On Mon, 2007-10-08 at 09:37 -0500, Carolyn Sue Howard wrote: > Just to let you know - I have the same problem with my Johnsons. I know > they were in Tennessee in 1800 because my gg grandfather, Randolph Johnson, > was born in TN in 1800, according to all the censuses I've seen with him on > it. But where in Tennessee? That's the $64 dollar question. And I know > that his father, Duncan Johnson, probably was born in one of the Carolinas > before going to Tennessee, but again, where? There was a Duncan Johnson in > Wilson Co., TN, but he is not MY ggg grandfather. They went from Tennessee > to Jefferson Co., Alabama, and to begin with, they were in that part of > Blount Co.,, AL that probably later became Jefferson. I think Duncan was > probably born around 1775, by the way, or maybe even earlier. > > Sue (Johnson) Howard > For Johnson families present in these woods from Revolutionary times this is a common problem. Its as if they worked at avoiding leaving records behind. Other than the random leaps backwards via will lists and Revolutionary War pension lists that tend to neglect the spouse and offspring details that I need to identify which David Johnson it is (especially when David is a beneficiary of the will or pension) I'm looking for and at early Kentucky church records. My David Johnson joined the Bethel Baptist Church at Jackson MO by letter in 1812. So some church, probably in Christian Co KY released him and his family by that letter. The family was hyperactive in the church for decades, producing one ordained preacher before the Civil War. That church search may well be complicated by the family having become inspired by the 1799 start of revivals in Logan Co KY that drew people from many miles each time and many were baptized and joined churches as the result of those revivals so its entirely possible that our families' church history began at one of those revivals and that track will be broken. I sure so wish they'd kept a diary from generation to generation and it hadn't been tossed out, but that might have required more education and leisure time than life in those woods allowed for in 1800. Gerald J.