Someone on the Holmes list asked about what line I'm researching; guess it may be time to post my brick wall to these lists again. My 2nd great grandfather was Hiram HOLMES, b. 2 Aug 1804 in Connecticut. He d. 29 Feb 1864 near Poolville in the Town of Hamilton, Madison County, New York. The only (near) contemporary records I've found of him are entries in the Federal census for 1850 and 1860 (and probably 1840, with the name given as "Ira HOLMES"), New York State census for 1855, his gravestone, and a tracing from a family Bible showing his birthdate. He was near Poolville for those censuses and probably most of his life. No direct information on siblings, parents, or birthplace other than "Connecticut". No record of him in the Barbour collection of Connecticut vital records. Nothing more in Tuttle's "Pioneer Settlers of Madison County" of obvious relevance. There are, however, enough bits of circumstantial evidence to suggest the following is a plausible -- but NOT PROVEN -- account: Hiram was a relative, probably brother, of Henry HOLMES of Vernon, Oneida County, NY and (later) Greenfield, Saratoga, NY. Other probable siblings were Jabez and Nathan HOLMES of Hamilton (Jabez later moved to Hanover, Chautauqua, NY); Phebe WILSON (married name) of Hamilton and North Township, Lake, IN; and Peter HOLMES of Farmersville, Cattaraugus, NY. Peter's father was another Nathan HOLMES (b. 1767) of Hamilton and Farmersville and his mother probably Grace ____ (b. ca. 1771) of Hamilton. Nathan was a child of Samuel HOLMES and Lucretia BILL of the North Parish of New London (later Montville), New London, CT. Samuel was a son of Elisha HOLMES and Sarah BARTLETT of Plymouth, MA and the line goes back from there to the immigrant John HOLMES of Plymouth; other lines go back to Mayflower passengers John ALDEN, Priscilla MULLINS, and Richard WARREN. As I said, none of this is proven. In particular I have no direct evidence that Hiram was brother of Henry, Jabez, Phebe, or Peter; that Hiram's father was Nathan of Hamilton; that Nathan of Hamilton was son of Samuel of New London/Montville; or that Samuel was son of Elisha of Plymouth. There are far too many bits of evidence from too many sources for me to recite them here. If you're interested, more details of this puzzle may be found at my web site, <http://web.syr.edu/~rsholmes/genealogy/index.html> -- follow the "Hiram HOLMES" link. I welcome any information or ideas, and will gladly pass on the information I have to anyone interested. A few particular questions: (1) Is there any primary documentation of Samuel of New London/Montville's family besides his will? (2) Is there any record of Nathan of Montville besides an entry in the 1800 census? (Note there was another, younger Nathan in Norwich, CT.) (3) Is there a death record for Phebe WILSON of North Township, Lake County, Indiana?