The identity of Henry D. Bane's wife, Nancy _______________ ....I first found Nancy on the 1880 Schedule of Defective, dependent, and Delinquent Classes for Gallia County, Ohio. My next step was to find her with her family to learn as much about her and her family as possible. On the 1880 population census for Gallia County the family is listed as follows: Bane, Henry D., white, male, age 661, married, farmer, born in Virginia, parents born in Virginia Bane, Nancy, white, female, age 62, wife, married, keeps house, mark under insane column, born in Ohio, parents born in Virginia Bane, William H., white, male, age 29 son, single, teacher, born in Ohio, father born in Virginia, mother born in Ohio Following Nancy in the censuses, I worked backward and forward in order to put together her family. Interestingly, in 1870, Nancy is also labeled as insane, but in 1860 and 1850, there were no remarks about Nancy's mental health. The Bane family is reconstructed here through the use of census records: Henry D. Bane was born September 1819 in Virginia. He married Nancy _______________, who was born September 1818 or 1819 in Ohio. They married about 1842. Probable children (all born in Ohio) 1. Lucetta, born about 1842 2. Samuel, born about 1845 3. John P., born about 1847 4. William H., born about 1850 5. Mary A., born about 1853 6. Robert R., born about 1855 Since all of their children were born in Ohio, and they consistently lived in Gallia County, my next step was to see if a marriage record existed for Henry and Nancy in that area; it did. In the county marriage records, it was recorded that Henry D. Bane married Nancy Donnally on 26 September 1842. That was easy. Now we have what is likely her maiden name. (Remember, there is always the possibility that she could have been married before; her age when she married Henry calculates to about twenty-three.) As was common for marriage records for this time period, her parents' names were not included. Assuming Donnally was Nancy's maiden name, it would make this a "quick case" if a man or woman named Donnally died in Gallia County and named a daughter Nancy Bane in a will. But of the Donnally wills, none named a daughter Nancy Bane. The will of Andrew Donnally did name a daughter Nancy, but referred to her as Donnally; "our" Nancy had been married thirteen years by the time this will was made in 1855, so it is unlikely that a father would still refer to his daughter by her maiden name. Another daughter and a son named in Andrew's will, Katherine and Peter Donnally, also left wills in 1866 and 1860, respectively, naming their sister Nancy Donnally, giving further evidence this Nancy was unmarried. ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com