overton Co. kin is more of a bush than a tree! What I would like to know is: are there still any families today living in the area (or anywhere else for that matter) with the name READER or REEDER who are descendents of any of these? So far I have not found any cousins who share my surname. Any info, queries, comments, or suggestions welcome. Merry Christmas to all! Don Reader St. Louis, MO e-mail: readerd@storz.com PS - If you are a multiple list subscriber as I am, please forgive and delete the CC which I have sent to other lists.