Welcome Stephen. I am descended from Elijah Creech bor about 1779 and Rose is a descendant of John Creech born about 1773/4. So she knows more about the Harlan Creeches than I. They were brothers (along with Jonathan born about 1784) Elijah stayed in Lee Co. VA and John moved on to Harlan, Ky. Jonathan moved back an forth between the two. Dr. William Carroll has done some tremendous work on the Lee/Harlan Creeches. He has a website that is quite helpful back to about 1800. https://billcarroll.org/about%2Fresume%2Flibrary He is (unless he retired) a Chemistry Professor at the University of Indiana. The website has a lot of chemistry articles but there is a section devoted Creech Genealogy. The Creech materials are large downloads but well worth it. Dr. Carroll was the coeditor of Creech Country Newsletter. Creech Country was a quarterly Creech genealogy newsletter from 1991 until about 2002. They did great work to debunk some of the Creech legends such as Richard Creech being the son of a Scottish lord and being killed by Indians in Virginia. That the Robert Bell will in the J.M. Creech book "Creech Family History" has been altered from the original. That there is no evidence that Pvt. John Creech of North Carolina was ever married or had children. And much more. Which leads me to the John Stephen myth. J. M. Creech claimed that Pvt. John Creech was the father of John, Elijah, and Jonathan and that he died in the 1780s. That then John's wife joined his cousin Stephen and moved away. Somewhere between NC and Virginia she died and the boys stayed with Stephen. The only way I can see that people came up with a John Stephen Creech is that they combined the 2 into one person. The problem is Stephen Creech of Lee County Va. is not the cousin of John Creech. John's cousin was in the SC militia in 1781&2. Stephen Creech is recorded in Montgomery Co. Va in 1781&2. The Stephen Creech that J.M. Creech mentions buying land in Wilkes County, NC is the Stephen Creech from Montgomery, VA acording to a land purchase record in 1788. In a 1794/5 Wilkes Co. NC land grant to John Creech (the one that settled in Harlan, Ky.) it states the land adjoins his fathers land. That land was owned by Stephen Creech who had moved there from Montgomery Co. Va. Then Stephen, John, Elijah, and Jonathan are on records in Lee County, Va shortly after 1800. There is a Diary from the late 1800s of the Rev. John Dickey who was a district supervisor in Sourh East Ky. He had a deep interst in SE Ky history. It contains a recorded statement by Elihu Creech born in 1816 in Lee County, Va. The statement was taken by Rev. Frankin L. Creech a cousin. Elihu actual name was Elisha. the several Eli's in the family, I imagine by the time he was born people said Eli who? Anyway Elihu stated that he was born in 1816 and was the son of Elijah Creech of Lee, County Va.. That Elijah, John, and Jonathan were brothers. And that John was the father of the Harlan County, Ky Creeches. That the brothers had over 60 children total. And that the Creeches were Irish. (J.M. Creech changed it to Scots-Irish) So if John, Elijah, and Jonathan are brothers they are sons of Stephen Creech of Montgomery Co. Va. John Creech died before the 1850 census but Elijah and Jonathan were still alive. They both stated they were born in Virginia. Not North Carolina! Wife says supper's ready! Gotta go. Please excuse any errors. Thankyou.