Dear Maine Census Listers, If someone could check birth registers for Hallowell, then perhaps my brick wall will come tumbling down. If I can try your patience and good offices one more time, I have a new theory about my great-grandfather and brickwall par excellence, John Albert Richards (25 Oct 1864 or 65, Maine-30 May 1934, Fresno). It's only a theory. It starts from the fact that a 16- year-old John Richards turns up in Fresno in the 1880 census claiming his birthplace as New Hampshire. None of the myriad number of John Richards in Maine or California fit here. This one piece of information, a 16-year-old John Richards from New Hampshire fits the age but not the birthplace of my John Albert Richards, unless... So here's the theory: Many John Richards in Maine have the strange historical habit of naming their son John Richards. So I said to myself, maybe there is some John Richards who got married in Maine in time to produce a son named John Richards in 1864 or 1865. So I checked the IGI. It turns out that one John Albion Richards did marry one Mary E. Allard on 7 December 1863 in Hallowell, Kennebec Co., Maine. The IGI has nothing about children from the marriage. There is some question about when John Albert Richards was born. His death certificate first gives 1864, but it was corrected by hand to 1865. A birth in October 1864, however, would seem to fit better the wedding date of John Albion Richards and Mary E. Allard. This is only a supposition, of course. Now, because of border disputes, Hallowell is sometimes in New Hampshire and sometimes in Maine. If it is listed in Maine, it is in Kennebec County, if it is listed in New Hampshire, it is Grafton County. The IGI often has double listings for both. The shifting Maine-New Hampshire border might explain why John Richards in Fresno in 1880 claimed that his birthplace (and that of his parents) was New Hampshire. I think there might be another reason why John Albion Richards is the father of John Albert Richards. "Albert" as a name looks like a variant of sorts on "Albion." (Another John Albion Richards turns up a little earlier in Kennebec Co. as well.) So: this theory explains: -contradictory data regarding a Maine/New Hampshire birthplace -the parallel between John Albion and John Albert We only need to check the facts... and here I need the help from some kind souls out there. I will predict that Mary E. Richards, nee Allard, died young, prompting the young John Albert to stowaway on the next clipper ship going out on the Kennebec River. Landing in a bunkhouse in Fresno... I'd be grateful for any help on this problem from some kind souls out there. Sincerely yours, Jeff Richards Muenster, Germany