First things first...
Thank you for joining our collaborative project of building a World-Wide-Tree!
The fact is, John is a particularly difficult name to research. There were somewhere around a dozen John Riches in NC in that time period. So in order to determine which of those johns is your John, we'll need to find a record with a middle name, or family member mentioned. (sibling, parent, aunt or uncle)
The first.step is find everything you can to support what you know. We've made a good deal of headway on John himself from 1898 when he married Fannie until his death. But we also know little bits about several of his children mentioned in the Census and on Find-a-Grave. I can't count how many times I've found my answers from a cousin or uncle mentioned in another family member's records. Plus, there's a reasonable chance that one of those children already has a profile here, and with them comes a cousin doing their own research that may not have gotten around to entering the exact data you're looking for.
You're doing great! Keep it up and it'll all come together. When I started this venture, I wasn't even sure whether my Paternal Grandmother's Maiden name was Tucker or Taylor.
Seems like I remember finding mention of a John Rich that came to NC in the mid 1700 with his Brother and married a Native American and spending more of his time living in her world than her living in his... Wonder if there's a connection...
- P Rich
