This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: davidphillipsaz Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.michigan.counties.muskegon/3373.1.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Thank you - Yes, I have see the 1880 census record. I am trying to find out what became of Elizabeth. Vaness remarries in 1893 (I think) to an Alice Knowlton. I can find no record of a marriage between Vaness and Elizabeth even though the are listed as married on the 1880 census. This Elizabeth would be my great great grandmother. Unfortunately, I cannot find much about her. Walter's birth record (Sep 1879) shows the parents "Veness Phillips" and "Libby Phillips" - They did not use the mother's maiden name, unfortunately. Elizabeth just disappears between the 1880 and 1900 census. Walter shows up in South Dakota and Vaness shows up in Flint, MI living with Alice. I have no idea what became of Elizabeth. Maybe she died? Divorced? Maybe they were never really married? No idea. I was hoping that seeing the 1884 census might narrow down the time frame. Especially if Vaness, Walter, Libby are still in the same household in 1884 or whether Vaness shows up as widowed or divorced to give me some kind of a clue. This is a tough one. There things that I do know about her from the 1880 census like her POB and parents POB and YOB. However, the ancestry search engine is pretty useless unless you have a last name to work with. I wish that I could query on the 1870 federal cesnsus for a list of all Elizabeths living in Muskegon who were born in New York and both parents born in New York in order to try to generate some leads. If I could get a few candidates and trace the father from New York to Michigan then I might be able to figure it out circumstantially. However, Ancestry doesn't do this which is a little disappointing. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.