Donna,
Thanks for the info. I'm really new at researching the Priestly line, so please forgive my assumption about the middle name Austin. Dave Priestly was somewhat mysterious. My grandmother told me that he suffered some sort of sunstroke and became like a little child mentally. He may have been institutionalized because of his mental incapacity. Wasn't one of his siblings listed as "insane" on a census? Here's a thought - maybe he didn't really suffer from sunstroke and that was just something people were told because of his bizarre behavior - I don't know. I would love to have the info you have on James Priestly's activity in Regulator-Moderator War in East Texas during the Republic and his wounds/capture/escape/capture during the Civil War. If you have it digitized, you can send it to Paigenmarc@yahoo.com. I wish I had something to offer you!