This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: RobertBlakely12 Surnames: WILSON, BLACKBURN, CHAPMAN, SOMERVILLE, BROWN, BIRD Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.pennsylvania.counties.york/15240/mb.ashx Message Board Post: For the past decade, I have been searching for the parents of my ancestor Brown WILSON. Our Wilson family bible has record of him being born Dec 26, 1786. From there, there is no public record of him until he married Susannah BLACKBURN in Clark County, IN Sept 9, 1815 (no parent record included). I have traced her BLACKBURN ancestors back to Ireland. Brown and Susannah were probably in Kentucky in 1820, as their daughter, Caroline (WILSON) CHAPMAN, lists her birthplace in several records as Kentucky at that time. He is not the slightly older Brown WILSON (b. abt 1776 ENG) who shows up in Butler County, OH records in the years of 1807 to 1823 married to Mary BURNS, as that Brown WILSON is confirmed to have died in 1823 - I've even seen the gravestone. My Brown WILSON shows up in 1830 in Edgar County, Illinois Census records, and appears there every decade until his death in 1872. He joined the Presbyterian Church in 1843, was kicked out 10 years later in 1853, but buried ! in the Presbyterian cemetery in Edgar County. He was a land surveyor. All of his Edgar County census records list his birth as 1786 or 1787, most with a birthplace of Pennsylvania, with a couple listing Berks County, PA as his birthplace. Interestingly, census records (especially those recorded of his children) often indicate his birthplace as Virginia, and sometimes, Kentucky, however. Brown and Susannah BLACKBURN (b. 1792 KY to James and Mary [unknown last name]BLACKBURN) had these children: Unknown male b betw 1816-1820 (prob KY) Unknown fem b betw 1816-1820 (prob KY) Caroline, b Sep 9 1820 in Kentucky m. Joseph CHAPMAN Unknown male b betw 1821-1825 (prob KY) Unknown fem b betw 1821-1825 (prob KY) Joseph A. b abt 1827-8 in IL (prob Edg. Cty) Robert Blackburn b Oct 15 1828 in IL (prob Edg. Cty) Susan b abt 1834 in IL (prob Edg. Cty) A James WILSON (b 1830) and wife Nancy appear next to Brown in the 1850 Census - he very well could also be a son of Brown. Brown also married Mary (Alexander)SOMERVILLE [Sommerville, Summerville]on Jan 2, 1839 in Edgar County IL. They had no children. As an aside, there is plenty of 'family legend' stuff, etc. surrounding Brown. My grandmother WILSON is quite insistent that the family has always been told that Brown is the son of James WILSON, the signer of the Declaration of Independence, etc., and she is the great granddaughter of Brown, so the connection is close. Highly unlikely, of course. Though there are things that offer a glimmer of possibility - James the signer spent much time in Berks County PA, was a Presbyterian, and married his first wife, Rachel BIRD, in Douglasville, Amity, Berks in the mid-1770's. However, Rachel died several months before Brown was born in our bible record, and James did not remarry for several years. Any child born on Dec 26, 1786 would have been out of wedlock and therefore unlikely. My grandmother asserts that records could have been erased or changed, as James's sons disappeared because they did not want to be responsible for the huge debts James died with at his death - he was ! a prodigious land speculator and died being hounded by creditors, even spending time in jail, despite the fact that he was a Supreme Court judge and one of the heroes and great minds of the American Revolution and Constitution. This could be seen to fit with the fact that my Brown WILSON only shows up in public records so far in 1815, at age 29. Regardless of that, I see my best leads are to look at the 1790 Federal Census records for Berks County, and I see only three WILSONs listed in Berks at that time. I am attempting to learn more about these WILSONs: John WILSON, Amity Twp. John WILSON, Exeter Twp. Alexander WILSON, Windsor Twp. It sure would help if one of them married a BROWN or had the middle name BROWN.... Can anyone help me find the parents of this rather stubborn ancestor? Thanks in advance. You may also reach me at [email protected] Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.