Continuing... We're looking for the 1840 James Fulton household in Seneca Twp, Ontario Co, NY, with a female under 5 (Cornelia M. Fulton, b 1837). 1840 Census Index, Seneca, Ontario Co, NY (Jackson, Accelerated Index) Head of House Co. Page Township Joseph Fulton Onta 103 Seneca George Fulton Onta 120 Seneca Hugh Fulton Onta 105 Seneca James Fulton Onta 104 Seneca ) James Fulton Onta 107 Seneca ) 3 James'! James S. Fulton Onta 105 Seneca ) Joseph Fulton Onta 112 Seneca Joseph Fulton Onta 105 Seneca I always re-arrange these entries. In this case, I'll put them in order by page number. You can see that some households appear on the same page which means they lived near to each other and may be related. Head of House Co. Page Township Joseph Fulton Onta 103 Seneca James Fulton Onta 104 Seneca Hugh Fulton Onta 105 Seneca James S. Fulton Onta 105 Seneca Joseph Fulton Onta 105 Seneca James Fulton Onta 107 Seneca Joseph Fulton Onta 112 Seneca George Fulton Onta 120 Seneca There are three James Fulton households in 1840. Which one includes a female born in 1837? You cannot answer this question using a census index. You must find a copy of the original census form. Clark & Ernie read the microfilms of the original census records and extracted the family information for the three James Fulton households. The 1840 Census identifies the "Head of Household" followed by 26 columns that were used by the census taker to group the members of the household by sex and age. (There are also additional columns used to identify Slaves, Free Colored, Foreigners not Naturalized, and Remarks.) The 13 age categories are: und5 5-10 10-15 15-20 20-30 30-40 40-50 50-60 60-70 70-80 80-90 90-100 100+ James Fulton household, page 104 Males: 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Females: 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Interpretation: James Fulton, the oldest male, was 70-80 years old (born bet 1760-1770). There are three other members of this household: Male age 20-30 born bet 1810-1820 Female age 20-30 born bet 1810-1820 Female age 10-15 born bet 1825-1830 James S. Fulton household, page 105 Males: 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Females: 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Interpretation: James S. Fulton, the oldest male, was 20-30 (born bet 1810-1820). There are four other members of this household: Female age 20-30 born bet 1810-1820, probable wife of James S. Fulton. Male age 10-15 born bet 1825-1830 Male und5 born bet 1835-1840 Female und5 born bet 1835-1840 James Fulton household, page 107 Males: 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Females: 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Interpretation: James Fulton, the oldest male, was 20-30 (born bet 1810-1820). There are three other members of this household: Female age 20-30 born bet 1810-1820, probable wife of James Fulton. Male und5 born bet 1835-1840 Female und5 born bet 1835-1840 Based on this information, we can eliminate James Fulton on page 104. There is no female under 5 in this household. However, that leaves us with two possible households: James S. Fulton on page 105 and James Fulton on page 107. Both men are roughly the same age (20-30) and both have females under 5 living in the household. Comparing the 1840 Census information to the 1850 Census index does not help. There is no entry for a Cornelia M. Fulton and there is no James L Fulton household in 1840. Or is there? How accurate is a census index? Patrice (Fulton) Stark Lone Tree, Colorado