Hi Jack, My Alexander D. MOORE and family were in St. Clair Co., MO. I found him there (actually Rives which became St. Clair) in 1840 as a single man. He would have been about 26. He married (I haven't found a document yet) Keziah BARNETT who was the dau of Hugh and Mary (Cox) Barnett sometime around 1843/44. This must also have been in St. Clair Co., MO. They had at least the 4 children that are shown in the 1850 census before they left St. Clair Co., MO for TX between 1850 and 1854. Those children were: Mary Ellen b. abt 1844 MO Helen Isabel b. abt 1847 MO Francis H. (f) b. abt 1848 MO Charles Wm. b. abt 1849 MO The agreement documented in St. Clair Co. in 1854 gives their residence as Grayson Co., TX, at that time. I found them there in the 1870 and 1880 censuses and also found that he had acquired property somtime around 1852, so the family was known to be in the area for nearly 30 years. Two more children are found on the 1870 census: Hugh b. abt 1862 TX Benjamin Marion b. 1866 TX (my GGrandfather) I'm sure that the children must have intermarried with other Grayson County folk, assuming they didn't all die before marriage. The girls listed in the MO 1850 census are not listed in the 1870 but by 1870 the youngest of them would have been 18. I've really been hampered in my search by not being able to find the family in the 1860 census. The only child that I've tracked beyond Grayson Co. is my GGrandfather. He married in Tonk Valley, Young Co., TX in 1890 to Minnie May SEDDON, dau. of Simeon T. and Nancy (Johnson) SEDDON. It certainly sounds as though the McGehee children were resident in the Grayson Co. area prior to 1859. I understand that many people left MO prior to the war to avoid the conflict and moved into OK, ARK and TX. My Alexander was a slave owner in 1840 and his wife's grandmother also owned slaves as she was offering him a number of slaves as part of an inducement to move back to MO in 1854. Was your GGGrandmother (widow of John) still living when he died and is it possible that she then remarried, going to TX with her children and new husband? This would make them harder to locate on the census as you don't know what name you are looking for :) but that doesn't explain why you can't find Richard (and Sidney) Hartzog. Such a tangled web isn't it? Vicki In a message dated 10/1/2000 6:33:07 PM Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: << Tell me about your family. What are the surnames etc. My family was in Lawrence county Mo in 1858. My gr gr grandfather John McGehee's probate records record that he was a "non resident" of that county. I know that in 1850 he had been a resident of Carroll County Ark, but most of his family was in Lawrence co Mo. He had bought and sold land all throughout the dade and Lawrence Co area in the 1850s. Then he must have died prior to 1858. In April his belongings were sold off and two of his daughters were listed as purchasing beds. Sidney McGehee, and Martha McGehee. this was April of 1858. In Feb of 1859 less than one year later, Sidney MCGehee married Richard M Hartzog in Grayson County, and several other of her siblings married Whitesboro residents over the next 6-7 years. Jack >>