Maryjane, Thank you for forwarding the 1860 & 1880 Census information. The 1880 Census is definitely my husband's family ad I already had a copy of that and most likely the 1860 one is as well. THere was only one marriage and Michael's age (at 28) would be 10 yrs. off. He would have been 38. All the names are right, although the daughter "June" was a complete surprise to me. The granddaughter, "Anna Sithen" on the 1880 census is my husband's grandmother who was orphaned at 2 & raised by the grandparents & one of the aunts. Interestingly, I cannot pull the 1860 Census up on Ancestry.com. It looks like you used familysearch.org. Anyway, you are correct that it shows daughter Mary "Furgerson's" (should be Ferguson) birthplace as LA, which makes much more sense. I had this Census and then later obtained a copy of her obituary, which stated she was born in Edwardsville, IL and you know how we are when we see conflicting information. I thought, well, there must be some other rock to turn over here as she had several adult living children when she died and you would just kind of think they would know where "Mom" was born! LA definitely makes the most sense as other early children of this marriage were born in LA before they moved to Galveston where the younger children were born. I thank you for your time. It's very possible there are no links to IL. Sheryl McNally

Sheryl, Sometimes those little mistakes made by family on documents such as census, death certificate, etc. can prove to be a blessing instead of a curse. I've been researching my g, g, grandfather. Family lore, later verified by his civil war pension records, was that he had been in both the confederate and then the union army. I found a record of someone from LA who was injured in the exact battle where my ancestor was injured (Perryville, KY) I also found an obvious misspelling of his name on the passenger and immigration list for N.O. I still felt that need for a little additional validation that would connect him to LA. In a census about 20 years after he died, his son stated on the census record that his father was born in LA. I think that is a pretty good validation. My ancestor was born in Ireland and immigrated to this county. After swearing the oath of allegiance to the U.S., he next fled to Madison County where he later joined the union army. So, I've learned not to get irritated about errors and red herring information. Sometimes it really does lead somewhere. Good luck in your searching. Maryjane - Volunteer for Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness www.raogk.org At 11:50 PM 8/9/2004, you wrote: >Maryjane, > >Thank you for forwarding the 1860 & 1880 Census information. The 1880 >Census is definitely my husband's family ad I already had a copy of that >and most likely the 1860 one is as well. THere was only one marriage and >Michael's age (at 28) would be 10 yrs. off. He would have been 38. All >the names are right, although the daughter "June" was a complete surprise >to me. The granddaughter, "Anna Sithen" on the 1880 census is my >husband's grandmother who was orphaned at 2 & raised by the grandparents & >one of the aunts. > >Interestingly, I cannot pull the 1860 Census up on Ancestry.com. It looks >like you used familysearch.org. > >Anyway, you are correct that it shows daughter Mary "Furgerson's" (should >be Ferguson) birthplace as LA, which makes much more sense. I had this >Census and then later obtained a copy of her obituary, which stated she >was born in Edwardsville, IL and you know how we are when we see >conflicting information. I thought, well, there must be some other rock to >turn over here as she had several adult living children when she died and >you would just kind of think they would know where "Mom" was born! LA >definitely makes the most sense as other early children of this marriage >were born in LA before they moved to Galveston where the younger children >were born. > >I thank you for your time. It's very possible there are no links to IL. > >Sheryl McNally