This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/XJB.2ACE/557.2.2.2.1.1.1.1 Message Board Post: If Uncle Simp or either of his two sons ever worked on the RR I never heard about it. Farming was their main thing but could have worked other part time at other places. I remember Uncle Simps sons, Tom Hardy and Vilus driving trucks for someone when the county was doing road work straightening some of the curves out of RockWood Rd but the RR thing escapes me.. The Star Geography 101 thing was just a joke, just me trying to be clever and funny again. Although I have spent a lot of time viewing satelite images trying to figure out where all the old trails and roads were south of Star to Simpson County line, my old stomping grounds. I'm sure the trails, roads and routes in that area then were nothing like they are now. After the RR, Hwy49(s), etc came through and many years of county road work have probably changed the whole layout of roads. I would like to locate old Rankin road maps, pre rr, and come up with how it was then. I might use the geography 101 thing for a title to a project or web site on Rankin County, Beat Five, Road Map of Yesteryear. Anyone know of any old maps??, let me know. For what it's worth, doing family history research of that area, I have retreived all the names of the original land grant grantees, from 1835-1900, that aquired land from BLM with parcels that are located on the Star/Brandon road from Thomasville to Star and onto Simpson County line. That being about seven miles of road. Also the grantees of Star proper and Thomasville proper. All names are in order as to there grant so it could be used as a nextdoor neighbor list as well. I can send a copy of all the grant names and there general location of land grants to anyone who would like it or could copy/paste post it here, in this "Star" thread for all to see. There is about 75 names on the list. Most of the names I don't recognize as the typical Star area names. Many probably never resided on their grants, just bought for whatever reasons and eventially sold to the folks that we all recognize as Star names, the old locals of the area. Your lore of the RR connection with Star makes sense. I imagine that Star was just an unnamed area of a couple of crossroads before the G&SI turned it into a RR Town. That may have killed the metropolis of nearby Cherry. Talking about Star area cemeteries, does anyone know exactly where the Middleton Field Cemetery is? The www gives GPS coordinates,, 320458N 0900012W,, for the cemetery but I don't have a gps thing so.... jerry