Sorting out and identifying the individuals and their relationships in a commissioner's deed such as the one mentioned in last week's column can be a lengthy and difficult process. The property involved in that deed belonged to John Creech, Sr., deceased long before the 1906 court term at which the deed was ordered to be made. All or most of his children were born prior to 1820, several of them before 1800, and were themselved deceased.

The high mortality rate of the 19th century accounted for the death of a number of John Creech's grandchildren and several of his great-grandchildren. With the females marrying out of the Creech name, information on numerous other families can be found in such deeds. For example, by one of his wives, Sarah Armstrong, John Creech had a daughter named Mary, born about 1816. In 1836, in Harlan County, Mary married Abner Lewis. Most of their children are readily identifiable in the deed listing. Their son Abner Lewis, Jr., is listed as is his sister Charlotte, listed as Charlotte Howard as she married John J. Howard.

Abner and Mary's daughter Elizabeth is listed with her husband. Alfred D. Hall as are her sister Cynthia with her husband Samuel Gilbert and her three sisters Martha, Nancy Ellen and Rebecca who married, respectively, Simon Peter, Franklin Pierce and Jonathan, all sons of James and Lucy Noe Browning. Their son Thomas J. Lewis is listed as T.J. Lewis and their son Elijah G. Lewis. No wife is listed for T.J. although Gilbert's wife Rachel Baker is listed.

Two of Abner and Mary's children appear to have died long before the deed, without leaving any heirs. These two were Alexander, born about 1845 and Tabitha J., born about 1848. Alexander lived at least to adulthood but Tabitha appears to have died as a child as she is not listed at home in the 1860 census when she would have been only 12 years old, a bit young to have been already married.

Listed among the heirs in the deed are John J. Lewis, Jr., James Lewis, Moses Lewis and Chad Lewis. The last three appear to be children of Abner and Mary's son John J. Lewis who was born about 1841 and, after returning from the Civil War, married Nancy Turner. John J. Lewis, Jr., may be a son of John's or of his brother William who was born about 1839 and married Rebecca, daughter of Andrew and Happy Howard Hensley in 1857. Full identification of who John J. and William's heirs might have been or which may or may not appear in the deed listing has yet to be made.

The listing of what appears to be some or all of the heirs of Abner and Mary's daughter Sarah gives some clues to a Hensley family. George Washington Hensley, believed to be the son of Lewis and Nancy Howard Hensley, was born about 1820. In 1844, he married Sarah, daughter of John and Susan Harris Noe. This Sarah was born May 25, 1825, and died in 1858, presumably at her son Josiah Silas's birth. In 1860, George took for his wife another Sarah, Abner & Mary's daughter. With both wives being named Sarah and some date discrepan�cies in census listings there is some resulting confusion on his children.

Sarah Lewis was born about 1838. In 1870, after the census, she married for a second time to Elihu Boggs who is thought to have been married previously as well. Elihu and Sarah's household in 1870 contains five children: John, Thomas, Abner, Henry and James. As they had just married, presumably none of these children belong to both of them. The commissioner's deed listing mentions a Thomas Hensley and wife and an Abner Hensley and wife which certainly appear to be the Thomas and Abner listed in 1870. The Randall Boggs and Jane Clem, listed with her husband Cull Clem, in the list are later children of Elihu and Sarah's as is the Arthur Boggs in the list who is found in the 1880 household of Abner and Mary Creech Lewis, listed as a grandson.

The 12 year old boy named John in the 1870 household may be a son of Elihu's from a previous wife. He has yet to be further identified or located. The two younger boys, Henry and James have yet to be accounted for as either Boggs or Hensley, perhaps they all three died as children. None of them appear to be listed in the deed which should included all of Sarah Lewis Hensley/Boggs children. But, then who are the Thomas and Bishop Boggs listed in the deed? One or the other but not both could be the Gilbert Boggs, age 7, found in Elihu's 1880 household.

Listed in Abner & Mary Creech Lewis's 1870 household is a Savannah Creech born about 1866 but she is believed to be a granddaughter rather than a daughter as Mary would have been 51 years old at her birth, a rather unlikely possibility. She does not appear on the deed listing and is thus either the daughter of a child of Abner and Mary who is still living in 1906 or she herself has died and either left no heirs or her heirs are among the unidentified on the list.