This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: RAGSDALE UNDERWOOD BARNES FARRIS Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/YlB.2ACI/2000 Message Board Post: My grandfather,Thomas James RAGSDALE,was born in Logan Co,Ark in 1880. My Dad always told us he was part Indian, probably Cherokee. His parents were John Benjamin(b.1851 Ark)RAGSDALE and Nancy Ann UNDERWOOD(b.1855 Ark). His paternal grandparents(by LDS records) were Benjamin(b.1824 Tn,maybe Hickman Co)RAGSDALE and Caroline(b.1826 Tn)STOVALL. From other records, I believe that Benjamin's father was William (b.1782 NC) who was next to him in 1850 Johnson Co,Ark. William's line goes back to Godfrey in the 'Elijah Ragsdale' book by Mrs.June Hart Wester. Thomas married Clara Lee BARNES at Brushy,Sequoyah Co,I.T.(near Sallisaw,Ok) 22Nov 1903 by W.M.Grose, MG(Minister of the Gospel). They lived on the farm (probably in the Sadie community) of William Isaac (Ike) Copeland who had a son named Anderson Copeland. My father Albert Abner Ragsdale was born near 'Tater Hill' (Potato Knob?) about 11 mi southwest of Sallisaw in 1913. The midwife who named him was named Aunt May McGlouthin. Tom and Clara 'separated' or 'divorced' about 1915. He joined the Army in WW I in 1918 from Groal,Ok(I have not been able to find where this was located-may be Grove?). He served with the 90th Army Division at Ft. Sam Houston,Tx but was never sent overseas as far as I can find.He was in Lamar Co,Tx in 1920,shown as 'divorced'. I have researched county records and written to all nearby counties but there seems to be no record of their 'divorce'. Tom and his mother Nancy Underwood Ragsdale and sister Louisa Ragsdale Farris and her husband Levander (Van) Farris became members of the Mormon Church in Lamar Co,Tx in 1924.They were in El Paso,Tx in 1930. Tom worked for the WPA there. Nancy and Louisa and Van Farris are buried in Evergreen Cemetery in El Paso. Tom died in Jan 1943 and is buried at Ft.Bayard, Silver City,NM. Clara remarried in Faulkner Co,Ark in 1918 to James Tom POTTS. I am looking for descendants of Thomas's siblings:Louisa Caroline Farris(m.Van Farris),George Washington(m.Maud Lowery),John Malachi(m.Annie Bloodseal),Martha Elizabeth(m.Henry Pharis,Curt Moore,William Underwood),and Henry Benjamin(m.Iva Reeder). Henry died in Odessa,Tx in 1978 and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Paris,Tx. His son Gentry B.Ragsdale was in Brownwood,Tx in 1995.