I am researching a family with the surname HOUSDEN. They migrated from Shenandoah County, Virginia in about 1818 to Williamson County, Tennessee. Then about 1851 they migrated to Henry County, Tennessee. One branch of this family stayed in the Henry County, Tennessee - Calloway County, Kentucky area (these are on opposite sides of the state line) In 1861 four of the young men of this family enlisted in the Confederate Army. The youngest, a lad by the name of Warry age 18 died in the battle of Island 10. In 1868 a nephew is born and is named William Wear Housden. I assume Warry is a diminutive of Wear. The Wear name as a middle name continues to this day. No one in this family has any idea of where the Wear name came from. The only information I have about Warry is his civil war records. He should have been born in about 1843 which would have made him be born somewhere in Middle Tennessee, probably Williamson, Davidson, or Wilson Counties, as the family was there 1818-1845. To my way of thinking Wear had to be a family name but I haven't got a clue where it fits into this family. If anyone has ANY idea of where this Wear name might have come from or how to make it fit into my Housden crew I'd be most appreciative if you could tell me. I am sending this posting to Roots-l as well.