Spa3rk4le5@aol.com wrote: I'm still here and still looking for William G. Gentry born 1805 in TN or KY. Need to find his parents. He was living in Obion Co., TN in 1850 but I can't find him prior to that. If anyone has any information that would help I'd really appreciate hearing from you. Thanks all, Juanita from Oklahoma City, OK. Suggestion: I suggest you collect all the censuses from 1850 on for William G. Gentry. The 1850 census should tell where (in what state) he was born. So should the 1860 and 1870 (if he survived the Civil War, that is) censuses. The 1880 census is online FREE at www.familysearch.org The 1880 census is significant in that it asks each person enumerated the birthplace of each of his parents. This could lead you--if the info is correct--to the parents of each of your ancestors who was enumerated in the 1880 census. The online 1880 census is tricky to use. Not only did the census-taker misspell the names, but also the later indexers also misspelled the names. Think of every way you know how Gentry can be misspelled. I have seen a few variant spellings in the early tax lists of Madison Co., KY. You can use a wild card--an asterisk--in this way. You can give the first three letters of the surname and then add an asterisk. Try gen* first for a state in which you are interested--and, if the results are negative, try misspelling the surname. Happy hunting! E.W.Wallace