Hello, The MANUEL vs. MANWELL surnames are being discussed on a NH (US) Board / List. When I went to do a look-up I found a Joseph MANWELL listed as an adopted infant living with a young couple from Canada. I dod more look-ups in census records and found information which might help someone. I'd like to copy / paste my posting to the NH Lists - here: The MANUEL and MANWELL names are being discussed on the Hillsborough Co. Board. I went to see if the MANWELL name is found in census records for NH, and only found one before 1900. MANWELL, JOSEPH (1880 U.S. Census) NEW HAMPSHIRE , MERRIMACK, SUNCOOK Race: WHITE, Born: CANA Series: T9 Roll: 765 Page: 5 He is listed as the Adopted Infant living with his adoptive-parents. The handwriting is difficult, but the father looks like: Martell JOSETTA, 24. His wife, Anne, and he have a daughter, 2. The record says that she works in a cotton mill, but she probably is "home" at the moment. :o) (A closer look at the handwriting and there is a chance the infant's name is MAXWELL, but it looks more like MANWELL. Living on one side of them is a large family: Uzeb? VERVILLE (sp?). 34, and wife, Philomene, 42, and 8 children, 4 of the children work in the cotton mill, from Age 12 to 18. On the other side of them is another large family: Henry BRISSETTE, with wife and 9 children. 3 daughters and a son work in the cotton mill, but the oldest son works at a "brick works?" The 3 families mentioned all came down from Canada. Any chance that Anne JOSETTA is a daughter of one of the other couples? It looks like there was a large "cotton mill" in Suncook which attracted men from Canada. Well, here is another case where the Index for the census records is different than the information on the census pages. I went to see if there were other JOSETTA families in NH. This time the 1880 Index has the couple: Amos and Martele JOSETTA. But the handwriting looks more like Martell and Annie JOSETTA. :o( So, always check out - just the surname - during the 1800's, and look for the given-names, secondly. I checked to see if there were other VERVILLE families, and there were at least 2, large families living in Manchester - also working in a cotton mill. And, also in Suncook, another young couple, Napolean VERVILLE. Betty (near Lowell, MA, USA) (Regarding MANUEL and MANWELL, it reminds me of my grandmother's birth-name, Daisy WATROUS. I'm told that is a variation on WATERHOUSE. (She was adopted at Age 3 (MA) and had her name changed to Mary Anna Clark DEXTER. Long, complicated story in archives of MA Lists.) (Don't forget that the 1880 US census is available at www.familysearch.org )