This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/hkB.2ACE/5382.1 Message Board Post: Kay, The CLOUD family of Milam county married into the MERCHANT family in at least two incidences that I am aware of -- descendants of Wm. J. Cloud and Elizabeth Jane Boyd of Milam county. Rebecca "Becky" Cloud's daughter, Jodie Ann Fergerson (1870-1961), married T. Robert MERCHANT (b. 1867) in 1889. Becky Cloud's younger brother, Thomas Newton Cloud (1858-1914), married Laura Merchant 9-13-1896 in Milam county. Unfortunately, I know of no one who knows anything about either of these MERCHANT's ancestry or if they were related. As you probably know, there were no Merchants listed in either the 1850 or the 1860 Milam county censii .... and only two in the 1870, both in house 1419 in Millerton -- the same community the Cloud family lived in household 1419: ... MERCHANT, Allen, farm labor, 15, m-w, TX ... Alice, 8, f-w, TX Household 1419 was that of Warren & Malinda REED: ... REED, Warren, farmer, 37, m-w, MO ... Malinda, hsekpr, 39, f-w, TN ... Wm, 13, m-w, TX ... Mary, 12, f-w, TX ... Jno, 9, m-w, TX ... Susan, 5, f-w, TX Household 1418: ... EVANS, Jas. B, farmer, 49, m-w, AL ... Susan, hsekpr, 50, f-w, SC ... Wm, farm labor, 13, m-w, TX ... David, 7, m-w, TX ... Lucinda, 5, f-w, TX ... Susan, 1, f-w, TX Household 1420 was that of ... ROBINS, Permilia , hsekpr, 29, f-w, MO ... Jno, farm labor, 13, m-w, TX ... Margaret, 6, f-w, TX