This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/3U.2ADE/1323.1 Message Board Post: Have you checked into this? The 1870 Census in TX lists a John Denton about the right age. http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?gsfn=&gsln=denton&sx=&f5=TX&f4=Bell&f7=&f14=&f21=&db=1870usfedcen&ti=0&hc=&prox=1&submit.x=19&submit.y=18 ------------------------------------------------------------- And this 1870 TX Census lists a man born in TN and a John of the right age born in TX. For some of the children listed here, there is not a woman old enough to be their mother, so it's possible she had already died. http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?gsfn=&gsln=denton&sx=&f5=TX&f4=Upshur&f7=&f14=&f21=&db=1870usfedcen&ti=0&hc=&prox=1&submit.x=25&submit.y=8 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I know how difficult researching adopted relatives can be. My g-mother was listed under both her adopted and birth names in Census records, even though she was an infant when adopted---sometimes as a niece & sometimes as a daughter. I have found that often that the surnames were'nt usually changed formally, but were often used informally, making things really difficult. I have a relative too, that ran away at age 13, probably changed his name----I'm still chasing the guy down!