Lee Ratliff born we believe between 1858 - 1861. In Florence, williamson County, Texas (very unlikely but he may have been born before the family got to Texas in Van Buren, Arkansas). He was the son of Joseph and Frances (Harrell) Ratliff. (Joseph being the son of Guilford and Mahala Ratliff). Lee's siblings were all born in Florence, but Aunt Lu (a sister to Lee) use to tell my mother that they were from Louisiana thus her name Louisa.... may have been there for a short, but I do not know how long or even if. Back to siblings Louisa (Lu) Ratliff, born Jan 18, 1859 (we think Lee is here about 1861, but can not find documentation, and maybe because I have been looking for Lee rather than R.L. Ratliff?) Mary Ratliff, 1863 Thompson Ratliff, abt 1866 George Ratliff, abt 1869 Sam Ratliff (between 1870 - 1874) Joseph "Joe" Ratliff (my grand dad) born Aug 11, between 1874 - 1877 ( it is a long story) Andrew who was the youngest but also did not reach maturity. Frances died when my grand father was 8 and Joseph re-married to ???? who was a widow and had a daughter???? Lee was the oldest boy as far as we were told when grand dad spoke of him, He left home and evidentally did not stay around Florence, then my grand dad left home at age 11 and went to his Sister Mary who kept him, along with brother Thompson. Lee supposedly went to Cripple Creek, Colorado around the turn of the Century to run Gambling, etc. establishments there. I have an off branch cousin who has a home there and he was kind of trying to snoop around for me to see what he could find on Lee, but no word yet. Lee's dad, Joseph was a lay preacher for the Baptist congregation in Williamson county area, Frances was a Campbellite (what ever that is). The children were brought up in the faith, but Lee, Joe and Thompson all ran Saloons and gambling establishments, bootlegging etc most of their lives along with Cattle work and Ranching. George was a guard or Warden at McCalister Prison, and Sam I only know his wife's mother may have been suffering from Alzehiemer disease and she had the habit of pulling butcher knives on folks... kind of separated Sam from the rest of the siblings... There were Ratliffs in Woodward as that is where Thompson and Grand dad Joe had their Saloon and also homesteads, very good possibility Lee was in the area too. That would have been late 1890's, around 1897. Any help? Kelly ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]