Hi Diana, You hit the bullseye on this one. Your story sounded familiar so I went thru my emails and found the connection. You will also want to contact Karen Nelson of Licking, MO <[email protected] as she is the person who sent me the following story and is part of the Deason family: "...Thomas Jefferson Deason and Elizabeth Nichols Deason had a son, James, my great grandfather.Lemuel Frank's wife died, he had two small sons, Herbert and Edward. He needed someone to care for the two boys, he took them to James and Eliza Deason's at Licking, Mo, to stay for awhile. When he went to get the boys the Deasons were so attached to Edward, who was only 3 mos old, they asked Frank to let Edward stay with them and he did. At that time, Mr and Mrs Deason had grown children, Edward was raised and loved by the Deasons as if he was their son. Edward continued living with the Deason family until he married. His first marriage did not last long. He moved to Bartlesville, OK as stated i! n Lemuel Frank Atkisson's obit." I will send you an invitation to my Atkisson website so you can see the family tree and other relatives on the member list. My tree should also be on rootsweb.com . I am not related to the Atkisson family but my adopted son, Connor Schofield Bateman, is on his birthmother's Schofield side. Let me know if you have any problems. Welcome to the extended family.