Dear Emma in New Mexico, you wrote: I am searching (in vain it seems) for parents, siblings of Levi Harris. He married Dorothy Bozeman in Monticello Florida , Jefferson County in Dec 1831. Their daughter Tamzy Harris was my great grandmother. Some family history says he originally came from Maine, but no proof. Any tidbit of info greatly appreciated. Emma in NM Suggestion: Since you are in New Mexico, you probably have an LDS family history center near you. A list of these centers around the world is found on www.familysearch.org Look in the lower right hand corner. (Also check out the FHL catalog in that same area of the website at a later time.) If such a FH center is near you, call them and ask what their opening hours are. Then ask whether they have hundreds of microfiche called AIS = Accelerated Indexing System. Many centers, particularly older ones, do have this rather helpful people-finder. Again, this is on microfiche. What is AIS? This is a rather comprehensive (but flawed) census index to all the US censuses through 1850, and for some western states and territories, it goes beyond 1850. Each census, after the first ones, is in a different search. (Search 1 pertains to the earlier censuses plus has some tax lists to make up for missing censues.) When the censuses list everyone in the family, as in the 1850 census, then the later searches divide into areas of the US. There may be a free four-page handout at your local LDS center to explain how to use this valuable index. But, with patience, you can teach yourself by jumping in and observing how this index works. Caution: There is a high error rate--misspellings, duplications, omissions, and so on, but still professionals use this index a great deal when beginning with a new ancestor, say, for a client. Since you believe your Harrises were old enough to get married in 1831, why don't you start with the 1840 census to try to find Levi Harris in the AIS? Then move backwards. Did Florida have marriage bonds, as many Southern states did? Then find out who the bondsman is? Did either the bride or the groom need consent of a parent or a guardian? Marriage bonds, when they can be found, are a great people-finder. Check out Levi's neighbors and do a fair amount of research in the state where he landed in 1840. You may find some clues in the people with whom he associated. In the 1840s, there were few if any railroads, and unless people traveled by boat, they probably didn't move huge distances. Native Americans were still a menace, and so people frequently moved in groups for protection--also from bears and snakes [and in Florida, other strange critters]. Levi's neighbors in 1840 may have come from the same place he did. You are going to have a lot better luck by tracing the movements of the Bozemans. Look for Harrises in the neighborhoods (counties) where the Bozemans are found. Ordinarily, unless the family was really desperately poor and they needed to marry off a daughter to have one less face to feed, the family needed to know something of the background of the prospective groom. Therefore, you probably will find Harrises somewhere in the neighborhood of the Bozeman families. You need to know a little of the history of Florida in the time period when these folks married. An encyclopedia (or a children's book) may help you get this info in a hurry! Also, while you are at it, also study the history of Georgia. Until the Indians ceded large parts of Georgia, there wasn't much territory in the populated part of Georgia until after the American Revolution. After the Revolution, people poured into Georgia, because land was easy to acquire. My North Carolinians migrated there, for example, but also some collateral families from Virginia. And Harrises are like hares--they proliferate a lot!!! I hope the AIS will help you locate some likely Harrises. At least, your Harris does not have a first name like Robert, Richard, William!!! But his father and his grandfather may have some of those names!!! Happy hunting!