Drive Me Mad

One day, the William Lear mystery will drive me mad. I always feel like I am on the verge of some great breakthrough. That I am right on the edge of discovering who his parents were. And that feeling is almost constant. It is like it is right within my grasp, but I just cannot quite grab a hold of it. And it is constant. Yet I never find that one piece of information. I just hit all around it. I find William Lears who could be his father, who lived nearby in KY and are the right age. I find William Lears born and died in VA who could be his grandfather. I find Revolutionary War pensions that I just know are related to my William, yet I can't make that definitive connection. And with every new piece of information I find, a million more questions arise. And I just never quite get an answer. And I am not the only one looking. I have cousins who have spent as many years, if not more, looking than I have. I have aunts, long gone, who were William's granddaughters who were looking after he died. Yet I just cannot find who his parents were. If I had the money, I would hire someone in Jessamine County to search for me, to see if there is a succession for a William and Bessie Lear. Or maybe guardianship papers placing him in someone else's care. Or even succession papers for Henry Lear, who William lived with as a child. It is possible that William is his child. But it is equally, if not more likely, that he is not Henry's child, but maybe his nephew.  Always so close, yet so very far.

When my husband was applying for jobs after retiring from the military, one was at Fort Knox, KY, and I almost wanted him to get it and stay there for a couple of years JUST so I could binge on researching William Lear.