The phrase In the Will of Thomas Payne, Jr. of Franklin Co. GA 1786, " all my brothers, stepbrothers and sisters" continues to cause problems. WWWEBSTER DICTIONARY on line defines stepbrother as a son of one's stepparent by a former marriage . Now that would really make for problems! but The 1755 DICTIONARY OF SAMUEL JOHNSON defines the useage of " Step" as one related only by marriage, and WEBSTER'S 1828 DICTIONARY defines "step-brother" as a brother in law or by marriage There are, I'm sure, dictionaries from 1786, but these are the two closest ones I have access to. I do not believe the terminology of the will shows Thomas Payne, Jr. was referring to brothers, HALF brothers and sisters. I believe he was referring to his sister's husbands. This in no way precludes the possibility that some siblings were "of the whole blood" and others "of the half blood." But the will simply does not speak to that, and can not be used to prove it. That is something that will have to be proven in some other way. In addition, the wide range of birth dates listed for Thomas Payne, Jr.'s mother, Yanaka Ayers Payne (everywhere from 1722 to 1744) does not preclude the possibility that she is the mother of all the children. This issue is very important to those striving to get the correct ancestors I suggest we curtail the speculation, stay open-minded on the subject, and keep watching for evidence that Thomas Payne, Sr. did/did not have a wife previous to Yanaka, and for evidence that Yanaka was/was not mother of all of husband Thomas' children. It would be very helpful to discover evidence either way. Cordially, Martha W. Acker