This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: KNOWLTON, SMITH, ECHOLS Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/5Mn.2ACEB/296.1 Message Board Post: Ellen, Please excuse if I have answered this already. If it is not you, someone else has been searching this family for quite a while because I recognize IT now from many postings. My latest web searches suggest that it was not Barbara Smith and Benj Knowlton who married in Marshall, IL, but one of their daughters. There is a Clarke county history on line that states this. Or do you have a marriage record? Have you looked for Barbara's divorce record in IL? Have you found ANY of the family before 1880? I notice that Barbara's mother lived a long time and has another name than Smith--looks like Sopha Echols on the 1900. Have you traced her also? Might give you some clues. On the 1880 the daughters are Susan, Jessie, and Florence. Hattie has already married? Divorce was so serious then that Benjamin must have been a real cad--maybe lied about his background or even his name. I assume you have collected 1930, 1920, 1910, etc censuses on mother and the girls plus all marriage and death records, church records, city directories, obituaries, etc. Something in Marshall will lead you back to 1870.