Hi all Well, I think I just made a HUGE stride to discovering John Wilson's (Elizabeth Chinn) family. Those of you who know me also know I'm obsessed with this project. I've always believed that John's father was William and his mother was either Lucy or Jane. I've also believed that Judge William Wilson of Illinois was his nephew. Those of you familiar with the Chinn Book and the Wilson Story know that Ruth Wilson Dillon (author of the Chinn Book) knew there was a relationship with John Wilson and Jg. Wilson and also that there was a Jacob Wilson who married a King in White Co. IL but no relationship had yet been established to John Wilson. Well I've believed that Jacob was John's brother and Jg. William's father was their brother also. Well I just found Jg. Wilson's parents. William R. Wilson b. 1765 m. Jane King b. 1768 d/o Phillip King. w/children: William Wilson b. 1794 m. 1820 Mary S. Davidson John Knox Wilson b. 1792-1841 to Martinsburg W.Va. merchant Now Jacob Wilson b. 1774 m. Margaret King (who's mother was a Kearney related to Gen Phillip Kearney. So we should have Phillip King m. Unknown Kearney w/daug's Margaret b. 1771 m. Jacob Wilson Jane b. 1768 m. William Wilson Now, in a letter from Eliz (Chinn) Wilson to her son William, (who I believe was in Illinois at the time) refers to "your Uncle Jacob) and also to "remember me to your Aunt Jane" Well I have never had an Aunt Jane on the Chinn side so it HAD to be on John Wilson's side. Which now makes sense. JANE KING WILSON. This would be Elizabeth Chinn's sister in law. I was told that Jg. William Wilson was born in Loudoun Co. and his father died when he was young leaving a wife and two young boys. Well that would be William and John. So my guess is that Williams mother Jane King Wilson went to Illinois with him. This makes sense because then Aunt Jane would have been 64 when Elizabeth wrote the letter in 1832 and referred to her "old friend Mrs. Channel" I know this all needs confirmed but if we collectively track down William R. Wilson and wife Jane King and look for her father Phillip King with possible wife Kearney I bet we can find the parents or at least the father of the Wilson boys: William b. 1765 John b. 1772 Jacob b. 1774 There could be a brother Silas also and IF Jacob is their brother then their father fought in the Rev'n War and wounded at Paoli and captured. Jacob had a brother Silas that fought at Brandywine. Jacob was at Harper's Ferry in 1798 and served at the White House in the War of 1812 under Col. William Washington. In 1811 Jacob and Margaret were living in Prince Wn Co. Va near Bull Run as that is where son John M. Wilson was born. In 1824 they moved from PWC to Jefferson Co. va. (W.Va.) and in October 1828 they moved to Illinois reaching White Co. in December of the same year, where they passed the winter at the home of a cousin Justice William Wilson who married Mary Davidson. White Co. Probate Journal Vol. B. 1822-1844 page 165 has the following: William K. Wilson - (who is this - William KING Wilson - Jg. Wilson's wife was a Davidson - Jacob's was a King.) Administrator: William H. Davidson 9 Nov. 1836 Settle Distribution: Jacob & Margaret Wilson $50.78; Heirs of Eliza Boyd, Dec'd, John M. Wilson, James L. Wilson, Oliver H.P. Wilson, R. Adaline Wilson, Mary Shelby, Jane Wilson $25.35. The above are Jacob and Margaret's children but who is this Eliza Boyd, dec'd? Jacob's daughter Mary m. William B. Shelby lived in Indiana Collectively we can crack this! Janean