In a message dated 05/12/2000 4:06:24 PM Central Daylight Time, tomsgirl@bellsouth.net writes: << tomsgirl@bellsouth.net >> Your surnames mentioned AUSTIN and PINKERTON. Well that was too close not to pursue. My AUSTINs, the direct line, are from Dickson county, but on the east side of the county near Burns . We both know that's just "spittin'-distance" from Cheatham county. Grandmother Susie Evelyn Austin, born 1901, daughter of Samuel Houston Austin, son of Houston Gaines Austin, son of Samuel Demetrius Austin of North Carolina. PINKERTON is an alternate spelling for my surname PILKERTON lived in Davidson county on the other side of Cheatham county. My grandfather William Ervin b. 1909, son of George Henry, son of Lewis Bradshaw, son of Aaron of Virginia. Pilkertons migrated into Tennessee from Kentucky after the Civil War. If any of these threads weave through your tapestry I'd love to spin a little yarn with you. Suzanne