Hi, I just joined this list today and I hope I'm not on a wild goose chase. Have been going over the wonderful Shelby County Genweb site (it is awesome) and think I've found some relatives who settled there about 1880 or so. James P. Richards and Rachel Payne were married 15 Dec 1875 in Carroll County, Georgia. Rachel appears with her mother in the 1870 census and, after her marriage, disappears. In the funeral Home records online (gosh! What a wonderul resource this was!), I found a whole bunch of people whose parents were said to be James P. Richards and Rachel Payne, both born in Georgia. O happy day if this is my Rachel! Their children were (according to the cemetery records): Roxie Ann Richards m. Simon F. Hughes William Thomas Richards m. Oletha Holt Alice Texas Richards m. Fred Grubbs Ida Lee Richards m. Henderson Ed Holt I believe all these are buried at Sardis except William Thomas who is buried at Woodlawn. I found another son on a Rootsweb Worldconnect file, Isaac Joshua, who m. Ella Swauer in Shelby County, Texas (this jives with your online marriage records) and died in California. I haven't checked the census records yet so there may be more children. I am connected through the Paynes. Rachel Payne was the daughter of William Jasper Payne and Mary (Polly) Ann Wood(s) who married in Monroe County, Tennessee in 1852. William Jasper brought his bride to Georgia, specifically to Carroll County, and enlisted in the Civil War in 1861. He fought with Co. I, 19th Regt, Ga. Volunteer Infantry, Army of Tennesse, CSA (the Villa Rica Gold Diggers). Tragically, he died in Richmond, Virginia in 1972 with a fatal case of measles and is buried in Hollywood Cemetery there. Mary-Polly was left with six children: 1. Elizabeth A. Payne b. 1852 who married James F. Williams 2. Fleming Caleb Payne b. 20 Jan 1854 who married (1) Fleman Louella Williams and (2) Henrietta (Retta) Exom (I have seen her name as Elam also) 3. Joseph Joshua Payne b. 20 Jan 1854 (twin to Caleb) who married Louisa Elizabeth Boyd (my great-grandparents) 4. Rachel Payne, b. abt 1856 (according to the only census I have found her on) who married James P. Richards 5. James C. Payne b. 20 June 1858 who married Mary Elizabeth Pope 6. Hannah Jane Payne b. abt 1862 who married James Thomas Maroney. By 1880, everyone is married and everyone is still in Carroll County except Rachel. From reading other files from other relatives, it appears a whole bunch of Richards from Carroll County, GA pulled up stakes and headed west about that time. Everybody else stayed in Georgia except Hannah Jane, who is buried in Etowah County, Alabama. Mary-Polly lived with her son, Caleb, applied for and received a Confederate widow's pension, and died about 1898. I have not found her grave. I also don't have the names of James P. Richards' parents, although Carroll County was full of Richards families. Still seeking, also, the parents of William Jasper Payne in Tennessee. I have tentatively latched on to a Fleming Payne married to Eveline who was in Monoe County in 1850. They have an 18-year-old son named William. I would love to find new cousins and learn more about this Richards family. I have just touched the high spots and have a lot more information on the people who stayed in Georgia. Will gladly share. Hoping to connect ... Judy Fowler Kilgore Newnan, GA (No ... not researching Kilgores ... have been through Kilgore, Texas, though ...don't know if I'm related or not. Kilgore is my married name.)