My Great Grandfather was Samual S Cotton He supposedly was born 25 Jun 1848 in Warren County TN and died 15 Oct 1899. I do not have a death location. According to another researcher he was in the Sixteenth Regiment of the TN Volunteers of the Confederate but I have been able to find no record of this. I honestly have found no record of him anywhere except the family bible. I do have a good tin type of him. My grandmother Stella Cotton was supposedly born in Clinton TN 28 Feb 1881, only 9 years earlier and Samuel's parents lived at a place near Rock Island TN where there is an old family cemetery with Samual's Parents and Grandparents, as well as some other of the immediate family. But no record of Samual being there although there are numerous headstones broken barely above ground level by cows when the family farm was forclosed on. I have no reason to believe Samuel moved out of the general area. When Samual died his widow took the children and moved back to her fathers (James Madison Fisher) according to the 1900 US Census of White Co. TN Samuel was only 51 when he died . . . it has been suggested that he "may" have been a coal worker in Clinton are there any records anywhere that might support that theory? Samuel S Cotton's parents were William Felson Cotton 27 Apr 1815-14 Feb 1897 and Patience Amanda (Petunia) Landrum 1816-1863. Patience was only 47 when she died. I don't have anything at all on Patience other that those to dates given to me by another researcher. My grandmother said she was 1/4 Cherokee (years before I understood or cared) and if this is true it had to be Patience Landrum (Samuel's Mother) because I have her other 3 grandparents well documented. Patience was always listed as white in the census's. Are there any records from that time period that might give us a better clue?? Any help at all would be appreciated. Jackie Whedbee Any help at all would be appreciated. Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. --------------------------------- Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.