LouDean wrote: <<I have been told that she [Rebecca MASSEY, daughter of Laban Massey and his first wife Mary Carpenter, married my great great great grandfather Thornton OWENS]>> <<I was also told that Rebecca is mentioned in Frank Massey's last book [MSSSEY ADDENDUM]>> That is incorrect. Only sons are shown in this book. From correspondence with other researchers, Judge Massey had unpublished info that shows Laban Massey with a list of 11 named children. Other secondary sources shows two other children and says Laban had at least 18 children. I have seen only one wife named - Esther DOWDLE. With up to 18 children, I'd guess Laban had at least two wives. Up to 8 daughters are shown for him, one of which is Rebecca, and she may have been daughter of a wife before Esther. The data I have shows daughter Rebecca marrying Thorton GAINES. The fact that LouDean has records of a Rebecca Massey who married THORTON Owens makes me think "Gaines" may be incorrect. I can envision a poorly handwriten OWENS being interpreted by an inexperienced researcher as Gaines. So, my best call is that Rebecca Massey Owens is probably a daughter of Laban Massey and a first wife named Mary Carpenter. Placement of Thorton Owens with repsect to Laban Massey in early census records (1820/30/40/50) might help to confirm or reject that tentative conclusion. Regards to all, Theron Smith. P. S. I hope the Massey DNA project materializes. I've seen exciting results from DNA analysis on other families. My own MASSEY connection is through my mother and grandmother, so I can't provide a DNA sample, but I'll be interested in any results.