Chris, >I searched my own data for any Brooks who married a Louisa, >Lovisa, or Louise and had some event in NY state within this time >frame, but came up empty. Nor does Mollet or Mellot match >anything I have. Thank you for searching. >Louisa has a rather hyperkinetic chronology. She's a 21-year-old >widow, with a 5-year-old daughter, marrying for the 2d time. Did >she go on to have a dozen children with your g-grandfather, and >live to a ripe old age? She and my g-grandfather had six sons, my grandfather being the youngest, b. 1882. According to my database, she died ca. 1895, but what I remember from family discussions, he was on his own from third grade which would mean she died closer to 1890. My grandfather had also said that he lived for a time with his half-sister, Elizabeth. She's buried in a cemetery in Hobart, Delaware County, NY, as Elizabeth Aldrich with her husband, William Miller. They had five children. I don't know absolutely whether or not she actually was Louisa's daughter from her first marriage, or was Andrew's daughter from . . . who knows. I cannot find her anywhere in 1870 censuses. If she was going by the name "Brooks" then and staying with Brooks relatives, I suppose she would have been listed as part of the family without distinction. Any Brooks families that suddenly have a ten-year-old child? Another family legend that I'm trying to work out is that Louisa may have been American Indian. According to my 79-year-old aunt, my grandfather was half Indian. I had never heard it stated that definitely before! The next candidate is Andrew's mother, Elizabeth (unknown), b. in Connecticut. I tried to figure from local families in Lexington, Greene Cty, NY, who Louisa's husband might have been. Although, divorce could have been a possibility, I'm supposing he might have died in the Civil War before her second marriage in 1864. So far, I find that all of the likely candidates live too long or were otherwise married except Archibald Brooks. Anyone reading this probably knows this family tree better than I, and if you know that he didn't marry Louisa, then let me know and the mystery remains. For what it's worth, at www.itd.nps.gov, I find an Archibald F. Brooks, 115 N.Y. Infantry, Private. ----------------------------------------- Get free email at http://mail.destin.com ----------------------------------------- Get free email at http://mail.destin.com