What I've discovered is that an ancestor who dies young is very hard to trace. First, he/she doesn't leave much of a paper trail. Also, he/she leaves so few children that there aren't hordes of descendants scattered around searching--thus, no one with whom to share data. In addition, when the young parent dies, the widowed spouse and what few children there are seem to migrate, so here I am in Texas trying to find my g-g-g-grandmother from Kentucky, and there's so little to go on because she apparently died around age 30. Who leaves a will at age 30? Her last name was JONES. She married one Thomas J. PIERCE, and they had four children before she died: James M. PIERCE, Eliza J. PIERCE, Malinda C. PIERCE and Rachel PIERCE. Why do I think she died? Because Thomas J. PIERCE left Kentucky about 1856--the year daughter Rachel was born. Perhaps ?? JONES died in childbirth. IF ONLY I KNEW WHICH COUNTY IN KENTUCKY! I've latched onto one Thomas Jefferson Pierce of Clinton County, KY--he looks so promising! Here he is on the Clinton County census in 1850: Jefferson PIERCE 22, Martha 18, James 2 {Martha JONES maybe?} (My g-g-grandfather was James M. PIERCE born 1848, father Thomas J. PIERCE, mother ?? JONES--all born KY). This Jefferson PIERCE is on the Clinton County tax list from 1846 to 1856 every single year....then he simply disappears. He is variously listed as JEFFERSON Pierce, T. J. PIERCE, Thomas J. PIERCE. Among the PIERCE individuals who seem to be his neighbors are Francis, Ambrose, Lewis and James PIERCE. (James could be his papa--T. J. did name a son James.) This James Pierce kept selling land at a place called Swan Pond Bottom, and he is sometimes listed as James Pierce wife Elizabeth (Eliza?). He seems to be related to an Ephraim James Pierce who was also selling land at Swan Pond Bottom 1822 in what was then Cumberland County (Clinton formed 1836?) My Thomas J. PIERCE and his four children left Kentucky in 1856; by 1860 they were in Bourbon County, Kansas; by 1868 they were in St. Clair County, Missouri; by 1870 they were in Barry County, Missouri. Who was this JONES woman? I know she was born in Kentucky. In Clinton Co. 1850 I found: George Jones, James M. Jones, Wesley Jones. Back to the Jefferson PIERCE I found in Clinton County 1850. Assuming this guy turns out to be mine, I can't figure out why (if he is mine) he didn't name a child Martha after the mom. Mine stuck with: James M., Eliza J., Malinda C., Rachel. Come to think of it, mine didn't name a son Thomas or Jefferson, either. Besides James, he later remarried and named a son John. If he stuck strictly with the naming traditions of the time, his wife's mother's name is probably Malinda. Malinda JONES? If some of these PIERCE or JONES names ring a bell, I'd really like to hear from you. I'm almost certain my g-g-g-grandmother was Martha JONES who married Thomas Jefferson PIERCE in Clinton County, KY. Sincerely, Gene Johnson