George and all, I have a big problem with what is on the Germanna database regarding James SNYDER, son of Michael and Martha (STIGLER) SNYDER. I do not believe that James SNYDER could have married Frances Carpenter in 1833 and had child, Asa, in 1836 as is shown. Don't know where this marriage got tangled in the SNYDER tree. There were probably several James Snyders in Madison that could have been aparty to this marriage. In fact there is one in the 1830 Madison census but according to everything I have found through MO census records this James and wife Sarah (Sallie) AYLOR left Va between 1819 and 1825 for MO where the other 8 of their 11 children were born beginning in 1820. One of whom, James Absalom SNYDER, was born in MO on 10 May 1830 so how would his father be living in Madison, VA in 1830 for the census? Must be a different James SNYDER! Aaron FRAY and Lucy (SNYDER) FRAY are living in Prairie Township, Howard, Mo along with her brother, James and wife,Sarah, and their family in the 1840 census. Also, they were either fudging on their ages or their birth dates are different.1796 and 1795 respectively on later census records. James and Sarah (AYLOR) SNYDER(sometimes spelled SNIDER) are still married in the 1850 census records with same children including ASA, as their youngest born in Mo. Sarah is shown with son, Benjamim F., in the 1860 census in August of that year and she didn't die until after 1860. (So she was not dead in 1832 as those who put in this other marriage have made her to allow for it.) Asa is living with his cousins, the Thomas FRAYS (Thomas was the son of Lucy SNYDER and Aaron FRAY) in that same 1860 census in September as a worker. They all still lived in Prairie Township, Howard, MO. Not a large area. I think that this conflict came from the Germanna Record No 11, Carpenter Genealogy which shows this Snyder-Carpenter marriage and quotes the "unpublished Yowell manuscript on the SNYDER family genealogy" BUT the Germanna Record book no 12 has the Yowell published SNYDER manuscript with no mention of this marriage and showing youngest son, Asa, as the child of Sarah and James which is correct.. Since the census records clearly show that James and Sarah were together with their children in 1850 and I do not think that James was a bigamist and went back to VA and married Frances while wife Sarah was back in Mo. Sarah is clearly Asa's mother. . . Frances CARPENTER was never this James' wife. I have traced the children in this family and can find none for Asa although he did marry according to his CW registration.. He did register for the Civil War. He always gives his birth state as MO. The people who attribute Asa to a marriage between James and Frances always give the marriage as happening in VA and Asa as having the birth state of VA so that should be another clue that this is wrong. There are conflicting trees on the net with both marriages and this garbled information will likely comtinue forever but I believe mine to be correct. All the people who have put this marriage in their trees have no descendants for Asa so I guess it wouldn't matter to them if they are wrong. I had the great good fortune to begin my SNYDER tree in the 1990's with a genealogy done by cousin Jim", James Wilhite JONES, in 1911 in Kansas City.(Hard to believe that it was 100 years ago when he did that) I have a copy of the handwritten sheets. He was born in 1854 in KY, was the son of Martha SNYDER, daughter of John SNYDER b.1898 in Madison and as a small child lived in the home of his grandmother, Malevia (YAGER) SNYDER, widow of John SNYDER, son of Michael. This family kept in close contact with one another and another retired SNYDER cousin in the Kansas City area did a more thorough genealogy in 1973 based on the 1911 one and made many phone calls and wrote many letters to descendants all over the U. S.including the Howard County SNYDERS and had a long visit with the then secretary at the Hebron Church. I won't say that what I have is perfect but I have had a wonderful head start on the SNYDER descendants from Michael on down and the advantage of the internet and census records, etc to tweak it. I will leave it to you to either get rid of the Frances CARPENTER marriage or leave it as an alternative.(EVEN THOUGH IT IS WRONG) I will be adding Asa to his real mother Sarah (AYLOR) SNYDER with a birthplace of Missouri unless someone comes up with another answer and can prove me wrong. Suzee SoldanEls Oberg