With Eleanor's recent posting of the "disappearing" family, I wanted to tell my tale of disappearing relatives & how some of them finally showed up. I was trying hard to trace my gr-gr-grandmother Catherine Johnson & her daughter Maggie. Catherine had married a Wash Johnson in 1863, & I had papers which recorded Maggie's birthdate in 1864. Strangely, the only family member I can find on the 1870 census is Catherine-- living next door to her mother & working as a seamstress. When I checked the 1880 census, I was stumped---where were they? I knew Maggie had lived until 1920. When researching another line, I came across my answer--- well, part of it. In 1871, Catherine Johnson, listed as a widow, had married a David Kirtley. I looked up the 1880 census for Kirtley & found that Catherine had died in 1879 & was therefore on the 1880 Mortality census, and found that Maggie (& a younger brother named William) were listed as Kirtley children. A school census later confirmed that information, and I was able to get funeral home records that gave additional information. A few things remain unresolved. I've never found a death record for Wash Johnson (aka George Washington Johnson) that I could be sure was the correct one. And I've never found Maggie and William on the 1870 census. I suspect they were staying with aunts or uncles, but I've never been able to find the correct combination of names & ages. And finally, I have no idea which William Johnson (of the seemingly four per square mile) was my gr-gr-uncle, & what happened to him. I guess the moral of the tale is 1. Never give up & 2. Work every collateral line in the hopes of turning up clues & 3. Check records that might be off the beaten path. Good luck in all your searches! Pat

Hi Patricia - thanks for your response! You could say I am guilty of all 3 of your suggestions below, - which is why I was trying another angle, as it were. The son-in-law who also seems to disappear, was named William Hales, the spellings for which are multiple. Since they all lived along Laurel Creek, my next challenge is the Hale/s line, into Laurel Co. as well. Was just trying to see if there was anything "historical" that occurred, besides migration farther west, in Knox Co. about the time of the formation of Laurel Co. I appreciate the responses so far - thanks for taking the time. Eleanor -----Original Message----- From: Patricia Hobson [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, April 04, 2006 12:05 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [KYKNOX] Tales of a name change With Eleanor's recent posting of the "disappearing" family, I wanted to tell my tale of disappearing relatives & how some of them finally showed up. I was trying hard to trace my gr-gr-grandmother Catherine Johnson & her daughter Maggie. Catherine had married a Wash Johnson in 1863, & I had papers which recorded Maggie's birthdate in 1864. Strangely, the only family member I can find on the 1870 census is Catherine-- living next door to her mother & working as a seamstress. When I checked the 1880 census, I was stumped---where were they? I knew Maggie had lived until 1920. When researching another line, I came across my answer--- well, part of it. In 1871, Catherine Johnson, listed as a widow, had married a David Kirtley. I looked up the 1880 census for Kirtley & found that Catherine had died in 1879 & was therefore on the 1880 Mortality census, and found that Maggie (& a younger brother named William) were listed as Kirtley children. A school census later confirmed that information, and I was able to get funeral home records that gave additional information. A few things remain unresolved. I've never found a death record for Wash Johnson (aka George Washington Johnson) that I could be sure was the correct one. And I've never found Maggie and William on the 1870 census. I suspect they were staying with aunts or uncles, but I've never been able to find the correct combination of names & ages. And finally, I have no idea which William Johnson (of the seemingly four per square mile) was my gr-gr-uncle, & what happened to him. I guess the moral of the tale is 1. Never give up & 2. Work every collateral line in the hopes of turning up clues & 3. Check records that might be off the beaten path. Good luck in all your searches! Pat ==== KYKNOX Mailing List ==== To unsubscribe from this list, send ONLY the word UNSUBSCRIBE to the utility address [email protected] If you are trying to unsubscribe from the Digest list, use the same utility address but change the -L- to a -D- ============================== Census images 1901, 1891, 1881 and 1871, plus so much more. Ancestry.com's United Kingdom & Ireland Collection. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13968/rd.ashx