Ellisue Barber Morris, in her book 'They Came To Cass County', correctly identified Nathaniel's mother as Rutha Hicks in the 1850 US Census for Jackson County, Alabama, no husband listed. I have made contact with someone who claims to have seen Nathaniel's bible, which shows0 his father as James Nell Hicks d. TX 1850, and his mother Rutha d. TX 1860 - but she never possessed it, and doesn't know where it is now!