Hello again , Les. I'll post this also to the Westall site, as it will include some information on my (actually my wife's) Westall line. I have it that William B. Westall, son of Thomas Westall and Mary Brittain, married (1) Matilda Penland and (2) Eliza Madelyn Angel. My line continues via William's first marriage and son Noble Bacchus Westall, a Civil War hero who married Hannah Davis. N. B. and Hannah's son John D. Westall married Neta Jones, John and Neta's children included Albert J. Westall (my father-in-law, a second cousin to Thomas Wolfe). My account of descendants also includes the children of Wm. B. Westall and Eliza Angel. They include Zebulon, born Dec. 6, 1859 (a twin of sister Louisa Nancy), died Jan. 17, 1890; married ------ Good. Zebulon was the 13th or 14th child of William and Eliza, by the way, depending on whether he or his twin sister was born first. My source of much of my information on William and Eliza's children was the late Jacob Howard (Jake) Caraway, a grandson of Theador/Theodore (Big Thee) Westall and Hattie Ellen Autrey, via their daughter Martha Helen (who married Molt Caraway). Big Thee was born in 1856, a brother of Zebulon. Julia Westall, father of Thomas Wolfe, was not a daughter of William B. and his first wife, Matilda Penland. Her parents were Thomas Casey Westall (brother of my Noble Bacchus Westall) and Martha Anne Penland. It was Thomas who was a child of Wm. B. Westall and Matilda Penland. So your Wolfe connection would be somewhat more remote. I don't have a connection between Matilda Penland and Martha Anne Penland. The latter (Thomas Casey Westall's wife) was a daugher of Leander Penland and Marilda Patton. In any case, regarding Zebulon Vance Westall. Although he was born shortly before the Civil War, it seems likely his namesake was Zebulon Baird Vance, Civil War officer, governor of North Carolina and U. S. Senator. One early Westall claimed that Matilda Penland's mother and General Vance's mother were sisters with the surname Brittain--but this is totally erroneous. Zebulon Vance was a son of David Vance Jr. and Mira Margaret Baird. (Zeb Vance's paternal grandfather married Priscilla Brank, whose sister Rachel married a William Brittain. A very distant Vance-Westall relationship eventually can be found via Williamses and Joneses to my wife's paternal grandmother. If you live anywhere in the Buncombe-Burke County area, you may be able to access my book. There are a couple of copies located in libraries there. It is "The Westalls and Their Kin," Thomas W. Camfield, 1998. Copies also are in such major libraries as the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston, New York City Public Library (I believe), and a few other places. A good portion of the book also is dedicated to Blankinship ancestry (Vera Blankinship m. Albert Westall, my wife's parents). I do have a pretty fair account of Thomas Westall's life in Texas, the participation of him and his sons in a battle that preceded the formal war against Mexico, his death during the 1833 cholera epidemic. I had difficulty, however, getting much real detail of his sojourn in Tennessee. I also have a nice account of the role of Noble Bacchus Westall (William B.'s son) in the Civil War--and a lengthy diary account of the tragic early life of William Bacchus Westall, son of Noble B.'s brother Winfield Scott Westall. I enjoyed also digging out a few ancient (and tenuous) connections, including one back to Charlemagne (b. 747). However, this ties into the Westalls only via the Neta Jones who married my wife's paternal Westall grandfather. Others might pick up on the same descent if they have a connection to early Honeycutts or Stouts of the North Carolina area. I hope all of this foregoing has been more informative than confusing. Regards, Tom -- Tom Camfield 538 Calhoun St. Port Townsend WA 98368 Curmudgeon Emeritus School of Hard Knocks Tom, Thanks for the information. I mis-stated about my Grandmother. She was the daughter of Zebulon Vance Westall and Nettie (Jeanette) Goode. Zebulon was, I think, a twin of one of the children of Wm. B. and Eliza Angel. Zebulon was killed at a young age in a logging accident, leaving the one child, my grandmother Aura. Her mother, Jeanette moved back to McDowell County, NC and re-assumed her name of Goode for reasons I have not discovered. She is buried at Hicks Chapel Cemetery north of Marion on Hwy. 221. I think that this makes my great grandfather Zebulon, a half brother of Julia, Thomas Wolfe's mother. I believe she was one of the children of Wm. B. and his Penland wife. I have been intrigued by the old patriarch, Thomas's, adventure to Texas and his as one of Steven Austin's "Old 300." Thanks again for the information. If I have made any gross errors in the above relationships, I would be grateful for any corrections. Les Brown