Hello, Geni Community! I'm trying to crowd source some help or possible points in the right direction and I feel the Group tree may be helpful. So I have been trying to find info on. So long story short from any info I can find on my great great grandfather from my grandfather and Ancestry Library is:
-My grandfather said John Robert Hester (or J.R. Hester) came "from the other side of the mountains" to Breathitt County, Kentucky and met and married my great grandmother Georgeann (or Georgeanne, I've seen it spelled multiple ways) Pelfrey while doing some form of livestock sale. He died shortly after my great grandfather Robert Nathan was born (December 5, 1911).
-Any documents I can say with confidence had J.R. in was his marriage certificate stating a hard to decipher county of origin, ages (he was 57 to her 23 so approximate birth year is 1854), stating this was his second marriage and not much else. I found a will and probate under execution of Georgeann's dad/his father in law Nathan Pelfrey that my great grandfather received insurance and money from Johnson City Tennessee to be given to his five prior children (that's where I thought clues would come in). I cannot find however a particular death date, gravesite location, name of parents, zilch.
-Going off the five children and looking for any matching records in Tennessee led me to a possible lead of a first wife (Susan or Susannah Rominger) and five children. Other than the info there, I see conflicting things. There is a 1910 Census stating a J.R. Hester was in town and stating his parents were both from Kentucky (which doesn't make sense given there is no evidence of a matching record of him in Kentucky before) and matches age and birth. This other 1910 Census in North Carolina where this other lead was said he was still married to a "Susie Hester" still by that point and with the kids, both parents being from North Carolina and matching age and birth. Now if he was able to somehow make it somehow to both states at the same time and lied about his parents' state of origin, that might explain it. Unfortunately, this may be a dead end since there still is note in 1920 of her being stated a 'widow' with no death record of John Robert to either to confirm or deny if it was the same or different.
I'm sorry if this isn't much to go off of and I'm planning on adding the records to John Robert Hester/J.R. Hester's profile on Geni. It's very much a shot in the dark asking here since with every other line of my tree so far has fulfilled at least ten-twelve generations past and my actual birth name sake being so murky frustrates me. Any amount of help is greatly appreciated!
