Hi Cindy, A book we have, "First Court Records of Casey County, Kentucky" by Gladys Cotham Thomas, indicates that a John Shackelford, listed on page 170, was elected as a state representative. There could be a short biography about him in the Kentucky state archives. Also, you might write the Filson Club in Louisville or the historian of the Kentucky state legislature about him. If he invented a rifle he may have filed a patent application with the U. S. Patent office in Washington, D. C. And as you may know, the Casey County Public Library lists a Shackelford family in their collection of family files. By the way, do you know of someone who could check the War of 1812 book you mentioned for any ALLENs? Good luck. Yours truly, Bill and Loydean Allen end -----Original Message----- From: Cindy Pulford <cpulford@aros.net> To: KYCASEY-L@rootsweb.com <KYCASEY-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Saturday, March 27, 1999 6:47 PM Subject: Re: [KYCASEY-L] War of 1812 >I''ve had a hard time with War of 1812 records too but I found a book at the >Library called SOLDIERS OF THE WAR OF 1812 ...