Is there anyone on this list that can help locate a the origins of a James Martin Bess who had married an Abernathy. They are reputed to have died in DUNKLIN Co. MO in a flood "shortly" after 1902. They had a son Edwin b. 1902 who was reputedly reared by an "Aunt" Grace Langdon. It is not known whether there were other children or not. Edwin's daughters know nothing of their origins except what I've written here. They have his delayed birth certificate which he had applied for in the 1940s. It says he was b. in Dunklin Co. Edwin died in FL in 1960 while his children were still teenagers. If you have access to 1900-1910 census records, Cemetery records, newspaper articles about the flood, or anything else that might help them, please check. It would mean so much to these ladies whom I met in the local library in NE TN today. Their story breaks my heart. Neither are on line so please respond to me or the list and I will pass the mesages along to them. Thanks ever-so-much. Lorena