I have been trying to help Deb find her family.. She has a Hiram Harris, born August 19, 1791. Also two sisters. We are still trying to find the parents of these three children. The following is one of the messages, that we exchanged. It will give more info. Anyone with knowledge of this family? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Betty Dear Betty: Thank you so much for the many letters of information you sent. It's taken me a while to just > sort of sift through it looking for clues, ruling things out, etc. > > I think we're a bit closer to the picture of the circumstances and probably have the years down that the parents of our Hiram Harris and his sisters died. > > While we don't have any proof yet, we have some strong suspicions based on circumstantial evidence, and I think I'm going to do the research based on these things. Heck, it can't be any worse than nothing, which is pretty much what we started with. :) > > Here's my theory: > > There were two Berryhill daughters, one married Miles Castillo(castiller, castilloe, castillow, etc) and the other married Samuel (I hope) Harris in the 1780's or thereabouts. > > Samuel and Daughter#1 Berryhill had 3 children that we know of: >     Sarah (Sallie) Harris in 1785 (year extrapolated from her census listing in 1850) >     Hiram Harris, born August 19, 1791 >     Lavina Harris -- don't know when she was born. She later married someone by the name of FALL > or FALLS. > > After 1791 sometime, Daughter#1 Berryhill Harris dies > > Then Samuel dies, leaving three orphaned children, probably before 1800. > > These children are then raised by their aunt, Daughter#2 Berryhill, married to Miles Castillo > (Her name could be Hannah, according to some Berryhill researchers, but I'm not sure) > > Daughter#2 Berryhill dies in the early 1800's and Miles remarries and has a family with this > second wife. Their first child is a daughter, their next one, a son, which he names Samuel. > > By 1810, Hiram Harris is listed on the census in Lincoln County, NC living on his own, but the > census entry says 1 male, 16-25, 1 female 16-25, and one male under 10. According to family > records, he wasn't married until around 1813 or so, but I suppose they could be off. The oldest child in that family, Eli, wasn't born until Feb, 1815. So we're not sure if this is 'our' Hiram and a sister, a wife and child, or what. If it's a sister, then who is the boy? If it's his wife, again, who is the boy? > There are mustering out records in 1814 in Lincoln County for Hiram Harris. In the same company he served was a FALLS ... and nearby them in the 1810 census, there was also a FALLS. Hiram's sister Lavina married a FALLS. > > Hiram was supposed to have moved to SC for a while near the time of his marriage, but we have no proof of that. Two sons are born, some family records say SC, some say NC; Eli Greenberry Harris Feb 23, 1815, and Andrew Simpson Harris Oct 22, 1816. > By 1820, he's living near Knoxville, TN, where the rest of his family is born. Also living nearby is Miles Castillo's family and Hiram's wife's sister, husband, and family. > I spoke to the NC Archives today, I'd requested a guardianship search for Mecklenburg and Lincoln counties. No hits for any of our three Harris kids. But after talking to the archives desk, I understand why -- their guardianship papers are probably filed away with the probate/estate/will file of their parent/s. All nice and proper. Trick is, they're all indexed by the name of the person who passed away. > Anyway, that's the latest piecing together of things from the little bits and pieces you and someone else sent me. > If you have any brilliant ideas from here, I'm all ears. I'm thinking I'd like to know how the wills/probates/estates are stored and if they're indexed in Mecklenburg or whatnot. How many Samuel Harris could there be who died in this brief span of time?  ::gulp:: >   -deb Kansas was FAR more of a "Big City" atmosphere and a much faster pace of living than we're used to here. My husband's company is moving there -- and we all took a trip back there to decide whether to move with the company or leave. My husband is taking his severance pay and we're staying here. No way do we want to live in Kansas. :) But while I was on the trip, I did find ONE HALF a day to squeeze into a trip to Harrisonville, MO, which is where our Hiram Harris moved his family to. :)  This is a quaint little midwest town, and I mean LITTLE, that still has a small courthouse square, everyone knows each other, and I'd be surprised if there were 8,000 for a population. And its the county seat. Heh! I pulled marriage, deeds and maps while there. His children all came with him, the oldest was 21, in the move, and all their marriages were here. There's a Baptist church they founded, He and two of his sons were justices of the peace before they all left for Texas. Anyway, I wished I'd had several days in the area. So that was the highlight of my trip to Kansas ... and it was in Missouri. :) But the trip to Harrisonville was wonderful. We found a cafe right on the Square that had the best food I ate the entire week-long trip, and probably the least expensive, too. deb