Robert Alexander (Zan) Sharp b. Feb. 1858 AL d. Dec. 17, 1914 Athens, Henderson Co., TX. Son of Robert M. Sharp 1835 and M. Nissa Herring 1836 (both from AL). Grandson of George W. Sharp 1801 TN and Artemisia Acker 1810 NC. They all died in TX. R. A. (Zan) was first married to a Dora (have no maiden name). Dora was born abt. 1864 LA . Don't know her parents yet....but, they are listed as b. Ky. Zan, Dora, and a year old son, Richard, are shown in 1880 Van Zandt Co. TX census living with Zan's widowed father. Either Dora and Richard died, or Dora took Richard and left. By 1883 Zan was remarrying to Mary Ella Gowins/Goins b. March 1858 (MS or AR... but, probably MS) d. abt. 1926-27 (I am told....yet to find documentation or gravesite.... I am told she was buried at Mt. Olive Cemetery, Scurry, Kaufman Co., TX...but, when requesting a lookup, she was not found). Mary Ella Gowins/Goins was the daughter of Samuel Goins/Gowins (b. abt. 1816 TN d. after 1900 Rains Co., TX) and his first wife, Mary Ann (Polly) Wood(s), who was b. abt. 1820 AL. and would have died in AR before Nov. 1863, at which time Samuel married Martha Roland. Samuel Goins is suspected to be the Native American. It was stated by my grandmother's older sisters (who have all passed on) that Mary Ella told them that "Zan married her straight of the reservation". This reservation would have had to have been in Van Zandt Co., TX......because they were married there January 11, 1883. That is where Zan was in 1880.....and, Mary Ella's father and stepmother moved there with all the kids by the 1870 census. Zan and Mary Ella were the parents of my mother's father. Mother never got to know them, because they both died before she was born. I have found through research, that my grandmother's people (Banks) and the Sharps were all in Tuscaloosa Co. AL, Cherokee Co.TX, Van Zandt Co.TX, Kaufman Co.TX, Henderson Co. TX, and Kaufman Co. TX......as well as Dallas and Tarrant Cos. TX in later years... around the same time. There is documentation of Mary Ella's half-sister, Melissa Bell Gowin/Gowins, marrying John Quincy Adams .... who was full-blood Choctaw. But...other than "hearsay"....and speculation from Goins/Gowins/Goings history reports... we are still not sure of the Native American blood of our Samuel Gowins/Goins line. Shirley