This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: ABEL, WILCOX Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/RgB.2ACE/168.1 Message Board Post: There is a large contingency of this family Surname located in Roane Co., near the Rhea Co. line. The area in which they originally settled is called ABLE or ABEL Valley. It appears that they were of German origin and arrived in America, arriving on the ship Lydi in Philadelphia, 19 Sept 1741. The descenants of the original family gradualy woked their way down through VA. The first time they are found in Roane Co. was after 1818, when David ABLE and ANNE WAMPLER ABEL produced their son, James Christopher, who was b. at Campbell's Station in Knox Co., TN. They ad a sn name Joseph H., b. ca 1812, place and date of decease not confirmed. He married Sarah Wilcox. Perhaps this little bit of aid will help in locating the family.