All of these Harris, Petty, Dillards, etc are a completely new line of research for me. And boy, oh boy, am I getting all turned around because they appear to intermarried at many different levels. Not to mention all of that occurs across three counties that I've been able to find thus far ... Smith county, Stewart county, and Montgomery county. One of the closer Dillard connections that I'm hoping someone can help me untangle is who the parents of Salina "Sally" Dillard were. Here are the facts that I have. According to census records of 1860, 1870, and 1880 and her tombstone, her date of birth is 27 Mar 1838. She appears alternately as Sallie, Salina, and Amelia depending on which record you are looking at. Given that Salina is what was left on her tombstone I'm thinking that Sally was just a nickname and Amelia may have been a mistake by the census taker. On the 8 Jun 1857 she married John W. Hester in Montgomery County, TN. In October 1859 they had a son named Charles Hester. Sometime between 1859 and 27 Jul 1861, John W. Hester probably dies ... for all I know it could have been in one of the first battles of the US Civil War (I haven't researched it that far yet). On 27 Jul 1861 Mrs. Salina Hester nee Dillard marries John Calvin Thacker in Montgomery County, TN. John Thacker raises her son Charles as his own and he even occasionally shows up as Charles Thacker ... as he reaches adulthood though he reverts to using the name Charles Hester. According to her tombstone in Salina "Sally" Dillard Hester Thacker dies on 2 Feb 1900 in Montgomery County, TN. John dies 15 years later. I'm still researching Charles and his descendants, but they were still in Montgomery county in the 1910 census, but I haven't found them in the 1920 census yet. Any help on this is greatly appreciated. Thanks. Kathy in FL