Hi Henry, No Hairstons in the Nowlin letters. I'm not a Nowlin researcher but I know a little about them (Matthew Bates Nowlin's daughter, Hopkins's niece, Elizabeth F. Nowlin, married John Wesley Elam from here at Westview.) I'm not familiar with Samuel Nowlin --- I know there was a branch of the family in Lynchburg but the only one I've heard of was a Green H. Nowlin who was a tobacco commsion merchant. I don't know how he was related to Matthew Bates and Hopkins, but he did business with John W. Elam and I have lots of correspondence from him in the Elam papers. kathy To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html