This phunnie just came home to roost! This story is too long for my typing, but a phunny thing happened while looking for something entirely different (bet that sounds familiar to you). Ran across a Nicholas school census labeled 1896 (read 1894 as best date for student age) that I had misfiled. It lists a Ms Doyle as guardian for the following: Debbie CAMERON f 17 Earnest L. m 12 Claud W. m 9 Bruce C. m 11 Lorenzo D. m 7 This combo of names along with the death of Wm. Stanley Cameron before 1895 left me with a 99.44% certainty as to whose kids were involved. Comparing the census above with one from 1895 (read 1893 " "), brought on an epiphany. This one reads: Mrs. Cameron...... Ernest 12 Bruce 11 Claud 8 Renna 6 The Debbie remains a mystery, but Renna/Rennie became the proverbial lightbulb. What I had concluded as child named Rennie? or as Claud Rennie, is none other than a mother's familiar name for LORENZO. If Debbie belongs to Wm. S., her mother would have to be Charlotte Moreland; the others belonging to Mary Moore. The above also explains the 1/2 brother Dow noted in obit of Samuel Thomas Cameron. Oh well, little thing mean a lot( for about 5 minutes). At 02:47 PM 2/22/00 -0700, you wrote: > >> > > Thought I would share a little humor with other frustrated searchers. >> > > My grandmother (born a Burgess), now age 91, has been very helpful and >> > >> > > patient with all my family history questions. However, doing census >> > > searches in between asking her questions sheds some light on why we >> > have >> > > trouble finding those elusive ancestors: >> > ===================