I'm back, and I'm still trying to find parents of my gg-grandfather, Benjamin C. ELLIS - all I can find on him is that he was born "in NC", from a census. I have found a great number of "Benjamin Ellis'es in NC, none of whom had a wife named Charity FIELDS (whose parents I am also searching for)! I don't know where in NC Benjamin was born, when he left NC, how old he was when he left (was he an adult? did his family move him as a child? where did they go? did he marry his wife in NC? TN where she was born? somewhere else?) He had obviously left NC by age 25, due to dates of the births of his children: Benjamin was in AL in 1835 when his first child was born (Benjamin being then age 25) til 1838 when his second child was born; unk if AL or MS 1838-1845; then a son born in MS 1845; unk if MS or LA 1845-1849; then a son born in LA 1849; last 2 children born in LA (see below). Of LA censuses I checked, I have only found two that were for sure him: The census for LA in 1850 listed him (which is where I originally found out he was b. in NC), and his family, with my g-grandfather at age 1, and the 1860 census for LA, Union Parish, Downsville P.O. which listed everyone plus the next-to-youngest son, James. The last child, "Phillie" died at age 1, two years before the 1860 census, darn! Based on the children's birth locations, I have checked censuses in which a Benjamin C. Ellis (or just a Benjamin Ellis) is named. I found several, but they were not him (ages were wrong, as were birth locations and wife name): one in Madison Co. AL, one in Randolph Co. AL, and one in Tuscaloosa Co, AL; one in Chickasaw Co MS in 1840, 1841 and 1845; two in Pontotoc Co, MS in 1840, one each in Pontotoc Co MS in 1841 and 1845. Here is what I actually have at the moment on this branch of the family: ELLIS, Benjamin C. - b. 22 Feb 1810 "in NC" (no idea where) d. 30 Apr 1866, LA; buried in Smyrna Cemetery located about 1/4 mile off the Walnut Lane near Downsville LA, Union Parish, but unknown if that is where he died. A kind person e-mailed me the names and dates from that Smyrna Cemetery, so I found out the names of the last two children and some dates. I also have copies of land records for him (5 in Monroe Parish, 1 in Jackson Parish) in LA. I also have a copy of his will. This, however, doesn't have anything to do with the missing first 2/3 of his life in NC, AL, MS. [The weirdest thing of his I have is a land record done in LA in *1836* - when I assumed by birth of two children that he was in AL (1 in 1835, 1 in 1838)!! Do you suppose he lived in AL, but ran over to LA to buy land? Or that he lived in LA but ran over to AL and MS for his wife to deliver children???] Benjamin's wife: FIELDS, Charity - b. Jan 1812 "in TN" (no idea where); d. 1900 in LA; buried in Smyrna Cemetery, Union Parish, also. Her gravestone apparently only reads "Charity Fields Ellis - Age 87". A copy of a lawsuit gotten from Farmerville LA Clerk of Court, dated Aug 1891, states that Charity ". . is very old and infirm, she was seventy nine years old last January", meaning she was born in 1812 and from gravestone saying died at 87, she died in 1900 or 1901 (in my genealogy computer program, a death date of 1901 makes her 88 years at death, so I put in 1900). I have been unable to get any death certificates on Benjamin or Charity, as they don't use them in LA till 1914; no birth certificates, and no marriage listing that I have been able to find. Their children: Martha A. ELLIS, b. 1835, AL; married a Mr. Williams according to her name on Benjamin's will. (no other info known) John E. ELLIS, b. 11 Feb 1838, AL; d. 5 Feb 1910 (no other info known); m. Virginia HODGE (28 Oct 1844-12 May 1935) (both buried Smyrna Cem, LA, which is how I know who his wife was and the dates) - I've since found more of *her* family, but not his!! George H. ELLIS, b. 1845, MS Sergeant with Co. I, 5th LA Cavalry on Confederate side. Paroled on 12 Jun 1865 at Monroe LA, 12 Jun 1865 (I found this on a Civil War website). Unk death date. Married a "Nettie" according to the sparse information left by my grandmother [dau of J. G. below] on her draft of an application to UDC. J. G. (Joseph Graves) ELLIS [my g-grandfather]: born in Monroe, Ouachita Parish, LA, 5 Jun 1849, died 29 July 1922 Denison TX. Married 2 Jun 1882 Annie Celestia TURPIN, (1862, Mer Rouge, Morehouse Par. LA-1896, Denison TX). I have plenty of information on them, so don't need any. James C. ELLIS, b. 15 Dec 1852, d. 2 Aug 1868 (buried Smyrna Cem, near Downsville LA - the only way I found out about his existence; later confirmed by a listing in the 1860 census) Phillie H. E. ELLIS, b. 22 Sep 1857, d. 22 Sep 1858, (also buried Smyrna Cem). Unknown if this is a boy or a girl. Maybe "Phillip"?? Or "Phyllis"??? Francesca Sutton Austin Tx