Judith, Charlie, and all, My silence through all the messages flying fast and furiously does not betoken disinterest. I just thought it best to sit awhile and listen. HOWEVER, before I go to bed, let me throw in "another" unacknowledged Luke Mattingly, or perhaps an unrecognized relationship of one of the Lukes we already had. My reference is to the Oaths of Allegiance to the State of Maryland which were signed in St. Mary's County in 1778. One of the signatories was Luke Mattingly, Senior. [Herman E. Mattingly, Mattingly Family in Early America, 1975, p. 212, citing Chronicles of St. Mary's, July, 1956, p. 45.] It seems to me, if we have a Luke, Sr., there is also a Luke Jr. somewhere, whose relationship to Luke, Sr., is clear, and who does not seem to have signed, either because he was already in the military or because he had not reached 18 years of age by 1778 (and thus was born after 1760 in Maryland). I think the latter situation is true, since we have extensive records of military service, with no reference to any Luke. ________________________________ Now Luke Mattingly, son of Tom II, did not have a son named Luke. So who was Luke Sr. -- Luke, son of John, son of Caesar? Luke, son of Ignatius, son of Tom II? Maybe the Luke who married Eleanor Thompson? Or some other Luke? ________________________________ And who was Luke Jr. -- Maybe Barton's father? The Luke who married Betha Cabron? Or some other Luke? ________________________________ Before Christmas I put together a jigsaw puzzle -- the hardest I've ever seen. The picture was over of 101 Dalmatians.-- all closely pushed together -- with myriad spots. The picture was printed on both sides of the tiles -- but turned 90 degrees. All the pieces were almost exacly the same shape, but each slightly different.. That puzzle was a piece of cake compared to the Mattingly family. The shapes of the pieces and the arrangement of the spots are constantly changing and we have no idea whether or not we have all the pieces. But hope springs eternal for a breakthrough. Nightie Night. fr Blaine