WOW! and yet another little piece of my family puzzle falls into place.. The 1880 census on which my gggrandfather lists himself as a "miner" is in the "Gold Region" Bingo! Why didn't that click with me before... **laffs** Thanks Gaye... tamiz ----- Original Message ----- From: Boggit@aol.com To: NCMOORE-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Thursday, October 31, 2002 9:24 PM Subject: Re: [NCMOORE] WHAT WAS GOING ON IN THE 1830'S AND 1840'S The Ritter Mine was in northern Moore Co as were most of the mines. In this area also was a post office of by-gone days called Gold Region. The Ritters lived near by along with many other German families like the Hunsuckers, Garners, Cagles, etc. Coal mines and digging were there too. David Kennedy ran a gun factory which produced guns for the Revolution and the War of 1812. He used the coal to "cook" his gun barrels. His factory was at Robbins (better known to some as Hemp or Mechanics Hill). Gaye ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.406 / Virus Database: 229 - Release Date: 10/22/2002