To Jenn of the MS Delta -- I think I have found your ggf Clarence Lee Yeager and a whole set of ancestors. Tonight I was digging through a box of Sharron Abide's research (which she loaned me, bless her heart!) and found this Soundex record: 1870 Montgomery Co., MS, Vol. 15, E.D. 144, Sheet 32, Line 4 Beat #5, Poplar Creek YAGER, RUBEN, white male, 37, born Ala. _______, Eveline, wife, 46, born Miss. _______, Margaret, daughter, 25, born Miss. _______, Nany, daughter, 15, born Miss. _______, Ella, daughter, 12, born Miss. _______, Emma, daughter, 10, born Miss. >>>_______, CLARENCE, son, 8, born Miss.<<<<<<<<<<<<< _______, Cornelia, daughter, 6, born Miss. _______, John, son, 5, born Miss. While there are about a kazillion Reuben Yeagers out there, most with the middle initial M., I think your ancestor can be pinpointed, thanks to information shared by another of his descendants, Darrell Dee Yeager. Compare this census listing to a list prepared by Darrell, grandson of John Eldridge Yeager (John, age 5, above). Darrell states that his ggf is Reuben M. Yeager, and that Reuben's children are: Maggie Yeager Barrett (= Margaret age 25 above) Ella Yeager Hodges (= Ella age 12 above) Nannie Yeager Hollie (= Nany age 15 above) Jane Yeager Bailey (not listed above) Nealie Yeager Hodges (= Cornelia age 6 above) Emma Yeager Bingham (= Emma age 10 above) Robert Bud Yeager (not listed above) John Eldridge Yeager (= John age 5 above) Possibly Jane and Robert Bud were among the older children and gone from the home when the census was taken. Darrell Yeager does not give his source but states that Reuben M.'s father was Mecklin Bartholomew Yeager. I believe Mecklin Bartholomew to be the same as Bartholomew Maclin "Mack" Yeager (b btn 1808-1810). Mack Yeager married Margaret B. McDonald in Bibb Co. AL in 1829 and is found on the 1830 Bibb Co., AL census on p. 156, as Maclin Yeager: 1 male age 15-20 and 1 female age 15-20. Macklin Yeager is later found in the tax records and court records of Leake County, MS, in the late 1830s through 1840s, listed both as Macklin and as Buckaloo M. Yeager. He is on the 1860 Leake Co., MS census as B. M. Yeager with wife Margaret and children. And he is very likely the same as "Bat Yeager" on the 1850 Kemper Co., MS census, altho the 1850 Kemper County census shows pronounced discrepancies in ages and names of the children. The discrepancies may, of course, have been due to faulty census-taking -- possibly in obtaining information from children or neighbors. However, Reuben age 16 is on the 1850 census in Bat's HH. Bernard Agent, a descendant of Reuben M. Yeager's sister Mary J. Yeager Agent, has located Reuben M.'s burial place as Harmony Baptist Church Cemetery, 23 mi. SW of Carrollton, MS, on a gravel road 6 m. west of BlackHawk, MS. The gravestone says he died Sept. 16, 1890, aged 68 yrs. (from "Carroll Co., MS, Cemeteries" compiled by Bibus &Marshall.) Both Bartholomew Maclin (b. abt. 1808-d. 1870) and his son Reuben M. Yeager (1832-1890) fought in the Civil War. Reuben served in the 1st Miss. Light Artillery and was wounded at the Battle of Vicksburg. There is also a record of a John Yeager (1841-1902) born in Attala County, fought in the 4th MS Inf., buried in Holmes County, who may be Reuben M.'s younger brother from the 1850 Kemper Co., MS census. He may also be the John G. Yeager you have located. Regarding Bartholomew Maclin's identity: Maclin is listed in "The Steeles of Bibb" by Parker and Miriam Steele as a _probable_ son of Ezekiel Yeager, [son of John Yager of Laurens Co., SC}, and they underline the word "Probable." They go on to say that only 2 children have been positively identified as belonging to Ezekiel Yager. Maclin is not one of them. In a footnote, the Steeles add, "The burden of proof of the ancestry of the above 'thought-to-be' children of Ezekiel Yager lies with the descendants of these same Yeagers, perhaps through family records, hopefully preserved." I submit that Maclin is _not_ the son of Ezekiel, but instead the son of the elder Reuben (1781-1816), brother of Ezekiel. As proof, though the name Maclin is not found among Reuben's "orphan children" when guardians were appointed for them in Lincoln Co., TN in 1816, the name Bartholomew is there. In addition, Reuben's widow may have gone to Bibb County, AL, taking her younger children with her (Mr. C. Y. Thomas has located a to-date unidentified woman "Polly Yeager" in 1820 Bibb County, AL, records who he thinks might well be the elder Reuben's widow). Note that Bartholomew's guardian Isaac Parker also moved to Bibb County, AL, in the 1820s. The children of whom Isaac Parker was appointed guardian were: Charlotte, Bartholomew, Letitia, and Jackson. Charlotte, Letitia and Jackson are all found in Bibb County records, but the name Bartholomew is not there. I believe that is because he was called by his middle name Maclin, in the same way that his younger brother Eldridge Jackson Yeager was customarily called Jackson. Note also that Bartholomew's guardian Isaac Parker moved his grown family into Leake Co., MS about the time that "Macklin / Buckaloo M." are found in the Leake Co., records. Of course, you may or may not accept that Maclin is the son of Reuben. I merely suggest that it seems more likely he is the son of Reuben than of Ezekiel. Hope this helps more than it confuses! And once more, please forgive my longwindedness. Betty Johnson