Kathy and all, It wasn't so much that the information wasn't available, it was many-fold: 1) misspelled names 2) unknown surname of my great-grandmother 3) where the people lived 4) multiple transcription errors 5) marriage of first cousins and more Actually, first cousins marrying was a blessing, even though confusing at first, because it helped to establish a main family line which proved our ancestors came to Massachusetts not long after the first Pilgrims arrived, and proved my ancestors were English. Even though I had my grandfather's birth certificate, his mother's surname was illegible.  I had been going through all possibilities looking for the family.  On the night my uncle died, grandson of my g-grandparents, I found the family on the 1880 census, where miraculously, the enumerated had written the birth dates of everyone!  Not only that, since my grandparents were first cousins, the family members were close to each other.  It was then easy to trace them.  Also on the same night, I found my grandfather's WWI draft registration (his name was totally butchered by the transcriber but clear on the form).  Finding the census info and the WWI card, I had a good sense of where the family was living.  Finding my grandparents marriage certificate the next day, placed my great-grandmother in Texas and still alive long after family tradition said she died. Which brings me to family lore and living people.  The worst thing I ever did was believe my grandmother's story that my grandfather's mother died when he was a little boy and he had been placed in an orphanage.  It turned out g-granny had lived until 1945, more than 30 years after her supposed death and 11 years after the death of her son, my grandfather! I found g-granny in another location in Texas using her name, place of birth, and year of birth - and, viola!, she popped up.  Knowing her birth date was an enormous help in finding her. So, I've learned to take family lore with a grain of salt.  Even when working on other people's lines, I make note of the lore, but don't count it as fact until I can prove it. Alexa Genealogy research since 1974 --- On Thu, 6/21/12, Kathy Cochran wrote: I'm curious about what you found AFTER he died, that wasn't available BEFORE he died. Also, some of my brick walls are living people. Cheers,  Kathy