I descend from the probable brothers James and John Braden from Saline and HCI areas in the 1820' /1830's. It is believed their children married making both of these my 3Ggrandfathers. Through online records at Ancestry.com and correlating facts from online relatives, it was established that after John Braden Sr. divorced his first wife Minerva Hogg (still haven't found the application that others have claimed, but hopeful) he married Mary (Polly) Dinsmore Gholson, widow of John Gholson, in HCI in 1828. They (Mary Polly and John Braden) are in HCI in the 1830 census with one female of five and under ten. Polly's dau was born abt. 1826 making her four in 1830 depending on birth and census month. In 1840 they are in McLeansboro HCI with one son 10 to 15 (John Jr. would have been 17 as he was b. 1823) and one dau. 10/15 (Polly would have been 14). In 1850 John and Mary along with their 'daughter' Polly and William Sweeten are living side by side in Bradshaw Twnshp in Green Co. (later to become Clay Co.) Arkansas. To confuse matters Polly and William have a daughter named Minerva. They are there in the same area in 1860, and in 1870 John and Mary are Not there. Haven't found Mary anywhere else yet and it is likely that John has died. In 1880 Polly is also living alone with two children so possible that William is also dead. Now comes the confusion: After connecting with a cousin online we discovered a set of coincidental records that leads one to believe that John and Mary Polly Gholson's daughter could also have been the Elizabeth Gholson who married Wm Margrave in 1843! Elizabeth as well as Mary Polly Jr. was born ca. 1826 IL. The census of 1850, 1860 find them living in different places in IL but in 1870 back in HCI, we find Elizabeth Margraves and Mary Braden are living together next door to John Margraves (Elizabeth and Wm.s son). We need help to find out which is the real daughter of John and Mary Polly Gholson. Both Polly Sweeten and Elizabeth Margrave had sons named John. They were all in the same area before 1850. Their is only one young female in the 1830 and 1840 census, so if there were two daughters, where is the other one? Family legend tells that John Sr. boarded his son John Jr. with another family when he separated and divorced from Minerva so that would explain why there are no young males in the 1830 and John Jr. shows up in the 1840. Is it possible that John and Minerva had two children? Although Mary Polly named her first born Minerva, she is listed as Mary G and Polly G on different census. Could the G be for Gholson even though she was married as Polly Braden? If Elizabeth Gholson is not John and Mary Polly's, whose daughter is she? Thanks for any help you may be able to provide, Marie > Braden-Beard-Dover-Kirk-Hogg-Warbritton ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BRADEN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message --- avast! Antivirus: Inbound message clean. Virus Database (VPS): 000718-0, 02/27/2007 Tested on: 2/28/2007 7:08:43 AM avast! - copyright (c) 2000-2007 ALWIL Software. http://www.avast.com