Dr. Britton is alive and well, If you are in the Sherman Library regulary you will run into him . He often is in the research rooms. The reference desk I am sure can get a message to him. For house info contact the Sherman Preservation League, they have a good webpage: http://www.shermanpreservationlg.org/ I haven't heard the story you mention but I would be interested I am the Fannin County GenWeb CC http://www.rootsweb.com/~txfannin/ Graves from the 1840's are rare to find. Most used field stones and boisdarc markers, neither are left that would be readable. Most stones anyone can date from that period left are usually ones that where bought to replace the older frail materials. Mike Cross is doing a great job of recording cemeteries in Grayson County but I think most of the early graves are unmarked andforgotten today. http://www.rootsweb.com/~cemetery/Texas/grayson.html all the cemeteris are searchable at this address but it is for the whole state so you have to go through quite a few records to find those of a certain county. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ussearch.htm Your most likely find would be in a written source. old Clarksville newspapers cover this area during that time. There is a Texas Newspaper Project that is searchable. http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/refserv/per_micro/cah/ Marlene Clark wrote: > Susan, > > I am glad to see things have improved since I was there. I made three trips > in the mid 1980's and could never find the same records twice, but the > people were nice to me. I was referred to a Dr. Britton that had done > research on my gg grandfather Joseph G. Mitchell. Do you happen to know if > Dr. Britton is still around? He asked me to let him know if I ever found > Mitchell's father for whom people had searched for about 40 years and I just > found the entire line --- on the Internet - with proof from a distant > cousin. > > One of the first records of Grayson and Fannin Counties was when Joseph G. > Mitchell gave a gift to his niece, Lucinda Atchison. When I was there > someone told me that for years there had been a wooden head marker where a > well known, influential and well educated Indian was buried and they thought > it was Joseph Mitchell. Have you heard that story? Do you have any idea > where someone might have been buried in 1847? > > When I was there, I was told there was a lady that sometimes worked at the > library and was an expert on the old homes. Do you know who she is and if > she is still around? I was always there when she was not. In the County > Clerk's Office, I did find the "specs" for the house my gg grandmother had > built in January of 1859, but I could not find where it had been built. My > daughter and I tried to find where some of their land had been, but we were > not successful. > > Some of the most helpful people there were at the title company on the > square - my gg grandmother owned the site they are on. If I had known then > what I do now about title searching, I am sure I could have found much more > than I did. > > I have a copy of "Grayson County" by Landrum & Smith, but was never told > about the older one by Lucas. It seemed that "Grayson County" was mostly > about people that arrived there in the 1850's and 1860's and remained there. > Do you know if there is anything there on the ones that were there in the > early to mid 1840's? > > Sorry to have so many questions for you, but you are the first person that I > know of, that seems to know what is available in Sherman. > > Thanks for any help. > Marlene