Dear Researchers who are Studying Greenup County, Kentucky, For purposes of taking the 1850 U.S. Census of Greenup County, Kentucky, the county was divided into two Districts: First District and Second District. Which part of Greenup County was the First District, and which part was the Second District? Where was the dividing line? Knowing the boundaries of the two Districts would help in locating people in 1850, since one could narrow the search to the area of the District, not the entire county. George W. Darlinton was the enumerator [census-taker] for the First District, in which my third-great grandfather William Cooper lived, in 1850. How long the enumerator had been a resident of the area he enumerated, what his nationality was, how much education he had, how careful a writer and how careful a THINKER he was, all these factors had a bearing on the final result of the census efforts. Oh, how much depended on the man who took down the information! My solution to my genealogical puzzle was, and now is, in the hands [and pen] of George W. Darlinton. To give an example, on page 226, Dwellinghouse 121, of the 1850 Census of Greenup County, my third-great grandfather William Cooper was enumerated directly underneath the name of a daughter of John Crossett, whose name was Sarah. George W. Darlinton, the Enumerator for the Census, wrote in full the state of "Massachusetts" as the native state of Sarah Crossett, daughter of John Crossett. Darlinton then put a ditto mark ["] on the line underneath Sarah Crossett's "Massachusetts", signifying that the NEXT individual was ALSO born in Massachusetts. That next person was my ancestor William Cooper. So, taking this census page at face value, and without questioning it, both Sarah Crossett and William Cooper were born in Massachusetts. But when Sarah Crossett was enumerated in the 1870 Census of Greenup County, Kentucky, living in the home of her widowed mother Mary Crossett, Sarah Crossett was reported to have been born in Pennsylvania, not Massachusetts. Therefore, a researcher has a conflict. Where was Sarah Crossett born, Massachusetts or Pennsylvania? After more investigation on Sarah Crossett, I came to the tentative conclusion that Pennsylvania was her native state. So, what about George W. Darlinton's entry of "Massachusetts" in the 1850 Census? My opinion is that the word "Massachusetts" was put on the line above by mistake. Instead of writing "Massachusetts" on William Cooper's line, it was put on the line above, for Sarah Crossett. George W. Darlinton, it appears, was less than careful. But I might be wrong in this train of thought! If Sarah Crossett WERE born in Massachusetts, that fact would be an important lead for my research, because it would reveal that John Crossett was living in Massachusetts in 1847, when his daughter Sarah was born. Since William Cooper was supposedly born in Massachusetts, the Crossetts and Coopers might have known one another in the Bay State. After all, by 1850, they were next-door neighbors in Greenup County, Kentucky, and people often did resettle together. Please respond to one or more of the subjects included in this rather lengthy submission. Thank you for your interest! Randal W. Cooper <rwcooper@kellnet.com> Lorain, Ohio