> I am trying to track a relative who is listed in the 1850 census in > Boone Co., MO. Among his neighbors are siblings, parents, cousins. > By 1860 the extended family is dispersed to 3-4 neighboring > counties, and I can find everybody except my guy. I am confident he > remained in the area past 1860. He does not appear anywhere in the > ancestry.com index and I have browsed the census pages in the > communities of his relatives to no avail. So a few questions: what > percentage of people might have been missed by the 1860 census > takers? On the chance he was no longer in the area, what percentage > of people are omitted in ancestry.com's index? Any clues on how to > proceed? > > Susan Moeur <[email protected]> (oops, I think i hit the wrong reply button earlier) Thank you all for the responses. I had suspected I was relying too much on the accuracy of the indices. Your replies have pretty much confirmed that.