JDLail wrote: > I have a case where one of my family (Confederate) from Georgia was > captured in the Civil War, taken to > Fort Columbus (NY City area), took the oath of allegiance, and was > released in Sept 1863. He never came > home. His four children were scattered between the paternal > grandparents and the mother. > > However a man with his name shows up in Northern New Jersey within > months of his 1863 release . He > married and remained in Morris Co. NJ until his death in 1926. So its > reasonable to suspect that these > are the same guy. The surname here (Lail) was exceedingly rare at that > point in time and the given name > (James) had never been used before in the family, > > This James appeared in 5 New Jersey census records from 1870-1920. In > all cases he lists his birthplace > as Georgia. In all cases but one he lists his fathers birthplace as > Georgia as well. The exception being > 1920 when he gave it as North Carolina. And finally In all cases but > one he gives a birth year ca. 1846-7. > The exception being 1880 when he gave 1836-7 for his birth. > > The James missing from my family was born 1834-7 in Tennessee but was > raised in Georgia. The family > moved there ca. 1842. His father was born in NC. So do I have enough > proof ? Thanks. > > > No. What you have listed is a nasty, misleading, set of coincidences. (g) What does the NJ death certificate have to say about his parents? Did the NJ guy show up on the 1890 [yeah yeah, I know, but look ANYWAY]? Is there a Union service or pension record on him? OTOH, generally speaking, POWs were transferred en masse, not singly. Was he different and if so why? What does the CSA service record show happened? What do the NJ tax lists and/or voter lists reveal? Who'd he go and marry? I'll agree it's a reasonable conclusion begging to be leapt to, but you've not listed any _primary_ source for any of it. Census records are a last-resort, when all's said and done. Cheryl