This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Atteberry Brown Cox Files Hanks Hon McCreary McCreery Stoltz Sullivan Todd Turner Woods Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/BIQBAIB/111 Message Board Post: I am looking for any information on James MCCREARY presumably of Wayne County, Illinois. Several of the geneaology web sites inidicate that James McCREARY m. Amelia REED in the late 1840s. Their children were Benjamin McCREARY (b.1848), Mary McCREARY (b. 1850)and Samuel Curtis McCREARY (b. 1852). I have not been able to find this McCREARY family on the 1850 census of Wayne Co. and several (though not all) of the bordering counties in Illinois. Also, civil marriage and birth records for Wayne County burned in a fire so I cannot trace the family through those means. James McCREARY either died or was divorced not long after 1850 as his wife Amelia married William A. ATTEBERRY in 1855. I have found Amelia with her three children on the 1860 Wayne Co., Ill census listed as ATTEBERRY in the household of William ATTEBERRY. Amelia died in 1864; by the 1870 census, none of her children were living with William ATTEBERRY. James and Amelia's eldest son, Benjamin McCREARY went to California and there married Dora Mae TURNER in 1878 in Stockton, San Joaquin County, California. On the 1920 census it shows that both Benjamin and his parents were born in Illinois. The second child, Mary, married David Augustus BROWN and is reputed to be listed on the 1880 Wayne Co. census thereafter moving to Missouri. I have also found the youngest son, Samuel on the 1900 Wayne Co. Ill census living next to his in-laws Andrew STOLTZ and Josephina (SEITZ). Again it states that Samuel McCREARY and both parents were born in Illinois. Samuel married Margaret Elizabeth STOLTZ in 1892 in Wayne Co. Ill. and moved to Daysland, Alberta, Canada around 1818. James McCREARY's wife, Amelia REED, was the daughter of Mary Ann COX and Josiah Clark REED. I have found Josiah REED repeatedly in the Wayne County Illinois census as well in the Wayne County Illinois public land records. Between the Illinois public land records and the 1840 census, I have found four male McCREARY/McCREERY heads of households who lived in within spitting distance of Josiah REED. Three of them had sons old enough to be my James McCREARY. The names of the heads of households in 1840 Wayne Co. Ill. are Joseph Todd McCREARY (m. Agnes WOODS 15 Dec 1830 White Co. Ill; Joseph probably died in the 1840s as his wife married John Hon of White Co. Ill in 1848), Levi McCREARY (m. Margaret Files Apr 19, 1821 in White Co. Ill), Andrew McCreary (no other information on him other than his name, age range and age ranges of children on the 1840 Wayne Co. Ill census). The fourth fellow on the 1840 census is Martin H. McCreery (m. Ann Hanks 4 Oct 1829 in White Co. Il then m. (2) Louisa Sullivan) whose land in Edwards Co., Ill. borders the corner of Wayne Co. where the others all lived. Martin was the son of Andrew McCreery and Susanna Todd (m. Augusta VA 1796) and thereafter moved to Kentuck! y (Estil Co.?) and then to White Co., Ill. I do not know whether my James McCREARY is related to any of the above named individuals but it seems likely. It also seems likely that the McCrearys I found on the 1840 census may be related to one another. Even if this proves to be wrong, at least I can drop this line of inquiry. If anyone can give me information about these families I'd really appreciate it. Laurie McCreary-Burke Turner Valley, Alberta Canada