Brick walls and a stop in the swamp

We all have 'em, right?

Here are a few of mine:

Maria Susannah Agee. B. abt. 1785 in Buckingham Co., VA, d. 1861, Buckingham Co., VA. Married Vincent Reid Brooks, had 11 children. The problem is that no one seems to know for sure which Agee family she belongs to. Buckingham Co. was crawling with Agees at that time, but when you consider that they were all descended from the 3 sons of Matthew Isaac Agee, who arrived in Virginia with a group of Huguenot immigrants around the end of the 17th century, you wouldn't think it would be that hard to track. No go, though. Buckingham Co. is a "burned" county, and most of the official records are gone, and what information I have found about her seems unlikely.

William Butler Ensor. How cool a name is that, anyway? B. 1856 in Washington Co., KY, d. ? Married Mary Agnes Megown, had 3 children, is last seen officially in the 1915 Kansas state census, last mentioned unofficially in his sister Fanny's obituary in 1925. Vanishes without a trace.

William H. Boston - b. abt. 1801, maybe in Virginia, maybe in Maryland. First officially shows up in marriage records in Fairfield Co., OH, when he married Rachel Rader in 1825. Had 5 children, died in Browns Corners, Huntington Co., IN in 1872. Can't go any farther back with the Bostons than William.

John A. Boston - eldest son of William, b. 1838, Fairfield Co., OH. Served with the 100th Ohio Infantry in the Civil War, went back home and worked as a carpenter with his brothers in 1870, then disappears until 1900, when he's listed as living at the Dayton Military Home. In 1900 and 1910 censuses, he's shown as a widower; on his death certificate it says he's single (which, technically, he was at the time of his death). Where was he between 1870 and 1900, and was he or wasn't he married?

Harriett L. Brown - b. 1808 KY; d. 1873 Ray Co., MO. Don't know what her maiden name was. She married Alexander Richard Brown, and had a son named Alexander Richard--Brown family names. There was also a son named John Hales Brown, and a son named Colville G. Brown. It's purely a guess that Hales and Colville are from her side of the family: I have enough information to know it's not from the Brown side, and Colville is a fairly unusual name. Problem is, I can't find any Hales or Colvilles/Colvils/Colevilles in KY in the 1800 or 1810 census.

Bezaleel Brooks. Great name, isn't it? You wouldn't think I could lose someone named Bezaleel. Bezaleel is one of the sons of Maria Susannah Agee and Vincent Reid Brooks, b. 1822 in Buckingham Co., VA. He was a 1st Sgt/2nd Lt. of the "Jeff Davis Guard," Co. A. of the 57th VA Infantry. I've found nothing to indicate he was killed in action. I can't find him or his wife, Ann Moseley Brooks, in any post-Civil War census; his son, William Reid Brooks, went out to join the Chariton Co. Agees by 1880, which would seem to indicate that his parents had died.

Hales. If Harriett Brown's maiden name was Hales, or if her mother's maiden name was Hales, my next question is: Is there an Agee connection? When I talk about the genealogical swamp, it's the Agees I'm talking about. The Agees and their extremely complicated family relationships. With the Agees and "allied families," as the genealogists say, you have to enter everyone in every family into your database, because if you don't, 2 or 3 generations down the line you're going to find out that person A married person B, who turns out to be the son of the guy whose half-sister's mother was the daughter of person A's grandfather's younger brother. You can get lost for days following the twists and turns of these people, until you get dizzy and fall in. They would fit right into The Shire (you may remember that hobbits love genealogy and everyone knows who is related to whom in what degree). Fortunately, they're reasonably easy to track because of their naming habits, and if a name like Darby or Mourning pops up, you know you need to backtrack and see where it came from, and if there's a Maria Susannah in someone's family, there's likely to be a Maria Susannah or Mary Susan in the families of all of Maria Susannah's siblings (so you'd better get your dates straight).

Therefore, when John Hales Brown shows up and marries Drucilla Raiford Agee (Drucilla Raiford married John Dickerson Mask, and is the great-grandmother of Drucilla Raiford Agee), AND when Elizabeth Hales marries Matthew Ayres, who is the father of Nathan Ayres, who married Mary Agnes Bondurant, who is the first cousin 3x removed of Drucilla Raiford Agee (are you dizzy yet?) -- well, I just get suspicious, that's all!