Barbra, Thanks for the info, I'm not a pro at this, only been researching my ancestors for five years and still learning. I appreciate all the help I can get. I ran into a Mitchell that had been listed on the census in February and again in August in a different places in the same year. I reported it in the commit section of the ancestry census index. One of my ancestors immigrated to Illinois from Germany in 1878 then to Michigan. In her younger years she reported on the census she was born in Germany and couldn't read or write, later years she reported she was born in Illinois and could read and write. I knew her as a boy in the 40s, she knew she was born in Germany and I knew she couldn't read and only could write her name. She told me, "Germans didn't believe it was necessary for females to attend school, they needed to learn household duties". Of course, at that time I wasn't aware what was reported on the census, so I can only guess about her rationale. I'm hoping by E-mailing census information that aligns with my ancestors on the Mitchell List, that someone may be out there that has researched the family, which could help me validate my ancestor. Regards, Richard ___________________________________ In a message dated 2/7/03 12:28:42 PM Eastern Standard Time, Jcbarbra@cs.com writes: << In addition to LiveDove's explanation, some of the census takers themselves were semiliterate. A number of years ago I read in a census index, (think it was OH, but can't remember the year), a disclaimer to the effect that the census taker was drunk when he took the census, so proceed at your own risk. In one of the censuses, my great-grandfather is listed in two different counties. They are adjacent, so I don't know if one of the census takers just strayed over the county line, or if the family moved between one survey and the other. Also, my grandfather's name which was Joab, was listed as Job. Censuses are very helpful, but are NOT infallible. Use them as an information source for further research. Barbra >>