Thank you for you message Cynthia. I can go back to 1870 and the spelling is Devan for all family members. The St Louis Deavens may be from MS and may be related to the Alabama Devans. I do know that a Bernard Devan (Benjamins father) and a Jerry Thomas of Itawamba, MS did have several slaves held in trust in 1839 by the Bank of Alabama. And that Jerry Thomas lived in Itawamba County Mississippi with 2 of those slaves.