A good place to start is to determine what you know about John Broaddus... where was he born, for instance, in England? Canada? US? can you define it more narrowly to town, county, state, etc? Can you narrow down his birth year? For instance, based upon his marriage/birth of first child abt 1807, we could guess that he was probably born between 1785 and 1789... The key is to build from what you know to what you do not know, one step at a time... Without knowing any more than your brief message, I would speculate that he was probably in the early wave of Broadhurst emigrants, possibly to Virginia; Broaddus is a common variant in the middle Atlantic area from the colonial period; it was spelled the way it was said, a slightly slurred version of Broadhurst. [email protected] on 09/20/98 03:19:17 PM To: [email protected] cc: (bcc: Art Broadhurst/HQ/UIMC) Subject: [BROADHURST-L] Surname Broaddus I have been told that Broaddus is a form of Broadhurst so here goes. My gggg Grandfather was John Broaddus born late 1700's married Sarah Conn in 1807 had four children Lucy b.1812, Mary b.1807, James Lafayette b.11- 18-1824, and Robert Henry b.1827. Lucy my ggg Grandmother Married Theodore Laughlin 5-12-1836 in McDonough Co. Ill. Their daughter Sarah Laughlin my gg Grandmother b.1830-1850 Married John Blackburn 12-22-1859 in McDonough Co. Ill. As you can see I need lots of help. Thanks: Jack