This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/0hB.2ACI/245.1.1 Message Board Post: Thank you, Bob. I appreciate your help. If you could point me to any records to better trace John Nelson & his family back to Virginia or to Matthew Nelson's family, I'd appreciate it. I've found the family was in Maury Co. TN court records at least as far back as 1811, when John Nelson Sr. sued someone who assaulted John Jr. And of course, the 1823 court records on the estate of John Nelson Sr. Common names like his can be really hard to trace.