Mary Alice wrote: First off, I am a member of DAR and have several supplemental lines and have spent about ten years searching for a father/son documentation for Barnabas and Coleman Haley. Barnabas Haley got his Revolutionary War pension in Madison County and he and his wife, Rhoda, are buried in the Scaffold Cane Cemetery in Rockcastle County. Coleman and family went to Boone County, MO and he died there. He married Ellender Renfro in Garrard County, KY before he made the move. The estate settlement for Coleman lists a son Turpin in Kentucky and he was in Rockcastle County, KY at that time. Ellender Renfro Haley eventually came home and placed her membership in the Scaffold Cane Church. Knowing all of this, I still cannot find anything that will help me to prove the father/son relationship between Barnabas and Coleman to the satisfaction of DAR...any suggestions? Mary Alice My response: There a couple of questions to ask: 1) Is the name Haley and not Halley? I have a little information about the latter family who were associated with the Oldham family (Jesse Oldham, d. 1814 testate in Madison Co.), the wife of Jessie being a Simpson, whose parents were originally of Fairfax Co., VA. (Richard Simpson, Sr. and Mary Kincheloe). 2) Do you have any dates for these folks? When you received the pension records (I assume you have it), did you get the ENTIRE file? What NARA will do, unless you specifiy send ENTIRE file, is to send selected documents. Sometimes they leave out just the piece of paper you covet!!!! I was advised by an expert to specify on the several page request which one sends to NARA to write at the top in red and circle--SEND ENTIRE FILE. 3) I have found -- at least in Madison Co., KY --not Rockcastle--that Commissioners deeds generally have to do with settling an estate in Kentucky when the heirs are having trouble settling the estate or quarreling among themselves (which disagreement is not stated in the deed, as far as I have been able to determine, but one can read between the lines). Check the grantor and grantee indexes of the Kentucky county you are searching and see what you can find. Most of Kentucky deed indexes have been filmed by the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and can be borrowed through a nearby LDS center. Generally, these indexes are typed (title researchers use these indexes every day, it seems) and alphabetized. Generally, the last column gives a hint of the property. Look for deeds of gift (property or slaves), etc. I am especially on the lookout for an indexed surname which is followed by these marks: *& c*, meaning *and others* and Hrs. (heirs). Generally all the heirs sign the commissioners' deeds--or if the woman is married--her spouse is included. Hint, if no spouse for a woman is listed (or signs) the woman is either unmarried or a widow. Then you have a new search--by whom was that woman widowed? I have a problem with a Mrs. Clark nee Oldham in Madison Co.!!!! Which Clark was her deceased spouse? Always a new problem to solve!!!! By the way, have you asked a person connected with the DAR Library to help you solve the relationship problem? They may have something tucked away in their vast files to help you!!!! I believe you may have to study all the indexes in the counties, both in KY and in MO, where the testator (deceased) lived. E.W.Wallace .