Ouch, I hurt my head banging against this brick wall

We all have brick walls. Individuals which we seem unable to get past in our research. I would like to take the time to give some of mine.

1. Susanna "Shue" Rogers Wallen
    No matter how hard I try, I can find nothing about any Shue/ Schuh/ Shuye or Shye's in the vicinity of Lee/Russell/Washington County Virginia or near Hawkins or Bledsoe Tennessee. The source of the surname is questionable, so I have expanded my search to other possibilities. Among them her son Edley H as a name. Edley or Audley  as a first name and a surname. I have found the most with roots in Augusta county, Virginia. Among those names are Audley Harrison, Audley Hamilton and several others. Still nothing, but I am hopeful.

Susan's children by Joseph Rogers are well documented, and we have found her children with James Wallen, son of John Wallen and Elizabeth Roberts.

2. Benjamin Paxton
Benjamin came at age 8 to New York from England. Thanks to the practice of the clerks in New York, we have names for his parents and a place of birth. Of course his obituary says he was born somewhere else. Regardless, I have found nothing on him. Nor on his wife Mary Douglas, whose surname I did confirm in her death notice. Benjamin's parents were William Paxton and Mary Brown, and he was born 1823 in either Birmingham or Oxfordshire, England.

3. John Sanders Barnes
Born in 1814, supposedly in North Carolina, John Sanders Barnes has two women in his home who I believe are family. Jane Hortin born 1810 in North Carolina who is in his home in 1850 and 1860 and Frances Smith, born 1785 Virginia. Frances died in his home and her death is in the family bible. Possible clues to relatives may be in the name of his son, Marshall Johnson Wellborn Barnes and Charles Sanders Barnes (died as an infant). John Sanders Barnes married Sarah Owens, a granddaughter of Elijah Owens and Nancy Howard.

4. Cornelia, wife of Robert Trahern
Two of the possible 4 birth certificates have been checked, and state her maiden name is Gardner. However, none of the Gardner's I have researched in the Choctaw nation have a connection that I can find.

5. Gardner Hardy and his wife Harriet
Gardner Hardy literally appears out of nowhere in Coffee (Dale) County in 1840. He is supposed to be from Georgia. He ran away to Louisiana for a brief time before settling in Santa Rosa county, Florida in 1850. By 1860 he has disappeared. None of his children appear to use the name Gardner, except we do have the George Gardner Hardy (a grandson of George Fleming) who is probably a son of Robert Hardy. The name William Sheppard Hardy is common in this family. Rumors give his wife Harriet the name of Nelson as a surname, though I have my doubts.

6. Henry Franklin and his wife Margaret Boggs
Henry Franklin along with two other Franklins, Reuben and Lawrence appear in Sumter County records. They are of age to be brothers, but I can't track their families. Henry moved to Clarke county, Alabama by 1808 with his wife Margaret and his large family. The family is particularly close with the Brunsons, who were neighbors in Sumter.

7. The Brunsons
They aren't a brick wall per say, they are just very difficult to sort out early on. The frequent use of the same name (David, Isaac, Joel, etc) make it sometimes difficult to determine exactly which relative the line goes back to. I am a Brunson twice, my Brunsons are from Sumter South Carolina and came to Pike County (now Crenshaw) Alabama. Daniel Thomas who married into this line is another brick wall.

8. Nehemiah Trahern
I think I found where Nehemiah is an heir, but until I can get to Maryland, I am stuck wondering if I did indeed find him. I am pretty sure the William Trahern mentioned in the document is the same William who was father to the Quaker Trahern's who went to Loudon, as he's of the right age and near Baltimore. Nehemiah and his wife Amelia lived first in a burned parish, so we are unable to obtain a maiden name for her. Nehemiah and Amelia's records in Pittsylvania county are even more spotty, due in large part to the fact that it is also a burned county.

9. George Washington Adams
We know no more on George Washington Adams now then we did when my cousin Loren Adams wrote the family history a few decades ago. This man is simply almost impossible to trace. George Washington Adams is probably from a nearby county to Hamilton County, TN, he may be a McAdams.

10. Steely Hager and Mary Ann "Polly" Whitley (or Jones)
Steeley Hager is from the North Carolina Hagers, and likely a brother to Sterling A. Hager (TN/AL/AR) whom he names a son after. They are not to be confused with Starling Hager of Missouri who is the man named in the paper written about the Hagers of North Carolina. I just can't prove how he connects. An early resident of Tennessee, his family ends up in Arkansas and Texas. It doesn't help that many of the family either disappears from records entirely after 1880 or skips a great period of time you can find them, or both. His wife Mary Ann "Polly" was claimed to be Choctaw (false) by her grandson. (She may be Cherokee, but the John Jones he claims to was married to my ancestor ironically, and it is not possible that they are related). He claims her father is John Jones. There are Whitley's in the area so she could have been married prior to Steeley Hager.

11. Elijah McCurdy/John Sunday/Barsheba Collins
Elijah McCurdy's army record gives his birthplace as South Carolina, one in Abbeville and the other in Camden. We can't connect him to any of these folks though. I wonder often if he was illegitimate, or if his mother remarried and that is why we can't seem to find him. I still think William H. McCurdy, who lived nearby in the 1820's and died in Sumter int eh 1840's (Alabama) was his brother. I am not sure that Nancy who married the Bowen is a McCurdy anymore. Mostly because I figured out that Mattie Bowen is the mother of Anna McCurdy, and that her Uncle was Nancy's wife.
John Sunday, and Francis Sunday and where in the world did they come from. I think the name is Sondes and they came from either Holland or France (northern). As for Barsheba Collins, I have never been able to get anywhere on the family.


I am fortunate enough to take the majority of my tree to births prior to 1800. So if I am unable to go beyond the 1770's, as with William Riddle, or I don't know the name of the father, like William Hall, I am okay with this. Largely because I know that I am in a time and researching a place that the scarcity of records make it difficult at best.