In a message dated 2/13/99 4:41:37 PM Central Standard Time, SAPP-D- request@rootsweb.com writes: << My wife is a descendent of Middleton SAPP who lived in Lawrence Co. AL during the mid 1800s. He was reportedly born in Rhea Co. TN the son of John and Winnifred Anderson SAPP. A John SAPP placed an advertisement in the 1797 Augusta Ga. Chronicle stating that he had set up shop in Louisville and offered his services as a clock and watch maker, silver smith, and the repair of surveyors instruments. At this time John was reportedly married to an Elizabeth KING. John and family then removed to Rhea Co TN where John operated a mill. Wife Elizabeth died and he married Winnifred ANDERSON. The family moves to Blount Co. AL in about 1830. Middleton remains in AL but John and Winnifred move to Shelby Co. Texas where he is enumerated on the 1850 census as an 86 year old Clockmaker. Most researchers link this John SAPP to the John SAPP of the 1790 Surry / Stokes Co. NC census. I have recently noticed, however, that the SAPP family of Burke Co. Ga. also married into an ANDERSON family and also had a descendent named Middleton SAPP in about the same time period as our Middleton. Can anyone help to better identify 'John the Clockmaker' ? Thanks Ted & Joyce. >> Dear Ted & Joyce I am also a descendant of this John Sapp by way of his daughter Mary who married Charles Harrison Richards. You have described to a tee what I know of this John Sapp. I know a considerable amount about Mary and her line and of the Sapps who went to Shelby Co. My grandmother was born and raised there as was her father. Her grandfather, John S (Sapp?) Richards is Mary's son. There seems to be no record of old John's death after 1850 in Shelby County and oral history is that he returned to Blount Co AL where he died. I do know that his jeweler's hammer, a very delicate instrument is in the hands of one of his descendants and I hope to get a picture of it. There is a lady in Timpson, Shelby Co, Texas who has studied the Sapps for years. She is not on line but I can get you a phone number if you want to call her. She is also a descendant of Winnifred Anderson. She says Winnifred did not like her step kids and was the subject of tales for generations because she made the stepkids sleep in the chicken koop when her brother came to visit. Mary told her children that she married so young to get away from Winnifred. Don't know how true it all was- my Shelby Co relatives are prone to tall tales, all true of course. I also have some stories about the Sapps from an old newspaper article. John S Richards died and his widow Caroline/Calline/Callie Conway Richards (my 2nd gggm) married BD Sapp in his later years. BD and Calline were both hot tempered folks who didnot get along well and were divorcing when he died. The lawyer took action against the estate because he didn't get paid. Family lore has it that old BD Sapp kept all his considerable riches in an old trunk which he kept locked. Calline did not want him to have his stuff, so she took her shotgun and blew his trunk apart. After that Calline went to live with her son and his family, so my grandma grew up with Calline Conway Richards Sapp. My grandma was a great story teller. I also have doubts about old John's origins and his wife Elizabeth King and/or Elizabeth Sanders. I had noticed those Burke Co GA connections a while back but still don't know what to think Melinda