I am so excited for you. That is great. Avington was never (well almost never) listed as McElroy. Almost any other spelling. In Johnston and Wake Co., it was mostly McIlroy or Muckleroy or even Muckle. He had cousins who spelled it McLeroy. Betty ----- Original Message ----- From: "bev" <brencher@earthlink.net> To: <MCELROY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, December 01, 2002 7:25 PM Subject: [MCELROY-L] Semi-sucess story! > Just wanted to share a bit of information I found on the 1880 census at > www.familysearch.org. > > It has taken literally years to untangle my McElroy/McLeroy > heritage. Sometimes I just get frustrated and leave it alone for a while. > > With the help of other researchers, I was able to be 99% certain that my > Micajah Mc b, 1785 (son to Sarah Dawson and Avington Mc.) was indeed the > father of James Minter McLeroy, born in Yalobusha Ms., in 1836 > > Micajah first married Francis Reid, then MUCH later in life married > Mary M. Wood. James Minter (b. 1836)and Sarah (b. 1839) were the children > of this later marriage. Micajah died in 1839 and Mary Wood died in 1942, > leaving their very young children orphans. They were raised by John Baker > Wood, Mary's father, according to guardianship papers. > > I have searched and searched for a tidbit...anything! about Sarah... no > luck. Then in the 1880 census at www.familysearch.org I found Sarah > living with her brother James M. in Brazos Co., Tx. She was 40 years > old., and listed as a "widow" ... however, she (or the census taker!) > enumerated her last name as McLeroy. Also in the household was a one month > old niece to James M, named Carrie MCLEROY. > > So now I have other mysteries to solve... was Sarah indeed a "widow", or > was she the mother of an illegitimate child, (Carrie) . But that's the joy > of working on family history... Always more to do! > > bev > > > ==== MCELROY Mailing List ==== > I collect dead relatives and sometimes a live cousin! > I looked for my ancestors,....and I found friends. > I shook my family tree and out came a forest of friends. > >