We know the names of the children of William and Drucilla Pace, or at least we know the names of the seven who were still surviving on his death in June of 1826. They are listed as legatees in the estate papers which can be found in the Pace Society database. They are (spelling as given in the document): Fredrick Pace Elizabeth Etheredge Richard Pace Susannah McCullar Burrel Pace Anny McCullar Dempsy Pace I believe that these children are listed in order of age, oldest to youngest, and the census record seems to support that theory. The main source of confusion around this family lies in the identity of the Dempsy who is listed as a legatee. Bruce Howard states that Dempsey is William’s oldest child, born in SC in 1778. This is the same Dempsey who was the early immigrant to Clarke County, arriving in 1809 some 13 years before his supposed father and siblings showed up there. This is the same Dempsey who owned 10 slaves in the 1830 census and who was born in 1775 according to the Bible record. I will refer to this Dempsey as Dempsey the elder in the discussion to follow. I do not believe that he is the son of William Pace for these reasons: 1. Age of Drucilla: If we attach any credibility to the census record (1830 Clarke, AL, and 1820 Wilkinson, GA), it looks like Drucilla was born between 1770 and 1775. Hence, Dempsey (b. 1775-1778) could not be the son of Drucilla. If he is the son of William, it would have to be by an earlier wife. (Bruce Howard says that William married Drucilla when he was about 19, but I don’t know his source). 2. Dempsey as Commissioner and Appraiser of the estate: You more experienced folk will need to help me here, but my assumption is that persons with a vested interest in the estate (heirs) would not normally be appointed to this role. My belief is that the Dempsey who appraised William’s estate was not his son, but merely a respected neighbor with some standing in the community. 3. Dempsey vs. Demcy in the estate documents: If you examine the Wm Pace estate documents closely, you will find three signatures by Dempsey Pace and two signatures by Demcy Pace. a. Estate appraisal – signed by Dempsey Pace. b. Commissioner’s division of the estate - signed by Dempsey Pace – same hand as (a). c. Receipts turned in by Wiley Ethridge, administrator - signed by Dempsey Pace – same hand as above. Wiley paid Dempsey four dollars and twelve and one-half cents. People seem to have assumed here that this was payment of part of the legacy, but I believe that William died owing Dempsey this amount and Wiley was merely settling the debts of the estate. d. Receipts turned in by Wiley Ethridge, administrator – signed by Demcy Pace (different handwriting than the above three) and by Richard Pace. Here Wiley paid Richard $86 which was a part of “his brother Dempsey legitee” (written in hand of Wiley Etheridge). Both brothers signed: Richard to acknowledge receipt of the payment and Demcy to acknowledge consent to part of his legacy being paid to Richard. e. Will of Drucilla Pace – “. . . if Demsey Pace my legal heir does stay with me and take care of my property I will all of my property to him at my death.” – signed by Demcy Pace in same hand as (d) but different from the first three. So, I see two Dempseys in William’s estate papers. The first three signatures were by Dempsey the elder, possibly a brother of William. The last two, signed "Demcy" rather then "Dempsey", were by the youngest son of William and Drucilla. I think that other researchers have erred in assuming that Dempsey the elder was the son of William. This may result from examination of the 1830 census where we find only Dempsey the elder. Both Dempseys can be found in the 1840 and in the 1850 Clarke County Census. In 1850, Dempsey the elder is 74 years old and married to Macy Yarborough. Dempsey (Demcy), the son of William and Drucilla, is 40 years old and married to Rebecca White. So where was Dempsey the son of William in 1830? He is the male aged 15-20 living in the household of Drucilla. Like a good son, he is doing just what his mother asked him to do – staying with her and taking care of her property. I will appreciate your critical comments on this theory, both pro and con. Perhaps especially con, since my interest is in arriving at the truth rather than in selling a particular idea of my own. If anyone has time, please go to the Pace Society database, examine the excellent images of the William Pace estate documents, and let me know if you see two Dempseys in there as I do. I’m not a handwriting expert, and I would value more objective opinions. [Note that I am not suggesting that we change the spelling of William’s son to Demcy. He was a young man at this time, probably only recently literate, and was spelling phonetically as most of our ancestors did at that time. When he became aware of way his wealthy uncle (?) spelled his name, he likely started writing his name as Dempsey too.] Thanks, Joe Anderson