Thanks to Jerry for responding and asking questions about my dates in recent "Scots-Irish Thomases" message. William Thomas of 1850 Coosa County census is 57 with wife Betsy, 33, and children all born in AL, the oldest being 12. Someone has made a note in on-line census information that William Thomas married Eliza Ray in 1836 in Georgia. This certainly fits the childrens ages. I am looking at possibility of earlier wife as mother of James M. This would also explain why James M. Thomas and two brothers, all in late teens or early twenties migrated to Mississippi sans parents. Even more confusing is that in 1828, a William Thomas married Elizabeth Ray in Orange County, NC, witnessed by James Thomas. Ricki