Interesting. I suppose that between the 1850 & 1860 census Eliza, Harris & Isaac died. But where did Demetrius & Wellington come from? They were old enough to have been on the 1850 census. And, who is James? Too old to be Joel & Polly's child! Then, on the 1870 there is Jasper age 22 - where was he in 1860 or 1850? At least Alice is the same on 1860 & 1870!! I think "Wellington" & "Jasper W." are the same person. "Harris" & "Demetrius" seem to have both been born in 1844. But we need both of them to make the count of 8 children that Polly claimed. Is it possible that "Joel" is another child of Nicholas & Sarah Howe Colby??? They were supposed to have had 12 children and I only know of 11. Could it be that simple??? Ronald Colby <[email protected]> wrote: I'm trying to identify a Joel Colby b. abt 1821 New York in the 1850 and 1870 his occupation is listed as Cooper. He married 6 Jun 1841 Polly Burham in Washtenaw County, Michigan 1850 Census Scio, Washtenaw County, Michigan Joel Colby 29 m Cooper NY Polly 28 f NY Eliza 8 F Mich Harris 6 m Mich Isaac 3 m Mich He is living next door to Joshua Colby s/o Nicholas Colby and Sally Howe. 1860 Census Portland, Ionia County, Michigan Joel Colby 38 m Cooper NY Polly 38 f NY Demetrius 16 m Cooper MI Wellington 12 m MI Alice 6 f MI Della 1 f MI James 28 m Cooper NY 1870 Census Westphalia, Clinton County, Michigan Joel Colby 50 m clergyman NY Polly 46 f NY Jasper W. 22 m farmer MI Mary 24 f MI (Jasper's Wife) Alice A. 16 F MI 1880 Census Portland, Ionia County, Michigan Joel Colby 59 m farmer NY Polly 57 f NY Jasper and his family are living next door. 1900 Census Portland, Ionia County, Michigan Joel Colby 79 Sep 1820 NY Polly 77 Aug 1822 NY Number of children for Polly 7born 2 living they are living with son Jasper and family any help in identifying this family would be greatly appreciated. Ronald Colby [email protected] 801-680-1317 Kearns, Utah I finally got my head together, now my body is falling apart. Home page: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~colby/colbyfam ==== COLBY Mailing List ==== To unsubscribe from COLBY, send an e-mail message to: [email protected] (for individual messages) [email protected] (for Digest mode) Subject: unsubscribe In the body include only one word: unsubscribe (Turn OFF your signature file when sending this command) ============================== Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx Alice Colby Volkert Volkert Services