Pat, My guess is that the murdered brother was John A. Kester as there were only two Kesters living in Hay Fork, Trinity County, California. This is from www calarchives.com: Trinity County, CA 1885 Directory ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ List of names by town - County History at bottom (I've clipped a lot out.) HAY FORK This post office town, situated on Hay Fork - a branch of the south fork of The Trinity - is the center of the principal agricultural section of the County, although even here the quantity of good farming land is limited. The Chief products are hay and wheat, which find a ready market in Weaverville Some mining is also carried on in the neighborhood. The town has two general Stores, a hotel, and the usual adjuncts of a mining and farming town. The Population of the town and tributary country is about two hundred. Barker, David E. V. - farmer 400 acres Barnes, George W. - miner Bayles, Adam D. - postmaster, flour mill, stockraiser 160 acres Bush, George W. - farmer 10 acres Carter, John W. - hotel & saloon 300 acres Conlin, John - stockraiser DeLong, George S. - farmer 160 acres Detrick, Daniel C. - miner Drinkwater, W. C. - farmer 320 acres Duncan, Alfred B. - farmer 240 acres Farmer, William Ferinheough, William - farmer/stockraiser 40 acres Francis, Timothy M. - farmer Gardiner, James - laborer George, Beriah M. - farmer 320 acres Grigsby, Lafayette - farmer 160 acres Grigsby, Wm. J. - farmer 120 acres Hailstone, John T. - farmer 280 acres Hampton, James M. - stockraiser Hoyt, Jonathan S. - miner, farmer 180 acres James, Walter W. - blacksmith Kellogg, Langdon J. - hotel, saloon, 260 acres Kerlin, Samuel - farmer 160 acres Kester Bros. - miners Kester, John A. - Kester Bros. Kester, Josephus - Kester Bros. I also found this: Jackson County OR Archives Deaths.....Farmer, Belzora April 27, 1924 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.org/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.org/or/orfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Elizabeth C jaxsearch@hotmail.com May 11, 2006, 9:48 PM Name: Farmer, Belzora Date Of Death: April 27, 1924 Time: 10:55 PM Place Of Death: RFD #1, Gold Hill Residence: RFD #1 Gender: Female Race: W Age: 77y-3m-1d Marital Status: Widowed Spouse: Not given, Not given Date Of Birth: December 26, 1846 Place Of Birth: Missouri Mother's Name: Galbraith, Elmira Mother's Birthplace: Kentucky Father's Name: Kester, Henry Father's Birthplace: Virginia Cause Of Death: Carcinoma of stomach, 1 year Hospital: Unavailable SS Number: Unavailable Occupation: Housekeeper Funeral Home: H W Conger, Medford Doctor: W P Chisholm, Gold Hill Coroner: Unavailable Informant: Josephus Kester, Gold Hill Date Of Burial: May 1, 1924 Place Of Burial: Hayfork, Cal Date Recorded: April 28, 1924 Source Of Record: Oregon Certificate of Death Certificate No.: 114 Additional Comments: Length of residence in city or town where death occurred, 10 years There is also a Josephus Kester listed in the Jackson County (Oregon) Pioneer Index as well as in Madison County, Iowa and in Arkansas. Search using Google for Josephus Kester. There are many places the name shows up and may or may not be the same person. George -------Original Message------- From: Pat Linton Date: 01/12/10 01:06:20 To: NORCAL@rootsweb.com Subject: [NORCAL] THE PARDON OF KESTER Many years ago I received a xerox copy of a newspaper article from a very distant cousin. I do not know what newspaper it was in, but there was the date of "Feb. 20, 1892" handwritten on the article. The cousin who sent me the article did not know anymore about it. The article has never been easy to read and is now very faded and almost impossible to read. Years ago I handwrote it out, so the article is as follows: THE PARDON OF KESTER