Two Brick Wall Dead Ends- Where Next?

In my 35+ years of genealogy researching I have had two brick walls that I can't seem to overcome. Both involve surname changes and both changes occurred in early 1800's making it very difficult to find help.

My first one involves my mother's side of the family. Her father was a King. Her greatgrandfather King was Edward King and, from all census records, he was born approximately around 1808. One record shows he was born in Campbell County, Va. There were Kings in that county at that time, but he is never found. One census record shows he was born in England and another says Ireland. Stories handed down through the family says he changed the name because he thought he had killed someone and then moved away. One descendant from one branch of the family says the real last name was Combs. A descendant from another side says the real last name was Kale, although that is suspected to be his wife's surname, according to a death record of one of his son's (my greatgrandfather William).

The very first records I find were the 1850 census records of Russell County, Va and also the 1860 census of the same place. two daughters were married there in the mid 1860's- Nancy to  David Kimberlin and  daughter Rachel married Hibird Powell, both in russell County, Va around 1866-67. After that they started showing up in Johnson County, Ky records. First in the 1870 census and also in the 1880 census. Nancy and David stayed in Russell County, Va and at some point Rachel and Hibird Powell divorced and she moved with the Kings. The Kings :father-Edward or possibly William Edward. his wife was Elizabeth H. (that is all that can be found on her except a census record that says she was born in Wythe Co., Va and her birth ranges from about 1812-1815. The children of Edward & Elizabeth : Nancy, Rachel, Thomas, William, Samuel, Ellen, Martha, Eliza and a couple more daughters. Civil War records for the three sons were checked with one Thomas King from Russell County found but it was a different Thomas King. All death records were researched. All census records. A will for Edward's wife Elizabeth was found from 1884 in Johnson County, Ky but nothing revealed. It is believed they kept a great secret. A story was that Edward had been born in Ireland and stowed away on a cattle ship and made his way to America. Did  the story on him knocking someone in the head take place in Ireland? Was it in America? Where did they live prior to Russell County, Va?

My other dead end because of a name change concerns my mother's mom's side of the family. My greatgreatgrandfather was  known as George W. Pennington(born in Morgan County or Johnson County, Ky in 1853) until about 1900 when he started using the last name as Curtis. His father was Hiram Pennington who sometimes used the last name Curtis and would switch back and forth on his last name. Hiram's wife was a Lemaster. Stories told about the name change ranged from Hiram's real parents being killed and Hiram taken in by Joshua Pennington and his wife and raised with heir own sons and in later years Hiram found out about  as did some of Hiram's children. Some eventually took the name Curtis while others stayed with the name Pennington and would bounce back and forth on the different surnames. Some took the name Curtis while others used Pennington. Another story told was that one oin the family helped Jesse and Frank James in a bank robbery and changed the name. That proved wrong because Hiram had a daughter born in the 1850's and Hiram was listed as a Curtis in the records then. He was listed as a Pennington in his son  George's birth record. The date of the daughter's birth was about 1854, long years before Frank & Jesse began their storied robberies after the Civil War.

If anyone can shed a glimmer of light on either of these two people- King or Curtis- please feel free to contact me. i have great records of their lives forward.  Doug Kretzer   dkretzer@mikrotec.com