I'm looking for John Frank and Marinda JOHNSON of Big Creek, McDowell Co., WV. Would be delighted to exchange information about descendents of him and his 1st wife in VA. John Frank's parents were Walter JOHNSON and Mary BARB of Washington Co., VA; He was born c. 1832. He married Julia ELLINGTON in Washington Co. VA prior to the Civil War, and their children were Robert, James Nathaniel (b. 1862), and perhaps a Mary Francis (b. c. 1857). After the war (or during, by other accounts), John Frank and Julia headed West to Illinois, then returned to VA and seperated. John Frank went to Welch WV and married Marinda ? who was age 16 in 1870. By 1880 his daughter Mary F. and son James Nathan are there in McDowell, along with children Alice (8), Frank (6), Nannie (3) and Walter (4 mos). Julia lived out her days in Mendota, VA. John Frank was the clerk of the circuit court in 1880, and his son James Nathan was a deputy clerk. But by 1884 James Nathan was in Tazewell Co; I descend from him. John Frank is quite an enigma - I'd love learn more about him and the offspring of his second family. The Johnson descendents of his 1st two sons tell varied conflicting stories about him, never naming his 2nd wife, claiming he abandoned the family when James Nathan was 3 days old (but his military records show he was hospitalized when that son was born, remaining there for several months thereafter). There's a sordid family secret here, I suspect. Any insight? Rees Chapman