Your Carsten family does not appear in the MCAR 1880 census, Gina, but are apparently taxpayers in 1890 in Hampton Township (Bruno is a "town" there). There is no mention of this surname in "Cemeteries of MCAR" by Marian Burnes (who tramped every cemetery in the county for over 30 years). Apparently there are no headstones for these girls if, in fact, they died in MCAR. It's my guess they came here during the height of the mining era (roughly 1880-1920) and moved on to greener pastures. It's also my guess that they weren't here before June 1882 when their teenage daughter died because there's apparently no record of her burial being in MCAR. Directories are something this extremely rural area still doesn't have so that's not an option. Around here our 6x9x1/4" phone book works just fine. Tax records - both real estate and personal property - are an option, but this could get somewhat expensive. These tax books are not indexed, each one weighs around 8-10 lbs, each one contains around 250 pages or more, and it would take someone a good bit of time to search around 15 years of these records. Those researchers around here that *might* take this on charge at least $10 an hour. I'm estimating that you're looking at no less than $50 or $60 and probably more. The Real Estate Tax Assessment records for 1891 are slowly but surely being transcribed and published little by little in "Bramble Bush" which is the newsletter of the Historic Genealogical Society of MCAR. Those records already published can be found in the copies of this newsletter which are on line at http://www.rootsweb.com/~armarion (later issues should be up shortly). Sorry I couldn't be of more help. Mysty shakerag@mtnhome.com ----- Original Message ----- From: <Ginaburningsky@aol.com> To: <ARMARION-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2000 10:09 PM Subject: Carsten Family > My g-g-grandparents - Frederick William & Naoma (Neoma Manus) Carsten resided > in Bruno, Marion Co., for several years between 1880 & 1895. While they > lived in the area, their daughter Sarah Anna Carsten died in June 1882 as a > teenager, and daughter Mary Carsten died as a 4 yr old in December 1880. Has > anyone seen a gravestone for either of these girls? Also, are there any > available directories, etc. that will help me place more accurately the dates > of arrival & departure in Marion Co. of my Carsten family? > ~gina thomas patterson~