Carolyn, I read with great interest your description of the trail from the Pee Dee area of NC/SC to the Holston River in TN, the Tennessee, Ohio, and Mississippi River to Cole's Creek (http://www.rootsweb.com/~msjeffer/trails.htm). Passports of Southeastern Pioneers, 1770-1823, p. 315, shows that the man I think is my ancestor, James Nevels, along with Humphrey Beardin, Francis Jones, Mark Rector, Rodrick McAulay, William Huff, William Brown, two women and three chilren, obtained a passport 18 March 1798 to descend the rivers Holston and Tennessee as low as the Mouth of the Clinch River. On a 1799 oath of allegiance in the Natchez District, James Nevels and Humphrey Beardin were listed next to each other and with many other Cole's Creek residents (reprint from National Genealogical Society Quarterly 1957, "Special Aids to Gen. Research on Southern Families," p. 99, "Lists of Persons Taking the Oaths of Allegiance in the Natchez District, 1798-99;" p. 105, Will Ferguson's List includes the names of those who lived in the Cole's Creek area) Do you know where I might find the original or a photocopy of the original list of signers of the 1798 oaths of allegiance? I found the microfilm copy of above Holston River passport in the TN State Archives, and was surprised to see that the back of the passport has what appears to be the signatures of the men listed on the passport. I would like to compare James Nevels' and Humphrey Beaden's signatures to those of the two men of the same names who signed the Natchez oaths. According to the 1880 census information of James' son, James Nevels was from South Carolina, but I have not been able to link him to a family in SC yet. I have studied the Nevill group in the Greenville, SC area, the Neavil/Nevil group in the Pee Dee area, and the Nevils group in Barnwell Co., SC. However, some of the names on the passport with James Nevels seem to indicate a link to Granville Co., NC where a Nevill group also lived. Can anyone shed light on any of the names in the above passport? Jan Nevels Faulkner