My maternal grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Howell, was born in 1863 in Union Parish Louisiana (my some hard work I was able to prove this). However, he was the reason I began my genealogy journey. The story that was always told to me and had been handed down through my mother's family was that he "just appeared" in the community in 1900 and married my grandmother, Nancy Ellen Raborn, when he was 37 and she was just 17. Through research, I found that he was living with his mother and stepfather just 3 farms away from my grandmother's family! This is one of those time when I so desperately wish for that 1890 census. The only reason I can account for the story about the "appearance" is that possibly Thomas Jefferson went to Texas after 1880 to be with his half-brother, Thomas Sherrer. Now I am thinking that I certainly hope that I do not find another family in Texas for this grandfather! Ruth Stout