Here is a possible connection for your Lawler family. In my family I have Elizabeth Jackson Deal who married Hugh M. Lindsey in Knox County, IL. This family moved from Knox County, IL to Taylor County, IA, between March 1866 and the 1870 census. Both of them were born in Pennsylvania. Hugh M. Lindsey was born in Frankford, Cumberland County, PA, and Elizabeth Jackson Deal was born at Chambersburg, Franklin County, PA. Elizabeth's father was Francis Deal and the family arrived in Knoxville in May 1854 to claim bounty land from the War or 1812. The Lindsey family moved from Pennsylvania to Delaware County, OH, in 1829, and to Knox County, IL, in 1853. Since these people made similar moves, is it possible that there was a connection? From information that I have is appears that some of the Lindsey family moved to Taylor County, IA, as early as 1863. Shscvi > Thanks for the info. The couple in question had 5 children together in > Knox Co. (to add to the two the wife had from a previous marriage) and then > moved the whole family to Taylor Co., IA for most of the remainder of their > lives. There is no divorce, alimony, death or otherwise in Knox Co. to > pin things down. Presumably there are land records involved but I don't > think they will shed any light on his parentage. > > It seems that John J. LAWLER just "appeared" in Knox Co. shortly before his > marriage. There is a John LAWLER in Tazewell Co. in the 1860 census but I > don't know if it's him or not. I plan to get back to the National > Archives in DC in a couple of weeks to do more census work, but the state > and federal censuses I have checked so far indicate he was born in PA and > his parents were natives (although some of the census info is > contradictory). On the other hand, his obituaries and family tradition say > he was born in Ireland and immigrated "at a young age". I have no clue yet > which is fact and which is fiction. > > I'm casting around for some record of his parents names that might lead me > to either an immigration record or an entry in the 1850 census somewhere > (possibly PA). I don't relish looking through every LAWLER family in the > entire 1850 census looking for a 12-year-old named John. > > Stuart > > > > >