My friends - We will close out the week with another in the Skills Puzzler series. Over the course of these little brain teasers, we have covered all sorts of different scenarios which involved situations in which the more enlightened use of some of the ordinary types of documentation, as well as the use of some less-than-ordinary records groups, have been the key to breaking through a difficult problem. But what do we do when someone just simply disappears from the records(or, at least, they seem to do so, as we cannot find a trace of them), yet we know that the individual did not die, as he/she suddenly appears again, often many years later, sometimes in the same locality, and sometimes far away from his/her original home. Then, the question becomes, "Where was this person over those missing years, and what was he/she doing?" Today's Puzzler is based upon some help which I gave to a woman some years ago who was trying to get into an hereditary society. I've changed the surnames, but the facts are exactly as presented to me. The scenario was this: in the 1850 census of the City of Boston, Massachusetts, there was one Francis A[lexander] English, age 34, with his wife, Belinda (whose maiden name was Aldridge), and children Miranda, age 10, Eliza, age 6 and John J., age 4. Birthplaces are not relevant to our study here. Between 1850 and 1860, this family relocated to the Jackson Purchase region, and, in the 1860 census, the family is, in fact, shown in a JP county, with everyone ten years older, and the addition of two more children, Robert B., age 4, and Silas, age 2. However, John J. is missing. There is nothing in any record, throughout the 1860's, that mentions John J. English, although John's father, Francis, died in 1867, and a guardian was appointed for the other children. John is not mentioned. In the 1870 census, we find Belinda as head of her own household, and we also find, in that household, John J. English, age 24, shown as a "Farmer". The other older female children have married and live nearby. The problem facing us is finding what happened to John J. English between 1850 and 1870, and where do we go to try to track it down. The 1860 census of both Boston and of the JP county to which this family had moved was thoroughly researched, and the young man was not shown in either. Other research was also done in the Boston area to determine if perhaps a guardian was named, for some reason, for John J. Nothing was found to support that hypothesis. The same was down in the JP - again, nothing was found. There was a "family story" that John was an unruly child, but nothing to indicate that a guardian was needed. If you would like to express your thoughts on this Puzzler, you can send them to the List or to me directly. I'll be back before the weekend is over with the solution. As is customary, there will be no data posts per se over the weekend, but i hope to drop by with a file or two if time permits. -B ============================================================