Dear Budd,
I'm pretty sure we're related, as well. Morton McNeese Bilbo was my great grandfather. He and his wife, Sally Mathis Williams had my grandmother, Theda Rose Bilbo. She married my grandfather, Joseph Samuel Mitchell. they had my mother, Sally Jo Mitchell.
Morton McNeese's father was John Carnes Bilbo who married Susan Flurry.John Carnes father was William Lawrence Bilbo who married Huldah Cole.William Lawrence's father was Thomas Bilbo who married Anna Marie Lawrence.
My mother's family are all from Louisiana and Texas. I was born in Michigan but got to Texas as soon as I could! I was working in Lake Charles for a few weeks a while back and saw Bilbo Street and said to myself, naw, I couldn't be related to that guy. I went to genealogy.com and went to the genforum and typed in Bilbo and got into the Bilbo family forum. There's a lot of interesting stuff. Ofcouse my mother didn't have a clue she was a relation to Thomas Bilbo, so I had no idea about the House of Bilbo or the cemetary in Lake Charles. My Bilbo's lived in DeRidder. From Lake Charles you take 171 North about an hour or so. You probably already know that. When I sent my mother all of my research, she said, "I wonder why my family never bragged about being related to Thomas Bilbo." So funny! My e-mail address is: lollywow2000@yahoo.com Hope to hear from you!