I didn't word this succintly in my last message as I should have, but I think Jim Ryder saying he was born in Vermont on his draft record was a deliberate scam. I think he wrote that as an insult to the northern authorities who compelled him to complete a draft record. This was his little joke. Chillicothe, Livingston Count is miles to the north of Saline County, so those people requiring he complete the form did not know his family. If some clerk even read that as Ryder wrote it, he should have wondered where Ryder's NE accent went. I go with the 1850 Saline County census which states Jim Ryder age 13 was born in Missouri. If that turns out not to be correct, then he was born in Tennessee as were his older siblings, but never Vermont! No way!

Bruce Nichols