In 1921,
Gage M. Hartline (9/1/1882), Essie Lee
Prestwood Hartline (4/15/1892) and Essie's two sons Robert Alexander
Hartline (12/23/1912) and Melvin
Easley Hartline (9/20/1917) left N.C. and were not located again. There were some clues that they were in the
Sanderson,
Texas or
Knoxville,
Tennessee areas soon after they left. It is believed they took aliases and perhaps moved from place to place to avoid getting caught by the police and private detectives who were looking for them. Gage had an unusual physical trait as he was missing parts of two fingers of his right hand.
My family has tried to track these people down since they left N.C. Although they may all be deceased now, we would still like to find out about them and make contact with any of their descendants. We will be glad to put closure to this family mystery.