This concerns the early Jessie, Samuel, & Mark Slone/Sloan. This will probably be long, confusing and I do tend to ramble on sometimes. Hopefully it will provide some new leads and maybe even answer some questions. The only information I've had on Jackson Co. came from census records and I was never able to make sense of the records, ages NEVER match "known" dates, etc. I've learned that the courthouse burned c1907, that's probably why USGENWeb says there are no county records before 1872. In case you're missing this, there are the early census records from my notes on the NC group: SLOAN, JESSE JACKSON TN. 1830 Pg. 171 0010000010 0000000100 SLOAN, SAMUEL JACKSON TN. 1830 Pg. 154 2112201000 1220001000 **************** SLOAN, JESSE JACKSON TN. 1840 Pg. 256 000100001 00000000011 ******************* 1850 Jackson Co., TN (p. 602, #913) Samuel Sloan 55 NC Rhoda 57 VA Martha 22 TN Martha DEVENPORT 19 TN Alvira 8 TN Brooks 6 TN Joseph 12 TN 1850 Jackson Co., TN (3D-1015) Jesse Slone 79 NC Margaret 35 TN John 14 TN Selia 1 TN William 4 TN Sampson Braswell 12 TN Silvy Braswell 40 TN William Braswell 3 TN Mark Slone 60 VA ************************************ Back in 1996, Michael Vaden provided me a gedcom of his family and a very convincing analysis that this Samuel w/Rhoda was the son of Samuel & Elizabeth (Patterson) Sloan. And based on information from the Sidney C. Sloan bible, one of the Samuels was actually a Samuel Mark/Marcus Sloan. I don't recall all the details, but at the time I had hard time accepting the "whole" theory, even though most of it made very good sense. A little over a year ago, I got a letter from Edna Sloan Cooksey concerning some errors in my database on some of the Smith Co. TN. Sloans. Edna appeared to be very knowledgeable on this group and I ask her about the Jessie, Mark and Samuel of Jackson Co. According to Edna, Jessie is really Jessie Elias Sloan, Mark is Samuel Mark "Sampson" Sloan, and Samuel actually is Samuel Jr. son of Samuel & Elizabeth (Patterson) Sloan. I didn't get into what was proven or conjecture, Edna was planning on publishing a book on her Sloan family, so we may have to wait for the book or the movie. Hope I didn't blow the plot. To see the significance of this info, you have to go to the will of Samuel Sr's brother, Patrick Sloan of Smith Co. Tn. (formally of Iredell Co. maybe VA. and Lancaster Co. PA.) Patrick moved to Tn. 1805-09. His will was written 8 Jun 1809, probate March 1810, Smith Co. Tn. exec Arch, John & Wm. Sloan. witnesses John Patterson and A. Wilkerson. mentions wife Elizabeth, sons Josiah, Elias, Allen & Sampson; daus Elinor, Elizabeth, & Mary This implies 10 children, I believe he could have had up to 13 or 14 and probably had two wives both named Elizbeth. I forget my reasoning on that right now. So there is a possibility that Isaac and Jonathan fit in there somewhere, as a matter if fact, it's probably very likely. That would pretty much put all the Sloans of Jackson and Smith Co. Tn. as one family. Now, I guess we need some more supporting "facts" And re-think some of the previous theories. There are still some females that need to get linked up, including Porterfield's Samantha Sloan, and Jeff's Deborah Sloan. Also, some new questions. 1. Is Silvy Braswell the dau of Jessie Elias or Mark? With a kid named Sampson it's probably Mark. 2. What is the name of Samuel Jr's first wife? I'm sure there are more, but I'm getting sleeping and I'm anxious to hear comments from ya'll. Frank Mitchell -- Visit "The Sloan Connection" at http://www.panama.phoenix.net/~fmitchel/welcome.html