On the 1870 Prairie Township, Newton County, Arkansas census, Elizabeth Bruer 16 and Margaret Bruer 13 - both born in Arkansas - were living with my great, great grandparents, Henderson Alonzo and Harriet (Falkner) Tate. My great grandparents, Frank Bedford & Martha Ann "Mattie" (Curbow) Fowler were next door. In several years of trying, I've never found a lead as to who these girls were or why they were living in the Fowler home.

Henderson, Harriet, her parents, Tabitha Falkner and David Tate were among several Hawfields, Orange County, North Carolina families arriving in what would soon be Marshall Prairie, Arkansas in the summer of 1852. They had followed there Alfred Nelson, David's much younger double cousin and his wife Nancy Gill. David was the oldest son of James & Margaret(Nelson)Tate, and Alfred was among the younger children of James' younger sister, Jinnet and Margaret's younger brother, John Nelson. Alfred and Nancy had in turn followed Hawfield's first family in that area, Greene O'Daniel whose wife was related to Nancy (Gill) Nelson. That first Hawfields transplant performed the 1874 marriage of George Edwards and Elizabeth Brewer.

Do you have any idea who Elizabeth Brewer's family were or why she was living with Henderson & Harriet?