With information from Dan Bruce and Harold Irving, I have put together the following chart, which contains all the Miles Rainwaters given me to date. It is likely that they all start with James Rainwater and Nancy Miles. For the purpose of this exercise, I am going to assign this James the number 1. Their sons then are 1a, 1b, and 1c. Their sons in turn are 1a1, and so on. I am assigning the father of James the preacher (Benjamin?) the number 2, so the preacher becomes 2a. 1. James Rainwater (c. 1770-c.1835) m. Nancy Miles (c. 1775-c.1847) 1a. Miles Rainwater (1787-1826) m. Nancy Edwards (1788-1855) 1a1. Miles Rainwater (1815-1890) m. Sarah Edwards 1b. James Rainwater the blacksmith ( - ) m. 1b1. Miles Rainwater (1816- ) m. 1c. William Rainwater (1774-1825) m. 1c1. Miles Rainwater (1818-1887) m. 1c2. William Howard Rainwater (1814- ) m. 1c2a. John Raleigh Rainwater (1841-1910) m. 1c2a1. Miles Evan Rainwater (1863-1941) m. 1c2b. Miles Rainwater (1843-1927) m. 1c3. Bartholomew Rainwater ( - ) m. 1c3a. Miles Rainwater (1836- ) m. 1c3b. Josiah W. Rainwater(1843-1934) m. 1c3b1. Miles Rainwater (1876-1956) m. 2. Father of James the preacher 2a. James Rainwater the preacher ( - ) m. 2a1. Zebulon Miles Rainwater (ca. 1823) m. If indeed Miles, James, and William are children of James Rainwater and Nancy Miles, then all the Rainwaters I have so far with the first name Miles are their descendants. The son Zubulon of James the preacher had Miles as a middle name and could very likely have been named after the first Miles Rainwater, as Zebulon Miles was born ca. 1823 when Miles was in his prime as a minister. James the preacher was a younger man, likely Miles's first cousin, living in the same area and following in his footsteps as a minister. Thus it is quite appropriate that he would give a son a middle name after his cousin. Here are some questions. 1. Are there any other Miles Rainwaters you all can come up with? 2. Who was the wife of James the blacksmith, and do we have his dates of birth and death? 3. I had not previously seen the suggestion that William Rainwater also was a son of James and Nancy (Miles). With all his descendants named Miles, it is quite reasonable. Does anyone have proof or know the rationale? Sincerely, Joseph B. Lambert Joseph B. Lambert Department of Chemistry Northwestern University 2145 Sheridan Road Evanston, IL 60208-3113 Telephone 847-491-5437 Fax 847-491-7713 E-mail lambert@casbah.acns.nwu.edu or jlambert@nwu.edu Webpage http://www.chem.nwu.edu/~lambert/ (best with Netscape 3.0 or higher)