Hoping to locate others researching the BIRLEW surname....any place, during any time period. Family tradition says that the BIRLEW'S were French Huguenots from Alsace- Lorrain, France (the Baleau Woods Area), and that the name was originally spelled BALEAU or BELEAU. I have found it in the Missouri records spelled - BALEW, BALLEW, BALOU, BILYEAU, BURLEW, BELEW, etc. John BIRLEW b. abt. 1810 NC; went to Smith Co., TN. as a young man and married Milbrey ROBINSON b. abt. 1816 - 1824 Smith Co., TN. They were in Christian Co., KY. by 1847, and in Pike Creek Valley, Shannon Co., Missouri by 1853. John & Milbrey lived and died in Shannon Co., Missouri.....as well as their children and many descendants. There was a Robert BIRLEW b. abt. 1821 in SC or TN.; married to Tabitha ROBERTS or BOYD (2 diff. sources). Robert may have been a brother to John BIRLEW. Robert and Tabitha owned a plantation in Dekalb Co., TN. prior to the Civil War. They sold the plantation and relocated to Kansas about 1862. Robert was killed during the Civil War, and Tabitha died shortly thereafter. The children and descendants of this family lived in the Humboldt & Fredonia, Kansas areas. There is a BIRLEW family listed on the Red River Co., Texas 1880 Census. The mother Catherine is listed as the head of the household. Catherine and the children were listed as having been born in Tennessee. I will greatly appreciate hearing from anyone else researching the BIRLEW surname, or any of the surnames listed at the bottom of this message. Gloria (Birlew) Hursey Ghursey2@aol.com Southern Illinois Researching - ABBEY - BARNES - BIRLEW - COX - DUFOUR - HICKS - HURSEY - LOUVIER/LOUVIERE - MAYBERRY - MABERRY - MABRY - MCCLENAHAN - MCCLANAHAN - NEVOIS - NIVOIS - ROBINSON - ROBERTSON - TAYLOR - WARNOCK