This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Stokes, Howell, Anderson, Robbins, Johnson, Sisk, Hopkins, Young Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/4AB.2ACE/5040 Message Board Post: Here is what I know with some certainty from the personal experiences of my father, Dr. Jack Tilden Stokes (born 1923). Perhaps others can fill in the blanks. My second great grandfather was Riley Stokes, who was married to a woman named Eliza P Howell. My father recalls conversations with his grandparents (Zeno Tilden Stokes and Effie May Anderson) about Riley and Eliza, who lived in various parts of Hopkins County, Kentucky, including the cities of Earlington, Dawson Springs, and Morton’s Gap. According to letters written by Lula Pearl Beshears Ward (who was the daughter of Julia Roselyn Stokes and Nathaniel Beshears; and who married John Andrew Ward) to my Great Aunt Berrenious Stokes McCullaugh Wyman, Riley drowned in the Tradewater River in Hopkins County as a relatively young man--probably in the 1880s. Lula Pearl also suggested that Riley’s full name was really “Riley William Stokes,” but according to other researchers, his full name was “William Riley Stokes.” Public records seem to support the researchers. I really know little about William Riley Stokes, and nothing about the ancestry of his wife, Eliza P Howell. She is a mystery. Perhaps others could help. William Riley and Eliza had a son named Zeno Tilden Stokes (born 1876, died 1935). Zeno was supposedly named after a man named Zeno Tilden, but I have been unable to located this man. My father (Jack Tilden Stokes) remembers his grandfather Zeno fairly well. Zeno had many siblings my father personally met, including Daniel Lucian Stokes (who married Laura Unknown), Gabriel M Stokes (known to my father as “Uncle Gable,” as in Clark Gable; Gabriel married Unknown), and Dorinda P Stokes (who married Henry T Boyd). My father has never met, however, any of the children of these Stokeses. My father recalls conversations about a few of Zeno’s other siblings, including David Forrest “Bud” Stokes, Molly Stokes, and Julia Roselyn Stokes. Zeno Tilden Stokes married Effie May Anderson (born 1881; died 1947), whose father was Cole Anderson of Kentucky (Cole and his unknown wife are a complete mystery to us, but that's another story). They moved from Hopkins County, Kentucky, or perhap Christian County, sometime in the early 1900s to Sullivan, Indiana, which is located in Sullivan County. They had two children: Sherman Hayes Stokes (born in 1902; died 1952; married my grandmother, Elizabeth "Betty" Jane Robbins, born 1904) and Berrenious (who went by “Bea” or "Bee") May Stokes (born 1899; married first to William McCullaugh--I think this is how William spelled his surname--then to James Albert Wyman). Sherman Hayes Stokes and Elizabeth Jane Robbins gave birth to my father, Dr. Jack Tilden Stokes (born 1923; married Bettie Mae Johnson, born 1928). My parents lived in Sullivan, Indiana (their childhood home) for several years, but have lived in Illinois for nearly 40. Like myself, my father too is very interested in discovering his ancestors. He started this project many years ago as a young man. However, it has been rough going all these years tracking down all of these relatives, especially since we do not live near Hopkins County, Kentucky. We live in Southern Illinois. The above information we know for sure. It is mostly based on the memory of my father, which he got down on paper many years ago. The ancestry of William Riley Stokes is based on some evidence and a bit of speculation. We are pretty sure that William Riley Stokes is the son of Gabriel Stokes (born abt 1809; married Christina Sisk, born 1811), based on some ambiguous census data from the 1850 Census, which lists a son of Gabriel as “William A Stokes” (born abt 1841). We believe that this is really our William Riley Stokes, based on the fact that some property records I’ve been privy to show transactions between Gabriel and William Riley Stokes. We also connect William Riley to Gabriel based on the fact that both William Riley and Gabriel came from the same areas of Kentucky; and that my dad’s Great Uncle was named Gabriel, too. The rest is speculation, including the connection between Gabriel Stokes (born abt 1809) and David Stokes (who was born about 1780 in North Carolina and lived in Western Kentucky). Many researchers claim that Gabriel is the son of David Stokes, and that David is the son of Margaret Young and John Stokes, who, according to many, emigrated to the U.S. from England and fought in the Revolutionary War. I would love to see documents demonstrating even the existence of John Stokes and Margaret Young; or documents listing their 10 children; or documents connecting David to Gabriel; or documents connecting Gabriel to William Riley Stokes. Do such documents exist? I have seen the Iverson Stokes letter and the equally famous Matthew Stokes letter, but nothing else. If anyone can help, I would be within his/her debt. If I can help others, just post a response. Sincerely, Jay T Stokes