Winebarger Adoption???

Would like very much to see the research your family membeer has done on John Festler Winebarger, please. Below is what I have found:

Our Winebarger family's first generation ancestor is (1) John Winebarger whose birth parents surname was "Festler". Tradition holds that John's parents whose names are unknown died aboard ship traveling from Europe to America so John was adopted as a boy by Cunrod Winebarger, Sr. & wife Katherine Weills of Lincoln Co., NC. Cunrod's parents were George Winebarger b. 1745 & Anna Katrina – b. 1750 are the first generation of the original Winebarger family in NC as recorded in the 1790 Lincoln Co., NC Census. The 1790 Lincoln Co., NC Census also shows a Peter Festler entry #430 residing with 1 male of 16-years & upward, 1 male under 16 & 1 female next door to George Winebarger entry #431 who resided with 2 males of 16-years & upward and 2 females; however, we do not know if there is a connection between Peter Festler and John (Festler) Winebarger.
The first evidence of the (1) John (Festler) Winebarger family is found in the 1850 Catawba Co., NC Census when he was a 41 year-old farmer and residing with him were wife Nelly – 47; Hiram – 19 & a farmer; Levi – 16 & a farmer; Wilson – 14; Abel – 10; Marcus – 6; Susan – 14; Elly – 8 & Sally – 7 indicating that three older children in the family (Jacob, John Jr. & Nancy) had left home by 1850 moving into the mountains. It seems that most of the Winebarger's in the northwest North Carolina mountains are descended from John Winebarger & Nelly Oxford Winebarger. Many Winebarger's are buried in the Winebarger family cemetery on a hill to near the Winebarger Mill on Meat Camp.
According to family tradition, the original Winebarger family was part of the "Pennsylvania Dutch" German migration which came from PA into the Catawba Co., NC area date uncertain. John Moretz brought members of the Winebarger family who were carpenters and millrights to Meat Camp community in Watauga Co., NC to rebuild an old grist mill and replace a wood dam he had bought. In 1848, Jacob Winebarger married John Moretz's daughter Sarah (Sally) and moved up Meat Camp Creek about 5-miles from the Moretz Mills and there he built his home and the original Winebarger Mill which has been inherited and operated by four Winebarger generations.

Sherry
m-sreeter@earthlink.net