Hello, AIS Census Indexes can be compiled from the following sources, not just the Federal Census: "Record Type: A brief description of the type of record being indexed. In most cases the record type is a federal census population schedule. Other records, particularly for the "early census" series, were also used. These include voter lists, probate records, resident's lists, tax lists, state censuses, and non-population schedules (i.e. veterans schedules, slave schedules)." from Ancestry.com Denise original------------ Betty, Can you find any further information about the lost 1870 census records? The AIS Census Indexes list heads of household/variant surnames for all the townships in Randolph County, but the corresponding census page images only cover pp416-512. Now, somebody had to have the original records in order to compile the AIS Census Indexes. So, apparently those townships were enumerated, but something happened to the original census books after the information was recorded. There's a bit of info about the AIS Census Indexes at the url below, but nothing mentioned of destroyed/excluded districts: http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/census/ais/faq.htm Help us, Betty! PLEASE! N ===== Smith Surname Family Group Sheets Gedcom at Rootsweb- These families are not related by blood, but through the love of genealogy and the surname SMITH. http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=smith_brick_wall __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Web Hosting - Let the expert host your site http://webhosting.yahoo.com