I apologize for not responding sooner but I could not get ready access to a computer until recently. Your posting adds more smoke to this mystery of whether Rebecca Herald Damron is related to EKA Reuben Harrell through Reuben’s son William Harrell. Your mention of “hints” that Rebecca’s mother is Patsy Ratcliff certainly tightens the possible bond to William Harrell since Patsy Ratcliff is thought to be William’s second wife. And we do know that some of Reuben’s relatives did live in Pulaski Co., VA, but to my knowledge they did not include his son William Harrell. Unless more information can be found through your sources, DNA matching would seem to be the best chance of proving a bond. You will need to find a male Herald descendant of William Herald (assumed father of Rebecca) who would agree to take the DNA test. FamilyTreeDNA is the company doing most of the Harrell DNA testing and thus far there is over 150 Harrell DNA donors. Knowing the DNA profile of this William Herald descendant will tell us if William Herald is blood related to Reuben Harrell (unless an adoption or illicit relationships took place). As mentioned in the narrative above, a person claiming to be a descendant of William Herald did take the DNA test and his DNA profile did not match the profile of Reuben Harrell’s descendants. A second DNA profile from another of William Herald’s male descendants would hopefully confirm that William Herald is not blood related to Reuben Harrell. Please email me at tbar@srv.net if you need further info.