This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Johnson, Lawson, Manis Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/XeB.2ACE/3194.2.1.1.1.2.1 Message Board Post: It is all circumstance as far as I can tell. Thomas Johnson left Stephen's children a share of land in his will. Stephen's widow Malinda was living in 1850 District 3, and the youngest child was 13. There is no Stephen or Malinda of appropriate age indexed in 1840. There was an older Stephen Johnson, but he was not the same one as Thomas' son. My guess is that Malinda was living with someone (parents?) in 1840 near the Jesse Manis and Thomas Lawson families.