This will be a three parter -- all three of these families have ties to Washington Co, IL - but are they brothers??? Or how are they related?? And since these were before census records named the children - it's hard to decide which children belong to which family, and it seems some have attributed the same children to more than one family. Most of this was gathered from various and sundry sources and a lot is very "iffy" Matthew Pate, b. 20 Sep 1785 TN d. Dec 1849 md Mary "Polly" Meek, b. c 1795, d. 8 Dec 1850 Children:??? It appears from census records they had 5 sons and 3 daughters -- Joseph Pate, b. c 1813 md (1) Elizabeth Goodner (2) Malinda Padgette-Love Matthew J Pate, Jr b. 9 Aug 1818 IL, d. 8 Sep 1893 TX md (1) Kathryn Faulkner (2) Sarah Mara Underwood-Livesay George Pate, b. c 1825 Mariah Pate, b. c 1829 Lewis Pate, b. c 1830 Jesse G Pate, b. 1835 Jesse G is the only child that was actually named in a census record with the family. The family was in 1820 St Clair Co, IL; 1830 & 1840 Washington Co, IL and in 1850 the widow was in Washington Co, IL, Jesse G. age 15 was living with her. Jinks