[snip] > no > maybe your mother copied from the 1863 book (mistakes and all too) > > what you have to do is look very critically at the 1863 book and try > and find the original source of the data in the nineteenth century > > a PRIMARY source is a document created at the same time by the > people involved in the event. > > a will > a probate > some church books > > but NOT many census records > which are mostly SECONDARY sources > because they are a fair copy from original census returns or an oral > statement on a door step pencilled into a note book > > Hugh Watkins <[email protected]> Census records are pretty good indicators of where a person lived at a particular time. And a copy of the original record is probably pretty accurate. But (1) don't trust the indexes - lots of errors there (2) there is no guarantee that every member of a household, even if the last name is the same, is the blood kin of the adults. It's tough enough to find an essential fact but in my mind real proof exists when we find a corroborating fact or perhaps a timely succession of facts. Hugh [email protected] (J. Hugh Sullivan)