Dear Jeann(ette?), I saw your helpful note to a fellow lister to help them think about ways to track their Quaker families. I am side-tracked by your reference to your Norris family. I have McCulloughs I have traced back, so far, to my g-g-g-g-grandparents (Enoch and Elizabeth McCullough) for whom I have no dates. My g-g-g-grandfather (Oliver McCullough) was born in PA in 1798 so Enoch was in the U.S. by then. A very brief family history written by one of my great aunts (Ellena P. McCullough) -- a history with many facts that have been supported by documentation and a few really big errors -- states that the first McCullough to come to the U.S. (or the U.S.-to-be) was named Norris McCullough. So far, I have found no such person. However, Oliver's oldest son by his first marriage did name his youngest son Norris. My great-aunt did not know about this half-cousin since one of her errors makes it clear she did not know who Oliver was. Therefore, she could not have been influenced in her assertion about an ancestor named Norris by the known existence of a cousin named Norris. Over time I have become frustrated trying to move back further in my family tree than Enoch and have speculated on the possibilities. As you might have guessed already, it has occurred to me that one of my McCulloughs could have married a Norris and named a child Norris McCullough. Perhaps this happened in the U.S., in Scotland (where our family history note says the McCulloughs came from), or even in Ireland (which the spelling of the family name suggests the family stopped for at least a generation or two before heading overseas). If there was a late 1700 (or earlier) marriage in the U.S. (Enoch's grandfather, perhaps?) that produced a child named Norris McCullough, perhaps your Norris family history might provide some clues. The McCulloughs I have located back to the birth of Enoch's son Oliver puts them in Chester Co., PA; Cecil Co., MD; and New Castle Co., DE. While finding the family in three counties might suggest they moved quite long distances, this MAY not be the case since the known places that this family lived between 1798 through the next hundred years were very close together: North East, MD; Colora, MD (where the Nottingham Presbyterian Church is located); Newark, DE (where Enoch was a weaver at least from 1810 until 1827); New London, PA (which is just about where the three counties almost converge just west of Newark). After the 1850s, Wilmington, DE, was added to the known family locations -- though they certainly may have had family members there earlier. Also, though they may have been Presbyterians earlier in the family history, by the 1850s, most seem to have been Methodists. Several McCulloughs married into Quaker or formerly Quaker families, including Cloud, Walton, Pyle, Carter, and Mercer families. The original family history note and oral history of the family seems to place the first McCulloughs in eastern PA on "a large farm," possibly in Lancaster Co. or Bucks Co., but that "clue" is really quite tenuous. Given the known locations of later family, Chester Co. (which included Delaware Co.) should not be eliminated from the possible home location! We really have no idea what part of PA the McCulloughs lived in prior to Enoch's appearance in Newark, DE. Does any of this ring any bells for you? (even a little tinkle?) Could you possibly come up with any speculations for what members of our families might have intersected to produce the child named Norris McCullough? Or ideas for where they might have lived? Any clues will be gratefully embraced! Karen Carter Minneapolis, MN