Hi,

While the thread is drifting, I'm trying to sort out my versions to organize some conclusions - there are many versions and I'm trying to give the older ones preference.

This verse from Nora Hicks MS., which has never been public, has an additional motive for Barbara's rejection:

The more she looked, the more she wept
Till she bursted out crying.
I'll bid farewell to my mother dear,
For she would not let me have him. [Nora Hicks c. 1880 Mast's Gap NC]

This family line dates back to the late 1600s in Virginia.

Richie