This is a family legend, impossible to prove, hard to disprove David William Wilson, s/o David and Sarah Priest WILSON of the earlier post, md 1st to Catherine Anne Brant in OH about 1844. She supposedly grew infatuated with a circuit-riding minister and took off with him. The son Christopher is supposed to be her son with him. During the years she was gone, David met Anna Chrisman; they lived together as man and wife, and the rest of the children are supposed to be hers. David served--and I can't find where I have it--in a MO Infantry unit during the Civil War, but I haven't figured out exactly how--he is in Scioto Co. OH in 1850 and 1860 Census records, and in Cairo, Saline Co. IL in 1870. I don't know where he was in 1880, but MO would be an obvious answer, since my gg grandfather Johnathon (a family spelling) William WILSON md Permilia "Millie" WILSON about 1878 in Grundy Co. And Millie's father (I ALWAYS forget he is also a ggg grandfather) was in Grundy Co. by 1858, when she was born. Anyway... Catherine BRANT came looking for David after some time, found him living with Anna CHRISMAN, kicked her out, and moved herself and her son in. Anna went to IL, utterly destroyed, but David followed after her and there they lived until her death when Mary, the youngest, was born in 1866. Only then did he take Catherine back, and they lived happily ever after. She died in 1898 in Pedrow, Taney Co. MO, and was buried in Renshaw Cemetery, with an elaborate tombstone stating "My Beloved Wife" and something about being reunited in eternity. Okay. Problem #1--David's wife is listed as "Anne" age 24 b OH in 1850 Scioto Co. OH, with 5 yr old son "Christian" b OH. In 1860 Scioto Co. OH, she is "Catharine" age 36 b PA, with 15 yr old son Christopher b in IL. In 1870 Saline Co. IL, the wife is again "Catherine" age 46 b PA, with son Christopher age 23 b OH. Allowing for the usual census idiosyncrasies, plus different dates the various censuses were taken during the year, all three could be the same woman. Problem #2--After my gg grandfather was born in OH (4th child), every other child is born in IL. George 14 IL, Benjamin 11 b OH, Rachel 13 b IL, Susan 9 b OH, Mary 4 b IL. Problem #3--can't find a marriage license for David and Catherine. Problem #4--Can't find Anna's grave in IL. Supposedly, after Catherine died, David had Anna exhumed from whatever cemetery in IL, and removed to Renshaw, where she was buried some 30 feet back from Catherine in a grave marked only by fieldstone. The problem with that is a) there is no record of Anna's being buried anywhere, b) while David certainly had the money to do this, I seriously doubt he would have let the mother of his children lie in an otherwise unmarked grave, especially when he put such an elaborately beautiful stone on his erring wife's grave. I would like to think that he had SOME sensitivity, and that would be a grossly insensitive thing to do. Besides, if he did that, Anna Chrisman's grave would be in Bull Creek now, since Powersite Dam was built. It was not within the known cemetery boundaries. Problem #5--David isn't buried by Catherine. He's buried in the LONG family plot, in Maplewood Cemetery in Springfield. He was supposed to be buried by Catherine in Renshaw (says that on his death cert, dated 1916); but daughter Mary, who was married to John Long (daughter Susan was married to Frank Long, John's bro) is supposed to have thrown a fit and refused to allow her darlin' dad to be buried by "That Woman", who was supposedly not her mother. If Anna is in Renshaw, why didn't they bury him by her, then? Then you have all the problems with transporting his body to Springfield. At the time of his death, he lived in Eau de Vie, which is just over the Christian County line, north of Bluff. Problem #6--Charley Long was the informant on Mary WILSON LONG's death cert, in 1953. He listed his grandmother as being "BRANDT". If Mary was not shy about her hatred of Catherine Brant, surely her own son wouldn't have listed Catherine as being his grandmother? Problem #7--the only Anna CHRISMAN we find that is even close to being a possible was 12 years old in 1850, in her father's home in Grundy County, MO. Since David was living in OH at that time, and all his kids were born there during the following decade, what are the chances he went and found himself a 12 yr old to live with in OH from MO? If you say good, I have 10 choice acres of perfectly flat land, lake front and prime Hwy 76 frontage... It is not helped by the fact that there was bitter fighting between sibs at the time of David's death, over his estate and who got what. He was 92, and apparently didn't leave a will. David had a sister-in-law, as we've discussed, who was Mary Ann CHRISMAN. She was Millie Wilson's mother (which makes her my ggg grandmother, forgettin' again). David's son, Johnathon, who married Millie, had a total of 4 documented wives (we can't find the supposed marriage to Frances, the supposed first wife). On his deathbed in 1941, he told son Paul not to ever forget his grandmother, Anna CHRISMAN. He claimed Anna was his own mother, and that members of the family conveniently forgot about her, since that would make them illegitimate. His wife, Paul's mother Lucinda HENSLEE WILSON, was the informant on the death cert, and put Anna Chrisman as his mother. He also claimed that David Wilson moved to MO via raft down the Ohio River. Nope, as census records tell us. Let's face it, he was 88. He must have been a heckuva man, for one time, his daughter in law, Daisy Jones Cox Wilson, asked him during the early 1930s how come he was bald when his father had had a full head of hair upon death. Grandma, who was Daisy's own step-DIL, was present when he sat back in his chair and said, "Honey, if you'd bounced your head aginst as many headboards as I have, you'd be bald, too!" Lucinda was 52 when Johnathon William died, and she never remarried. We think he was a bit confused, or else "Uncle" Paul--honorary title--got a bit confused in the passage of time since. He's 80 now, and vehemently claims Anna's position as his grandmother and Johnathon William's mother. I'm wondering if ol' Johnathon got his sons mixed up--I've not compared pictures, but it's possible--and didn't want his sons by Millie to forget their family in Grundy and Livingston Counties, who was kin twice. There's lots of other stories, but if you got some ideas on how to solve this puzzle, I'd sure like to hear it. I have no idea as to why the WILSON family moved to Taney and Christian counties in MO. You always want to think there was prior family there, but I don't know who it'd be...Chrisman is a good bet. Vonda