Becky, Not sure what maps you have been looking at but none of the territory that became the State of TN was ever part of SC. TN was, however, part of NC originally, and part of the border between SC and NC was in dispute for some time, with eventually the disputed section being included in present day SC. So technically speaking I guess your ancestor born in 1786 could have been born in that section of SC, then claimed by NC, which would have been included in what would eventually become TN ,but I don't think he nor his son would have been aware of that when giving their place of birth to the census taker. The same situation existed between NC, VA, and TN, making research for those of us who had ancestors in the TN area very early, a little tricky. Becky wrote: My gggrandfather Isaac Stewart was born abt. 1786 in either SC or TN. The reason for the descrepancy is that all through the censuses he is born in SC. Then in the 1900 census this son states he was born in TN. I thought this odd until I found maps from 1783, 1787 and 1800. They all show SC with a long tale that runs across the bottom what becomes TN in 1800. I wonder if my Isaac Stewart was born in a part of SC that later became TN.