Jean, No, I don't know anything about Avoy, LA. I was aware, though, that JMS had two wives before his marriage to Nancy Hutchison. A pix of this couple and their four children is in my book. It clearly shows JMS's wooden leg--a result of his injury at the Battle of Vicksburg. I see on page 106 of my book that, " There is a fragmentary court record in the Attala County Chancery Clerk's office that refers to a suit filed by a JMS against Rosanna Sandige on 12-29-1883. Chancery Court is the venue for divorce actions so it is possible that this case resulted in Jim obtaining a divorce from his first wife." (I now understand that this was actually his second marriage.) His marriage to Nancy must have occurred no earlier than 1884. The 1900 census states they were then married 18 years, but, of course such records are notoriously inaccurate. Later, on this same page, I write, "Jim had at least one child from his first marriage. School records for Attala County in 1885 show that he had an 18 year old son named Charles who had attended school that year. There is a family tradition that Charles was killed by a bear in the Delta, He was a trapper and was killed shortly after he had visited his father in Attala County. He was buried in the Delta, probably at Marigold. Another equallly strong tradition holds that Charles died about age 20 of pneumonia and was probably buried in an unmarked grave at McLean Cemetery." McLean is in Newport in SW Attala County, and is the final resting place of both Jim and Nancy Sandridge. Thanks for the nice comments about my book. Edward Hutchison Genealogy site: http://members.aol.com/AttalaKin/index.html This site contains excerpts from the book: "Yesterday: The Descendants of John Hutchison and Elizabeth Frazier of Attala County, MS" <A HREF="http://me mbers.aol.com/attalakin/index.html">Genealogy Page</A>