There is circumstantial evidence that Solomon Fine, born ca. 1801 in North Carolina, was somehow affiliated with the family of Christian Fine, born 1780 in Rowan (now Davidson) County, NC, and his wife, Mary Murr Bowen, widow of John Bowen. Fine researchers have assumed that Solomon was the male child enumerated with Christian and Mary Fine on the 1810 census in Randolph County, NC, and on the 1820 census in Clark County, IN, and that he was their oldest child.

Christian Fine has been well researched. His birth was recorded in Moravian Church records in Rowan County, NC, on 3 September 1780, with the notation that his father, Johann Fein, was already deceased. His mother was Louisa Muller, daughter of Friedrich Daniel Muller. The Moravian Church was a German-speaking pacifist denomination, with a strong belief in helping others. They had German pastors who kept daily diaries of the every-day events of their parishioners. Three of Christian's older siblings, Anna Maria, Peter, and Johann Fine, Jr., were also baptized by Moravian pastors. Their particular congregation was located at Freidburg in Rowan County (now Davidson County), NC. Anna Maria Fine has not been traced, Peter Fine went to Fountain County, IN, Johann (John) Fine, Jr. stayed in Davidson County, NC, and Christian Fine went to Clark County, IN, and later to Jefferson County, IL. Although the 1840 census for Jefferson County, IL, does not appear on Ancestry.com, it is available at 1840 Jefferson County, IL, Census.

Mary Murr married John Bowen on 23 December 1785 in Rowan County, NC and this couple had several children. John Bowen may have been the same person who was on the 1772 Rowan County Tax List as "Joseph Bowen and brother John Bowen." John Bowen was deceased between 1798-1803 and his widow, Mary, became the first wife of Christian Fein/Fine. A rather distinctive feature of this couple was that Mary was some 13 years older than Christian Fine.

The marriage date for Christian Fine and Mrs. Mary Murr Bowen is uncertain. A marriage license for the couple has not been found, and although Mary is not mentioned in the wills of either her father or mother, Mary's marriage to Christian Fine is proved by the deed of sale of her father's land. The deed was dated 4 February 1806, and Christian and Mary were present to sign it. Rowan County, NC, Deed Book 19, pp. 603-5. To see transcriptions of the wills of Michael Murr and his wife Susannah Murr, go to Murr Mitochondrial DNA Study.

Christian and Mary Fine had one proven child, Christina Fine (1804-1873) who married 1^st James Snow, Sr., and married 2^nd Andrew Copple in Clark County, IN. Fine researchers had postulated that the three young children on the 1810 census in Rutherford County, NC, with Christian and Mary Murr Bowen Fine were:

Solomon Fine b. ca. 1801, d. aft 1870

Christina Fine, b. 1804, d. 1873 (proven by paper trail)

Catherine Fine b. ca. 1808, d. 1899 (putative mother of Salem Fine, b. 1827 Clark County, IN)

A mitochondrial DNA test of two women, one descending from Christina Fine and the other from Catherine Fine, has corroborated that these two women shared a common female ancestor. Further, their results were compared with those of a descendent of Margaret Bowen, proven daughter of Mary Murr and her first husband, John Bowen, and all three results were also a perfect match. One can view these results under the Murr link at Murr Mitochondrial DNA Study.

At about the same time the Fines arrived in Clark County, IN (the late-1810's), another Bowen family arrived there. This family included a Joseph Bowen (1777-1839). He had not come through North Carolina, but was born in Salem County, NJ, and had come directly from there to Clark County. Joseph Bowen was a justice of the peace in Clark County and he performed the 1822 and 1835 marriages of Christina Fine to her two husbands. After he died on 30 April 1839 in Indiana, Solomon Fine named his next son, born 1841 in Iowa, "Joseph Bowen Fine." It is thought that the Salem County, NJ, Bowens must surely be somehow connected to Mary Murr's first husband, John Bowen, and his brother Joseph Bowen, of Rowan County, NC.

Because there was not a paper trail between Christian Fine and his assumed son, Solomon Fine, Solomon Fine's descendency will be listed as Generation 1.

Solomon Fine, represented by Participant # 111698,was born ca. 1801 in North Carolina. On 17 February 1823 he married Eunice A. Sears in Monroe County, IN. They were in Indiana for the births of their first two children, and then moved to Illinois between 1827-1829, where another child was born. By 1830 they were living in Edgar County, IN, and they settled in Lee County, IA, by 1836. By 1850 they had real estate valued at $1,200 in Lee County. In 1860 they were still in Lee County, where the couple was mistakenly identified as "Jacob" Fine and wife Eunice, and they had real estate valued at $2,800 and personal property valued at $1,000.

The Fine family left Lee County, IA, before 1870, and Solomon and Eunice joined some of their sons who relocated to Missouri. Solomon and Eunice were enumerated in Clark County, MO in 1870, with each listing their age as 70 years. It is assumed that they died during the coming decade. They were the parents of eight children: Jacob, Alfred, Elijah, Elizabeth Ann, Rebecca, Mary Ellen, Joseph Bowen, and Sarah A. Fine.

Generation 2:

Joseph Bowen Fine was born 11 October 1841 in Lee County, IA. He married 1^st Louvenia A. Christy on 21 December 1860 in Clark County, MO. She died ca. 1876. He married 2^nd Lydia Easley ca. 1880 in Clark County, MO, and she died ca. 1890. He married 3^rd Elizabeth Martin in 1891 in Lewis and Clark County, CO. His descendents have evidence that Joseph Bowen Fine farmed in Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado, reportedly having three sections of land in Washington County, CO. His descendents also had a photo of him, showing that he had light hair, blue eyes, and was above average in height.

Joseph Bowen Fine applied for a Civil War pension, based on his service in the Northeast Missouri Home Guards, but was turned down due to lack of proof of time served. He died 29 January 1929 at the home of his son, Joseph A. Fine, 30 miles southeast of Otis, CO. Joseph Bowen Fine was the father of twelve children: William S., Moses E., James Edgar, Louisa Bell, Ina Octanna, Lucy E., Ella May, Anna B., Joseph Alfred, Alfa (female), Luther Robert, and Amedia J. Fine.

A Y-chromosome DNA study has been established for the Fine surname, and the results may be seen here: Fine DNA Study. Participant # 52610 and Participant # 162944 each have a solid paper trail from Peter Fine, oldest son of Johann Fein and wife Louisa Muller of Rowan County, NC. Participant # 111698 representing Solomon Fine of this study does not match the two proven descendents of Johann Fein, and as of January 2011 Participant # 111698 had no matches to any surname in the FTDNA database.

One will also see that the proven descendents of Peter Fine, son of Johann Fein who died in 1780 in Rowan County, NC, match the family of Thomas Fein who was born ca. 1725 in New Jersey and who was in Virginia by 1775. Another Peter Fine (Participant # 162681) descends from this Thomas Fein, b. ca. 1725 in NJ. Both of these Fine families (the ones from early New Jersey and the ones from North Carolina) consistently used the same given names for their children. Thomas Fein, b. 1725 NJ, did have a son named Johann/John Fine, born ca. 1755, but this John went to Washington County, TN and died there in 1829. Many diligent Fine researchers have tried to determine how Johann Fein who died in 1780 in Rowan County, NC, is related to Thomas Fein who was born ca. 1725 in New Jersey, but a paper trail between these two branches of the Fein family has not been found.

Since Solomon Fine (born ca. 1801) was assumed to be the oldest child born to Christian and Mary Fine, their marriage was placed as occurring ca. 1800. With the resulting mis-match of the Y-chromosome signature of Solomon's descendent to other descendents of Johann Fein of Rowan County, NC, Christian Fine and Mary Murr Bowen's marriage may have been closer to the birth of their oldest proven child, Christina Fine, born 24 August 1804.

It is suggested that a participant be recruited from a different son of Solomon Fine in order to compare the results to Participant # 111698 of this study. If they the two are a match it would verify the Y-chromosome signature of Solomon Fine. At the present time it appears that if Solomon Fine was the child with Christian and Mary Fine, he was an adopted son.

Participant 73252 descends from Salem Fine who was born 17 September 1827 in Clark County, IN. Salem's first wife was Fanny who died shortly after the birth of their first child. His second wife was Linnie Trent, with whom he had nine children. Salem was a farmer and a minister of the Christian Church. He died in 1906 in the home of his son, Charlie Fine, in Peggs, Cherokee County, Indian Territory.

Researching possible parents of Salem Fine has been a 20-year project. Although it seemed apparent that his mother must have been Catherine Fine, nothing about the identity of his father could be determined. The results of the Y-chromosome test (shown above) show that his father was almost certainly a Copple.

More information about Salem's family of origin may be found in the summary of the Fines with whom he was associated:

Salem Fine was closely affiliated with the family of Catherine Fine (born ca. 1808 in North Carolina) who married a widower with 12 children, Miel Spirlock / Miles Spurlock, in 1843 in Marion County, IL. (Miel always signed his name as Miel Spirlock but almost all records written by others spell the name Miles Spurlock).

Salem was also associated with the children of Christina Fine (born 1804), proven daughter of Christian and Mary Murr Fine. Christina married 1st James Snow, Sr., in 1822 in Clark County, IN, and married 2nd Andrew Copple in 1835 in Clark County, IN. Salem was not the son of Christina Fine Snow Copple, whose children are well documented and were prominent citizens of Jefferson and Marion Counties, IL. Although the Fine, Spirlock and Copple families lived in different counties in Illinois (Jefferson and Marion), their residences were not far apart because the townships in which they lived were adjoining.

There is much circumstantial evidence that Salem was the natural son of Catherine Fine Spurlock of Marion and Jefferson Counties, IL. During a 40-year period the families of Salem Fine and Catherine Fine Spurlock moved in tandem to several counties in Missouri and Arkansas, and then Indian Territory. Salem moved many times during his lifetime, having lived (in this order) in Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Arkansas, Missouri, Indian Territory, Missouri, and Indian Territory.

There are three somewhat contradictory stories about Salem's parents:

Legend 1: The earliest known biography of Miel Spirlock, born ca. 1794, is a typewritten summary of the family of Miel and his first wife, Rachel Mills. The biography states that after Rachel's death, Miel married "a Miss Fine, sister of Salem Fine, and possibly another, Lail or Lyle Fine." This account was written by one of Miel and Rachel's great granddaughters, Ruth Hazelle Cameron Barker (1894-1959).

This biographical document was widely distributed among Spurlock descendents, and it was assumed that it depicted the correct relationship between Catherine Fine and Salem Fine. Much collective effort was exerted in trying to identify the parents of siblings Catherine Fine and Salem Fine, and in locating their brother, "Lail / Lyle" Fine .

Catherine Fine's marriage bond to "Miles Spurlock" stated that the bride's name was "Miss" Catherine Fine. The bond was dated 19 December 1943 in Marion County, IL. In 1850 the couple was enumerated in 1850 in Jefferson County, IL. In their household was one of his sons by Rachel Mills (Miles Spurlock, Jr., b. 1834), and their three oldest children, Nathaniel "Thornton" D. Spirlock b. 1846, James K. Polk Spirlock b. 1848, and Sarah Spurlock, b. 1850.

Legend 2: A query in the July 1993 issue of "Fine Lines," published by Betty Fine Padilla of California, concerning Salem Fine resulted in a telephone call on 10 July 1993 from Rose Weaver of Houston, TX. Rose was a great granddaughter of Salem Fine. Rose's mother was the daughter of Salem's daughter, Lucretia Fine who married Richard H. Freeman. Rose and Mary Fern Souder corresponded three times.

Rose Weaver heard from her elders that Salem Fine's mother was a widow who married a Spurlock. Rose thought Salem's stepfather might have been Miles Spurlock, or a Harvey Spurlock, whom her Oklahoma cousins called "Harve." (Harvey Spirlock, born 1872, was actually the grandson of Miel Spirlock and Catherine Fine, through their son, James K. Polk Spirlock, and memories of Harve Spurlock can easily be attributed to the fact that Salem Fine and James K. Polk Spirlock and their families lived together in Salem's household in 1870. There is some evidence that the two families also traveled together on their move to Indian Territory).

Legend 3: On 23 July 1993 Mary Fern Souder made a personal visit to the home of Icy Fine Crowder and interviewed her. Icy was the granddaughter of Salem Fine through Salem's son William Fine who married Elizabeth Estella Kent. Icy, born 1905, reported that Linnie Trent Fine (who died in 1921 and was the widow of Salem Fine) lived with her and her parents when Icy was a child. Icy remembers her mother making Linnie's underwear and trimming the corns from her feet. When asked the names of Salem's parents, Icy said that "my mother told me one time that Salem Fine did not have a legal father. His mother raised him on a farm by herself. After she had him, she homesteaded." Icy also said that her mother "would not want this repeated."

The first public record for Salem was his enumeration on the 1850 census in Marion County, IL. He and his first wife, Fanny, lived next door to Rev. James Snow (Jr.), son of Christina Fine and her first husband, James Snow, Sr. This census shows that Salem and Fanny had "married within the year." Fanny died shortly after giving birth to their only child, Mary C. Fine, born 17 October 1850. Family legend is that Mary C. Fine was reared by her grandmother.

In 1850, the elderly Mary Murr Bowen Fine lived in Marion County, IL, with her daughter and son-in-law, Christina and Andrew Copple. It should be mentioned that in addition to Salem Fine, there were two additional unidentified Fine children on the 1850 census who lived with the extended family of Christina Fein Snow Copple. These are Eliza J. Fine, age 16, born in Indiana, who was also in the home of Christina and Andrew Copple, and William Fine, age 12, who lived in the household of William Snow and wife Hannah Copple in Jefferson County, IN. (William Snow was the son of Christina Fine and her first husband, James Snow, Sr). These children are assumed to be the ones enumerated on the 1840 census with Christian and Mary Fine in Jefferson County, IL.

By 1855 Salem Fine and his infant daughter, along with Miel and Catherine Fine Spurlock had moved to McDonald County, MO. On 15 November 1855, Salem married Linnie Trent in McDonald County. Linnie was the daughter of John H. Trent and Delilah Elizabeth Galloway.

Salem Fine and the Miel Spirlock family had moved farther south by 1860, when both were enumerated in Mill Creek Township, Franklin County, AR. On 1 March 1860, Salem Fine patented 288.34 acres in Franklin County. It was a cash sale. On 1 May 1860, Miel Spirlock also patented land in Franklin County. This was a cash sale for 280 acres, and both men's land was located in the same range, township, and section. In 1860 the household of Miel and Catherine Fine Spirlock contained their four children plus 21-year-old William Fine, born Indiana, who had $150 in personal property. (He is surely the same William Fine who was previously enumerated in 1850 in the household of William Snow and wife Hannah Copple).

Salem Fine and the Spirlocks were Union sympathizers during the Civil War, and they lived in a part of the country that largely supported the Confederacy. The political climate was so violent that both families headed north for their safety. They first went to Unionville, Putnam County, MO, but that was not far enough to escape hostilities. Salem moved to Page County, IA, where his son, William Jacob Fine, was born in 1864. The Spurlocks went to Brownville, Nemaha County, NE, to join one of Miel's daughters. (In 1864 while serving in the Federal Army the Spirlock's eldest son, Nathaniel "Thornton" D. Spirlock, died of the measles at the Post Hospital in St. Louis, MO).

After the war, Salem, Linnie and their children returned to their land in Franklin County, AR, and in 1870 they had James K. Polk Spirlock, his wife and oldest child living in their home.

Miel and Catherine Spirlock were back in McDonald County, MO, by 1870, and on 15 September 1875, Mary C. Fine, daughter of Salem and the his first wife Fanny Fine, married Hiram Edwards. The wedding was held in McDonald County "at the home of Mr. Spurlock." The officiant for the marriage was F. M. Seamster, MG.

In 1880 James K. Polk Spurlock lived next to his parents, Miles and Catherine Spurlock, in McDonald County, MO. Salem Fine has not been located on an 1880 census. On 21 April 21 1886, Salem Fine sold land in McDonald County, MO, to R. L. Hargrove. On 24 December 1889, Salem and Linnie Fine sold land in McDonald County, MO, to S. D. Thompson. This latter deed was signed by Salem Fine and W. J. Fine, Salem's son. (These deeds were located by R. Bruce Thorsen, devoted Spirlock family researcher).

On the 1900 census Salem was living in Center Township, McDonald County, MO, and he reported his date of birth as September 1827 in Indiana. He was 72 years old, and he and Linnie had been married for 44 years.

Several of the Spirlocks went by their middle names, and William Fine mentioned above may be the same person whom early Spurlock researchers called Lail (or Lyle) Fine, who is once referenced in a letter, dated 18 November 1865. This letter was written by Ellis Webb, husband of Miel and Rachel Mills Spurlock's oldest daughter, Elizabeth Spirlock, b. 1819, and was addressed to S. S. (Stephen Samuel) Moore husband of Miel and Rachel's third daughter, Mary Ann Spirlock, who had died 5 February 1865.

Ellis' letter, in part, tells Stephen . . . "I received a letter from you a few dais ago which gave us much satisfaction to hear from you and to hear that you had got through this troublesom war alived. We was verr sorrow to hear of the death of our sister . . . We staid in Missouri as long as we could and longer than we ought to. Bud got home from the army the 2nd day of September and then he started to Nebraska about the 15th of November and as soon as he left the bushwhackers commenced on me-they was nine come to my house and some of them took me and lisabeth out and garded us while the rest robed our hous-they took a good many of our bed close and all that they wanted in the house and then they went and took 3 head of my best horses and threatened to kill me and I took a sort of skeer and went to Cassville (MO) . . . but there is one thing that I can brag about and that is that they did not get mee nor none of my family-while we was at Cassville wee went to flat? and hunted for you and found where you lived and heard that you was moved but we could not hear whear you was gon-we got to Nebraska about the 20th of March and maid a crop-I sold about five hundred bushels of corn and I got a very good crop this year-we have got 80 acres in corn . . . we are going to moov south in the Spring-Jesse Trent (brother of Linnie Trent Fine-M.F. Souder) is going with us . . . I would rite moor but I hant got paper-Ellis Webb and Elizabeth to S. S. Moor. "

On the margin Ellis wrote "I had not heard of anything that lail fine said about me-if I get into trouble about that I will send you a letter-it don't seem hardly fair after I carried him something to eat to the bresh when now one elec would as long as i did but I reckon it is honorable."

Neither William nor Lail Fine has ever been located after these brief references: William in census records in 1850 and 1860 and Lail in the above letter in 1865.

In a personal interview on May 23, 2008, with Participant 73252, grandson of son Salem Fine, he stated the following: "Grandma Fine (Linnie Trent, wife of Salem Fine), drove a team of oxen in a covered wagon from Missouri to the Canadian River, to a standing rock now in Lake Eufala, near Checotah, OK. My dad was a small boy when they came, and Grandpa (Salem) hid out with his brother to escape troubles from the Civil War. He and Linnie set up farming." Participant 73252 calculated that the trip must have occurred around 1885-1890 in order for his father to remember it.

"Grandpa and his brother lost track of each other, but a friend once told me of a Fine cemetery south of Bristow, OK, that has Fines buried with the same names we used in our family. I have never been to that cemetery. Bristow is about 20 miles southwest of Bixby, in Creek County." (Based on the migratory pattern of some descendents of Thomas Fein, born 1725 in New Jersey, this may be one of their burial sites-M.F. Souder).

"Salem is buried at Peggs, OK. At first he did not have a tombstone, but his children and grandchildren bought one for him."

" I have a picture of Salem and Linnie and their children, and until we saw that picture, we never knew that Linne had one shriveled arm. When we moved from the farm, we boxed all the pictures and put all the boxes in a closet, and we don't know which box has that picture."

Participant 73252 did not know the name of Salem's brother who hid out with him. The mention of a "brother" first brings to mind a man with the surname of Fine, and the most obvious choice for such a person would be William Fine who may have gone by Lail Fine. However, unless William (or Lail) Fine hid out extremely well, or died soon after arriving, he did not live in Oklahoma. The obvious choice for the identity of the two brothers is Salem Fine and James K. Polk Spirlock, whose families lived together in the same household in 1870. It is also known that the two families moved to the same county in Oklahoma during the same time frame.

Several families from Rowan County, NC, did come directly to Clark County, IN, at the same time as the Fines. One of these was the family of Jacob Copple (1754-1821), who was mentioned in the 1807 will of his father, Nicholaus Copple in Rowan County. The elderly Jacob Copple was enumerated one household away from Christian Fine on the 1820 census in Clark County, IN.

It is obvious that Salem Fine, born 1827, was some 19 years younger than Catherine Fine. Further, Catherine's presumed mother, Mary Murr Bowen Fine, was far too old to be Salem's mother. All evidence points to the conclusion that Salem Fine's mother was Catherine Fine Spurlock, and that Salem's father was a Copple.

As of January 2011, Salem Fine's descendent matched only two men on the 37-marker Y-chromosome test, and these men were both Copples. Participant 72352, descendent of Salem Fine, perfectly matches Participant 93192 on all 37 of the markers tested, and the second Copple participant, who tested independently, matches all of markers 13 through 37, and is only one marker different on one of the first 12 DYS numbers. (The particular DYS marker on which the mutation occurs was not identified in the automatic online notice that was received).

One Copple participant traces his ancestry to Clark County, IN, in the 1820's, and other Copple participant only can trace his ancestry to Missouri. It is assumed that Salem was fathered by one of the six adult Copple men who lived in Clark County, IN, at the time he was conceived. It should be noted that Andrew Copple, future husband of Christina Fine, was only age 13 at the time Salem Fine was conceived, so he can be excluded as a potential father for Salem Fine.

To review the results of Fine/Fein DNA study, go to this site: Fine DNA Study.

I am deeply indebted to the following cousins for many hours of collaboration on the Fine family: Leota Klinker, Emily Morris, Phyllis Norville, Kay Goodwin, Icy Fine Crowder, Helen Hughes Collier, Laura Montel, Dwight L. Fine, Roxanne Davis, Charles R. Wilson, Madge Miller, Daisy Fine Weaver, Conrad L. Burton, Grace R. Kirk, Carol Freeze, Jean Garren Laltrello, Charles Beckham, Richard Fine, Kay Larabee, Nolan Luther Fine, Charles Hiltibidal, Carolyn Medlin, Earl Fine, Glen Fine, Arleen Nelson, Erin and Sharon Moore, Sandy Norton, Fred and Audrey Pistole, Dr. Frederick Drew, Mary Fine Terry, Barbara Fine Wright, Howard Fine, Evelyn McCabe, Shirle Lamb Williams, Peggy Cameron Forman, Betty McCollum Padilla, Rose Weaver, Marie Wofford, Gene Fine, Penny Fine Brown, Phyllis Fine Sanchez, Lori Papa, Ched Fine, Shawna Farmer, Bob Fine and R. Bruce Thorsen.