Barbara...catching up on old mail. Here is a paste from my records on Hester's children. The original ledger book was supposedly at one time in the Georgia archives; at any rate they say they "think" it was there and shamefacedly now say if it was there they have lost it. More likely if it was there they sold it; believe or not an institution charged with keeping records has periodic sales to the public of material they deem appropriate to sell. I'm inclined to give the information below some degree of credibility. Two of the birth dates are confirmed to the extent the 1850 Screven census can be believed and it is one of the more dependable ones. And I have it from a Wilder researcher down there that other Wilder birth dates from the "ledger book" check out also. Hester, of course, being the wife of Meredith Poythress, Sr. Despite the disparity in ages this one looks to fit. Batchelor Meredith, Sr. at 50+ looks to be an easy mark for young Hester, recently widowed and a couple of illegitimates on her hands to boot..she needs support and she's likely a pretty young thang to Meredith, Sr. Just to pull a speculation out of the air because it looks so logical, I'd take a guess that those children living with Hester in the 1850 census may be the orphans of George W. Poythress who simply leaves no records of any kind that I have found (in Georgia at any rate). John White Poythress (Bud's ancestor) is present and accounted for in all the censuses, as is also Isaac Edmond Poythress who is killed in a construction accident working on fortifications in the Savannah harbor during the war (per widow's pension application and CSA payroll and muster cards). The paste: Appears now a piece of serendipitous and contemporaneous evidence, likely albeit not proved. In 1794 a Burke County record book with remaining blank pages was sold to one Harry Wilder who then records daily business transactions in it. Later, son Isaac Wilder inherits the book and uses it for more varied purposes, one of which is to record the births of various Wilder family members. Listed are the names and birthdates of Hester Wilder Mock's children by Meredith Poythress, Sr.: George Washington Poythress b. 13 Jan 1819 John White Poythress b. 13 Jan 1821 Henrietta Poythress b. 7 Dec 1823 Sarah Edwards Poythress b. 14 Nov 1826 Issac Edmond Poythress b. 28 May 1828 [d. 29 Jun 1862] Maynard