I am not directly related to this line, but I do think Linda Ivy Anderson established a good case that Reuben Ivey who married Elizabeth Hudson in Robeson County is the same Reuben Ivey who went to Carroll County, Mississippi and whose family moved to Gonzales County, Texas. She writes that Elizabeth Ivey's headstone at Antioch Cemetery, near Leesville, Texas, states "Elizabeth Ivey, daughter of Thomas Hudson died Sep 18,1876." Linda found Thomas Hudson in 1820 Columbus County.

Another bit of circumstantial evidence, which Linda didn't have when I heard from her in 1998, and which I didn't learn until later, is that a number of families from Robeson County went to Marion County, Mississippi ca 1820s. I am interested in William and John Luper, sons of Treacy Cox Luper, later the wife of Silas Ivy in 1810, when Treacy's father, Gilbert Cox, made his will. The second wife of John Luper was Sarah Ward, her father also from Robeson County, and I discovered the Wards are related to the Sterling family of Robeson County. Isham Ivey, Jr, disappears from Robeson County after 1820 and turns up in Marion County, MS, where he was married in 1825 to Temperance Gill. His second wife was Venea or Lavinia Purvis. Both of those are Robeson County names. At the time Linda sent me all this stuff, I was not able to follow up on any of this, but taking all these Robeson County names together is pretty compelling.

I see that Campbell Ivey, who also went the Alabama, Mississippi Route and died in Carroll County, Mississippi, was not actually named as a brother of Reuben by Linda. However, if I understand her letter correctly, her family had always "known" the children of Campbell were "cousins." In fact, she said, they thought Martha, daughter of Campbell, was a daughter of Reuben until proven otherwise. Campbell does not seem to appear in any Robeson County record. Would be interesting to know if he appears somewhere along the Fall Line Trail wouldn't it?

I should mention that Marion and Covington Counties in Mississippi were adjoinging. Clarke County, where Isham Ivey settled, was to the northeast of Covington, and Carroll County was in the central part of the state, a considerable distance north of Marion County. When I learned that the Lupers had gone to Mississippi, I thought, how on earth did they ever get there from Robeson County, NC? Mississippi was made a state in 1817, and also Alabama, although the northern parts of both states still had reserves for the Indians until the 1830s. Everton's Handy Book has a map of early migration trails. I was really astounded to see that the Fall Line or Southern Route starts in Philadelphia and goes south through Baltimore, Raleigh and Fayetteville, looks like goes right through Robeson County, on to Augusta and Macon in Georgia, and west to Montgomery, Alabama. I suppose they could have taken local roads from Montgomery. Jones County, GA, where the will of Jacob R Ivey was recorded, is on this route. I suspect that if anyone has disappeared from Robeson County, we ought to looke for him along this route!