Martha, You wrote: I am assuming that this Alexander was the brother to your Edward since they both had land on Back Swamp in Pitt. NOthing else to go on. I agree with you that Alexander (d.1846) and Edward were probably brothers.I have tried to find when they acquired their land, both adj. to Nehemiah Garris in the Littlefield area of Pitt. Nehemiah Garris was deeded his land by his father John Garris in 1823 (John Garris bought it from Joseph Jackson (pat.) in 1822). The plat of this parcel in Ronald Garris' book shows the lower left corner abutting Alexander Harper. So Alexander Harper acquired his parcel sometime prior to 1822. I could not find any record of that in Elisons deed abstracts or Hofmann's Patents. Edward Harper (Greene) purchased his land in 1815 from John Van Pelt(Craven) and Jonathon Van Pelt(Craven), 302 1/2 acres for $850. Adjacent to Thomas Joiner, Samuel Wingate, Elisha Griffin and Allen Cannon. Former owners Joseph Jackson (Pat.) and Lawry Van Pelt (from Elison).The Garris land was bought from Joseph Jackson also, part of a patent. The South boundary of the Garris land abutted Griffin Land , and the East boundary abutted Cannon land.So Alexander's land was probably very close to Edward's land since they both were close to Nehemiah Garris.Nehemiah was born in 1790 in Dobbs Co. (again from Ronald Garris's book) and Edward and Alexander probably were, too. Greene Co. line is only about 3 miles (as the crow flies) from this area of Pitt Co. Brenda