My string of good luck continues! I expected that researching all 12 of the John Sims enumerated in the 1787 census would take some time. I’ve talked about the FAN principle here before – when seeking genealogical evidence, examine your ancestor’s Friends, Associates and Neighbors. Sometimes it doesn’t yield diddly squat; but, in this case, it payed off big time!

One of the people who witnessed the deeds of the “Heirs of John Sims” was a man named James Hambleton. Truth be told, at first I thought that “Hambleton” was really “Hamilton” and that it was just a misspelling. Not so. James Hambleton appears frequently in the court records of early Montgomery County, Tennessee. Okay. “Hambleton” it is.

I turned to my “go to” sources for genealogical information after Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.com to search for the surnames “Sims” and “Hambleton” – Newspapers.com and ViriginiaMemory.com, which is powered by the Library of Virginia. Newspapers.com was no help – which was not a surprise considering we’re back before 1800. BUT, the VirginiaMemory.com site was UNBELIEVABLY helpful! If you’re not familiar with this site and you have Virginia ancestors, add it to your list. The chancery index allows you to search for historic court cases using surnames.

“Sims” and “Hambleton” yielded a handful of results but that’s all I needed. The “Heirs of William Hambleton“ engaged in a series of contentious lawsuits over his estate between 1782 and 1790. John Sims(!) and his wife, Mary (!), formerly Mary Hambleton, lead the charge in a couple of them. James Hambleton also appears along with his brothers William Terry and John Moseby Hambleton, and sisters Elizabeth, Ann, Lucy, Susannah, Polly or Patty and Sarah Hambleton. And then FAN kicked in with another name I’d seen in Montgomery County court records – Claiborn Sims, husband of Sarah Hambleton. Family names matter – “Moseby” Sims was one of the “Heirs of John Sims” – clearly he’d been named after his uncle, John Moseby. The Moseby family of Cumberland is closely aligned with the Hambleton and Sims families – but more about that later.

And if this weren’t enough – the floodgates of genealogical heaven opened up when I searched for research done by others – this is another genealogical research principle. William Hambleton, my newly-discovered 6th great grandfather, is well-researched. His mother was Martha Wommack, whose Wommack line has been traced back to England 1442.

And yet, I cannot seem to win the lottery.

Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relationship: 6th great grandfather
Common ancestors:  William Hambleton’s parents (unconfirmed by moi) were James and Martha (Wommack) Hambleton – my 7th great grandparents – goodness gracious!