Footnote: The “Herring Highlights” book referenced above is really quite extensive in the number of Herring descendants it traces. Just browsing its chapters one day, I noticed the name Addison Hewlett Jr., longtime friend of Tom and Mil Lawther, and learned that his mother, like Tom Lawther’s mother, was a Herring. Ethel Lucas Herring, who married Addison Hewlett Sr., was the mother of Addison Jr. Ethel Lucas was descended from Gabriel Herring, brother of Stephen. And so Thomas Lawther Jr. and Addison Hewlett Jr. were fourth cousins once removed. What is not known is whether Tom and Addison knew they were cousins – they probably at some time discovered that their mothers shared the same maiden name, but probably did not know the exact relationship.