Freda, I put in a good deal of effort trying to unravel that question when I was researching my book on Hildebrand, but was unsuccessful. Best guesses would be that he was married to a sister of Hildebrand's father or mother; was married to a sister of one of Hildebrand's four grandparents; or was some sort of shirt tail relative who was referred to as "uncle" out of respect. Regarding family trees, unless genealogists have been able to discern every single sibling of Hildebrand's parents and grandparents, then figuring out where Roan fits in the mix is next to impossible. With a dozen children in a Missouri family being common in that era, we are talking about maybe having to identify dozens of possible siblings of parents and grandparents, as well as the people they married.

What first name and maiden name do you have for John Roan's wife?