To All Harmon & Brown researchers, Below is an open letter to all of you who may have connections with the HARMONS, BROWNS, WYNNS & NEALS of Wayne Co, KY. The purpose is to get some discussion going among researchers of these different lines who may not realize that they may be connected. I am also hoping to resolve the identity of William NEAL who married Mary Ann Harmon, daughter of George Charles "Mag the Gray Horse" Harmon. It just dawned on me that there are an awful lot of Harmon Browns and Henry Browns floating around Wayne County, KY. In addition to Henry Brown who married Polly Tackett in Wayne in 1824, whose father was RWV Henry Brown, we also have Henry Brown b. ca. 1784 d. 11 Dec 1815 and his son Henry Brown Jr. who m. Ann Wilson. While I was looking at "our" Henry Brown/Sarah Southerland family, I realized their son Harmon is one of three Harmon Browns who lived not too far apart from one another. Next door to Claiburn Brown (who married Sarah Harmon) in the 1810 Wayne Co KY census was a Hezekiah Brown who I've identified in the Clinton County 1850 census. Hezekiah, age 74, was in HH # 19, apparently surrounded by his children. In HH #24 is a 60 yr old Harmon Brown, and in HH #26 is a 30 yr old Harmon Brown, presumably his son. Our Harmon Brown b. 1810 to Henry & Sarah Southerland Brown makes the third Harmon Brown within a relatively few miles of the other two. What is about to get even more interesting revolves around the identity of two William Neals who are connected with the same Harmon family. The first William Neal married Rachel Leonard and was the father of Elizabeth Neal who married Charles Harmon on 06 Oct 1785 in Bedford Co, Virginia. (Charles was the brother of Sarah Harmon who married Clayborn Brown.) The second William Neal married Charles Harmon's daughter Mary Ann. According to Ron Hatfield, the older William Neal was the biological son of Harmon Wynn b. on or before 1775. The 1830 census places Harmon Wynn's age in the 50-60 range, thus Harmon Wynn was born between 1770-1775. Since Elizabeth Neal was probably no younger than 15 in 1785, this is too young for Harmon Wynn to be the father of the older William Neal. Sharen Neal identifies the parents of the older William Neal (father of Elizabeth) as Henry Neal and Sarah Mooney of Chester Co, PA. William and other brothers, according to Sharen, were disowned by their Quaker father for fighting in the Revolutionary War, but later reconciled. I think that Ron may be thinking of the William Neal who married Mary Ann Harmon. To date, I have seen no claim to "young" William Neal's identity, other than this interesting possibility that Harmon Wynn was his father. What really gets interesting is that, while I have been chasing descendants of Hans Peter Harmon through Bedford Co VA > Greene Co TN > Wayne Co KY > Bond Co, IL; Harmon Wynn appears to be the son of William Wynn and Cynthia "Mary" Harmon of Montgomery Co, VA. "Mary" Harmon appears to be the d/o Heinrich Adam Harmon who died in Giles Co, VA. Among his children is one Hezekiah Harmon and a Stephen Harmon, who may be the same Stephen Harmon I find in early Bond Co, IL records (although now that I have looked again at my records, Henry Harmon & Fanny Neal also had a son Stephen who may have gone to Bond County with his brother Anderson). This is Ron Hatfield's website showing William Neal, father of Fannie Neal, as the biological son of Harmon Wynn. Fanny Neal b. abt. 1776 married Henry Harmon 09 June 1789 Bedford Co, VA. Henry was a brother of George Charles Harmon who married Nancy Elizabeth Neal, sister of Fanny. Henry & Fanny's son Anderson Harmon married Nancy Clark d/o James Clark of Wayne Co, KY. His sister Raney Harmon married Nancy's brother Robert Clark. They migrated to Bond Co, IL ca. 1829. My husband is a direct descendant of Samuel Clark, Sr., who I believe was first cousin to James Clark. He also is a direct descendant of Charles & Elizabeth Harmon through their daughter Mary Ann Harmon who married William Neal : Donovan Hatfield's ancestors http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:1773502&id=I99758172 There are quite a few databases showing Harmon Wynn b. 06 Nov 1772 as the son of William Wynne and Cynthia Mary Harmon, but this by far seems to be the most thorough: Southern Connections & Then Some http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:2000129&id=I05708 According to a couple of researchers, Cynthia Mary or Mary Cynthia Harmon was a daughter or granddaughter of Heinrich Adam Harman: TTG13's Genealogy Family Tree http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=ttg13&id=I04636 Patrick and Vickie Wright Family Tree http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:2052832&id=I2333 This was the biggest surprise. I had visited this database before researching my LITTRELL family lines. It contains the Heinrich Adam Harmon family lines, but also contains Asenith Wynn, who I know to be the daughter of Harmon Wynn. If William Neal who married Mary Ann Harmon was indeed the biological son of Harmon Wynn, then he is a bridge between two completely different, if not distantly related, HARMON lines. Patrick Anderson's Genealogy http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=patanderson&id=I19376 This database shows Mary Ann Harmon (b. in SC to George Charles Harmon and Nancy Elizabeth Neal) married to William Neal. Note that William Neal, father of Nancy Elizabeth Neal, was b. 1745 Chester Co, PA: Families of Sequoyah County, OK & Others http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=mjr6387&id=I61950 My own database, which is continuously being updated is: The Clarks of Otter Creek and Related Families http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=gmcflc&I11.x=37&I11.y=2 My direct Harmon/Neal line is: Direct Descendants of Hans Peter Harmon 1 Hans Peter HARMON b: 17 Dec 1732 Rhineland Palatinate, Germany .. +Margaret CHOULYN b: Bet. 1733 - 1737 m: Abt. 1760 in Augusta Co, VA ....... 2 George Charles "Mag the Gray Horse" HARMON b: 11 Dec 1761 Augusta Co, VA d: 1847 ........... +Elizabeth NEAL m: 06 Oct 1785 in Bedford Co, VA ................ 3 Mary Ann "Elizabeth" HARMON b: SC .................... +William NEAL .......................... 4 Moses NEAL b: 1800 TN d: in KY .............................. +Emaline VICKORY b: 1833 TN m: 12 Jan 1846 in Wayne Co, KY ................................... 5 Nancy Mahala NEAL b: 04 Apr 1858 Otter Creek, Wayne Co, KY d: 17 Nov 1928 in Wayne Co, KY ....................................... +Harrison Matthew MASSENGALE b: 05 Mar 1855 Wayne Co, KY d: 23 Mar 1931 in Wayne Co, KY ............................................ 6 Henry Leo MASSENGALE b: 01 Jun 1883 Wayne Co, KY d: 29 Jan 1967 in Wayne Co, KY ................................................ +Sarah Ann HICKS b: 29 Mar 1883 Wayne Co, KY d: 22 Sep 1935 in Wayne Co, KY ...................................................... 7 Myrta MASSENGALE b: 29 Nov 1903 Gap Creek, Wayne Co, KY d: 01 Apr 1987 in Monticello, Wayne Co, KY Fay Clark