This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Richey Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/lg.2ADE/1137 Message Board Post: I have a missing in action ancestor, John W. (middle name might also be Jackson) Richey b. abt 1850, married Anna Elizabeth Nevil on Dec 12, 1871 in Edgar County, IL. John disappeared sometime between 1883, when his daughter Dorinda was born, and 1887 when Anna remarried George Beach. The family story says that John went to work in a mine and when the family went to join him, no one knew of John or the mine (name and place of mine is unknown). I'm not sure if he was dead or ran off. I am guessing that some type of legal paperwork must have been filed in order for Anna to re-marry and/or acquire John's possessions. Anna remarried to George Beach on Aug 29, 1887 in Clark County, IL. John and Anna are found in the 1880 Dolson, Clark, IL census with children Emily, Jacob Henry, and Armon (aka Norman). Does anyone have any idea where to start looking?? Or what documentation might have been needed back then? I believe John may have been the son of Jacob Richey and Lucind! a Caldwell (1870 Census, Grandview, Edgar, IL), but have been unable to document it. I am hoping that if I find some legal paperwork declaring him dead or missing, I might finally have something to go on. Thanks.