I cannot answer your question about your lineage. You state however that the sons would have been too young to witness a deed. I learned in a lecture in Virginia some years by a renowned genealogist that young persons in Virginia about the age of 14 or so could witness deeds, if they understood what they were witnessing. Since Virginia set the tone for many southern states (perhaps they had similar law codes), perhaps the son/sons of your ancestor could indeed have witnessed deeds. I have an instance in Hanover Co., VA (where few colonial records still exist) where both a son and a daughter signed as witnesses in a land transaction of their parents. Remember we, the USA, were largely a rural area in the early part of the 20th century and certainly in the era before that. Perhaps this little fact may help you unravel a problem in your lineage. Good luck. E.W.Wallace southern California