You make a good case for newspaper research. I forget how much personal type detail they went into in articles during the years when the newspaper was the main source of information for the masses. I will have to at least try it.
Yes, there is a Mullings connection through Ann Mullings married in 1807 to our previously mentioned Thomas Swaby. Their son Edward Mullings Swaby, then his son Edward Mullings Swaby, his son Sanford Swaby and his eldest son Stafford Swaby was my father. If I have made my connections properly that is!