List Readers, for forty seven years I have tried to find my Simpson ancestors and figure out my great grandfather's biological family. Around the age of three he was left at the home of Timothy Patrick Mooney and raised as an adopted child. When his adoptive mother died she told him who his mother was and that she wasn't his biological mother. She told him that she had always loved him as if he was her own child. That day changed the world for him and his descendants forever. She said your mother is America Simpson. Later my grandfather told me that George Simpson was his dad's father, which is evidently correct. The problem is which George Simpson. Anyway back to the America Simpson story. Yesterday, a woman and her daughter contacted me who are a part of America's family that I have only known about for a few years. They have their part of the family tree firmed up and knew that my great grandfather went by the name of James Mooney. They are descendants of Dovey Louise Bailey Payton a half sister to James Harvey Simpson Mooney, John Simpson, and Charles Wilkerson. Here is the surprise - they think that another child named Jess was adopted to a family by the name of McCloser. I have never heard of any names like that in Barry County and have no clues as to the situation. I looked on Ancestry for names similar but came up with a fat zero. Do any of you know of a Jess who was adopted that lived somewhere near Munsey or Eagle Rock? I don't know if this is accurate information or not. But am sure that if so, he would have been a child of John Wilkerson's. According to my new found relative, John Wilkerson died leaving America Melinda with small children that she farmed out to different families. Maybe so, but my grandfather was farmed out when she married John Wilkerson because she married him in 1880 and my grandfather was born in 1877 - about 3 years old when he was taken to the door of the Mooney family. In 1910 on the Federal Census America Melinda Simpson Simpson Wilkerson Bailey, wife of Elijah Poe Bailey said she had given birth to 7 children and had 5 living. From that information it is evident that we don't have all their names yet. So I look at the clue above as a good one to work with and to try and document. I am writing to you to see if you know anything about a Jess or know of someone struggling with a family tree that has an adopted child born probably between 1880 and 1886. I am stumped on Jess and could use some help. On Face Book - Barry County GenWeb there are a lot of new subscribers and a lot of activity. If you want to join send me a note. Donna Cooper