I don't know if this will be of any help. There are only two Ansel/Ancil
CARDENs shown in a transcription of the 1850 Anderson County, TN, census.
Household 735/735
Ancel CARDIN, schoolteacher 52 NC
Nancy (MERRITT) 51 NC
Susannah 21 TN
Household 952/957
John CARDIN, farmer 46 NC
Sarah (McPHETRIDGE) 43 TN
William, farmer 18 TN
Mary J. 16 TN
Elizabeth 14 TN
John B. 11 TN
Rebecca 8 TN
Robert 6 TN
Daniel Mc. 5 TN
Zelpha 1/12 TN
Household 999/1007
Enoch FOSTER, farmer 74 VA
Margaret 69 VA
Susan 25 TN
Ancil CARDIN, farmer 20 TN
If Ancel L. and Nancy MERRITT had a son Ancel, Jr., and John B. and Sarah
McPHETRIDGE CARDEN had a son Ancel, there should have been three Ancels
shown in the census, and I find only two. One could have been unavailable
or missed.
In the 1860 Anderson County census, there is only one Ancel.
Ansel CARDEN 31 M farmer TN
Susan 33 F
William 9 M
Mary 6 F
Jane 1 F
In the 1850 census, Ansel/Ancil and Susan are living closer to John B. and
Sarah than to Ancel L. and Nancy, but that doesn't prove anything one way
or the other.
Bailey