Jack, I don't think Sam would have taken the oath willingly, unless it was to remain free, from the stories I was told. A lot of the men, and women for that matter, were forced to take the oath for things as simple as being able to purchase salt. I haven't found any records suggesting Sam kept the store going while William Copeland was in Ironton, but it could be that Sam took the oath to remain in business. Is the grave marked? I was just down to the Morris Cementary a few weeks ago and will be there again soon. The only thing I know about the Hanger killing is that it happened, I was never able to get any details. Sam Hanger married the daugther of Hannah Morris Thornton Copeland. The Morris', Hangers, Thorntons and some others migrated together from KY through Indiana and Ill. to Washington County. Thornton died and Hannah married Landen Copeland. Sam's wife was from the Thornton marriage. In the raid when Hanger was killed it is my understanding that they also killed Jim Thornton, Hannah's son, and took Jim's brother-in-law who was a Daniels. I don't know if he was taken as a prisoner or as a conscript. Thornton and Daniels were married to sisters whose last name was Webb. I read somewhere that a record was found of him having died near the end of the was in an east state prison. There is some family discussion over when Jim Thornton actually died some say it was before the war was offically started. What I am trying to accomplish is to sort out the family history and back some of it up with facts. John P. Webb, uncle to the afore mentioned sisters' was said to have taken his family west to flee the war and died on the trip, however, I found some of the early records show him on a couple of the rosters. Any help with this stuff that you can give will help. I started my research about 12 years ago with a study of the families rev. war soldiers and have just recently started on the civil war period. I am probably related to every family in that region who got there between 1810 and 1850. A lot of what was going on down there had nothing to do with the "offical" war. And some of the fueds appear to go back as far as the boundary disputes between settlers in TN, KY and NC prior to TN and KY having legal status and official standing.

Sorry, I have a hard time just answering a simple question with just a "few" words. Jim Morris