[This message was posted yesterday, but there may have been server problems, because it didn't show up in my mail] Hello, Steven--- Thanks very much for your kind words, and for posting information about the Briggs DNA project. Briggs is an important surname in St. Joseph County history. That Idaho reference for James W. Briggs was a pure fluke! I discovered it several months ago, when I wondered why Ancestry.com kept popping up with "Idaho history" whenever I input the name, "Robert W. Briggs" or "Helindia Irvin". As you know, I am not a blood relative of the Briggs', but I have a special interest in documenting all of the families who lived in and around North Liberty, Indiana---where my mother always said, "you can find all of your roots there!". I'll be working more on this, this afternoon. I will share any Briggs material with you in a private e-mail, unless I think it important enough to post to this board. As to Helindia Irvin, who died in North Liberty in 1891, you can find my Irvin family tree posted at Ancestry World Trees (or World Connect at rootsweb.com, for those who are not Ancestry.com subscribers). Type in Helindia Irvin---not more than one or two other contributors have posted about her, and even my own notes about her need updating. Her father was Samuel Irvin, farmer in North Liberty in the mid-19th century, and there were eight children. Samuel Irvin's brother, Israel Irvin, who was my ancestor, also settled in North Liberty. Both Samuel and Israel married sisters--LEERs from Elkhart! This may be a similar pattern to your Briggs' (and one of my Irvins) marrying WILSONs. Both Irvin farms are depicted in an 1875 map of North Liberty, available for viewing at USGenweb.org----Indiana---St. Joseph Co. (it's in the South Bend Library online resources file). The maps and history page images of St. Joseph County are stunningly crisp! Speaking of the South Bend Library at USGenweb, you should be aware of an amazing resource: The Necrology Index of the South Bend Tribune, which covers all death notices and obits from about 1913 to the present. You can look up a name, find the death date (or date of publication), and often the residence address of the decedant, but for the actual obituary text, you'll need to ask a volunteer on this board. Frequently these death notices even cover people who were once St. Joseph Co. residents, but who moved away. I guarantee you'll find a number of Briggs descendants in that index---possibly from Isaac Briggs' family. By the 1880s, the Briggs were numerous in St. Joseph Co. I think that St. Joseph Co. GenWeb is just about the best of any local GenWeb sites in the United States. There are marriage records, cemetery records and other resources galore. Back to James W. Briggs: I did a census lookup for 1920 for Boise, Idaho, and located him. There are no children listed, and at age 47 (Celesta, 46), it's unlikely they ever had children. The 1930 census confirms this, and an Idaho Deaths database at Ancestry.com shows that James Briggs died 6 March 1933. His wife, Celestia Lesh, is listed in the SSDI, having died Dec 1965. HOWEVER---there seem to be a number of other Briggs living in Idaho in the early half of the 20th century, and they may possibly have been relatives who followed James to the west. The Idaho Death Index lists one "Celesta Briggs", who was b. in 1942. I don't know about your research methods, but an unusual name like "Celesta" or "Celestia" is to me a red flag, because such unusual names tend to run in families. This Celesta may have been a niece; it simply BEGS to be resolved! Good hunting, Steven! You (or any reader) may e-mail me privately with your research notes any time. ---Bob Robertson Napa Valley, California