Hello Pat, Houston County was formed in 1871 from parts of Montgomery, Stewart, Dickson and Humphreys Counties. It has a very high percentage of people of Irish blood in it. The county seat is Erin. A large number of Irish people settled in the area that was to become Houston County. I think many of them came to work on the railroad and then stayed. The Houston County area at one time had a busy iron industry, though it is only a memory now. In the book, "A History of Houston County Tennessee," by Iris Hopkins McClain, 1966, I found one entry about an Oliver Thompson on page 97. In the Circuit Court of Houston County, December term, 1881, Civil Docket, Oliver Thompson was brought to court to forfeit a bond. The case was continued. The book also mentions that John and Mary Delaney were in the 1880 census as two of only ten people remaining that were actually born in Ireland. I mention this Delaney family because of your Patrick Quinn having married Narh Delaney. I don't know if there is any relationship between the Delaneys or not. In the 1880 census of Houston County, John Delaney is found in household # 227. He is 64 years old and Mary, his wife, is 50 years old. John W. Delaney, their son, was 13 and born in Kentucky. M. Ryan, the stepson, was 23 years old, a physician, and was born in Illinois, and finally, Mary, the stepdaughter, was 22 years old and born in Illinois. As to the name Quinn, there are none listed in the book mentioned above, but it being a good Irish name, I added the letter "O" to the front of it and found the following O'Quinn family members: Charity, Daniel, J. A., John, M. A., N. M., Stephen, T. Charles, and W. A. A note is placed here that the name could also be seen as O'Guinn Under the surname O'Guin (removing one of the letters "n,") I find the names Hester and Ellis. Another note is placed here that the name could also be found as O'Guinn. I hope this bit of information is useful to you. I sent the census information in case you can connect any of the Delaney names to your research. Houston County is one of the counties in the ROOTWALKER region. We visit it often when doing research and transcribing cemeteries. Thanks, Pat, for being part of the ROOTWALKER family. Sincerely, Stan Magnesen ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In a message dated 3/10/01 10:45:34 PM Pacific Standard Time, Pozzydaz@aol.com writes: > Subj: [ROOTWALKER] Re: Thompson /Quinn > Date: 3/10/01 10:45:34 PM Pacific Standard Time > From: Pozzydaz@aol.com > Reply-to: TN-ROOTWALKER-L@rootsweb.com > To: TN-ROOTWALKER-L@rootsweb.com > > Stan > That is a big question mark. The only info is that Patrick and possibly one > > of the sons worked as an iron worker at one of the furnaces (Le Grange or > Clarks. Know that they were in Frankfort Ky as thats where my ggmother was > born. Why do you suggest Houston Co? > > Pozzydaz > Pat F. >