i'll bang my head right on with ya Lanita! It is so frustrating. I have gone through and found tons of family members in Spring Hollow Twp, Laclede Co. but I can't find THEM there. My only wonder is if it is true that Hiram was Native American... then would he have not been included in the census? It's so hard to figure out.. some of my family's i've been about to give up on and just voila! find a major break and get info I need to keep going.. then there are others (this Robertson line and my Betz line and Wonsyld line) that I can not find ANYTHING on! I think theymust have just made up their names somewhere along the line and went with it! Or the space ship theory always works too... Rachell Lanita Sconce Miller wrote: >Checked Oregon Co. for 1880.. they aren't there... > >Maybe they went up in a space ship with a couple of mine!! I KNOW your >frustration!!! Can't find a couple of mine ANYWHERE!! > ><BANG> <BANG> <BANG> <BANG> [don't worry, that's just the sound of my >head banging up against the wall!!] > >Lanita > > >

At 08:56 14/11/2002 -0800, Chad & Rachell Lindley wrote: >My only wonder is if it is true that Hiram was Native American... then >would he have not been included in the census? Hello Everyone, We have already spoken numerous times about faulty spelling by earlier census workers. Of greater worry, I think, is that the census has never been rigorously inclusive. My mother tells me that at the last census, even though someone had won a contract to deliver the forms, she knows for a fact that they didn't bother to cover some of the rural communities. She went to to the Court House in Eminence and got a form and posted it in herself because she hadn't been delivered one in the Munsell Community (Shannon County). The number of households that miss being counted is probably statistically insignificant, but it sure causes problems for those of us who would like to use the information and expect it to be 'perfect'! The census in Australia is taken very seriously, and legislation requires every person to comply. I don't know about the rural areas, but certainly in the cities the forms are hand-delivered by an army of contract workers to every household, and an appointment is made to return to collect the form a few days later. And the census is taken every 5 years. But even so, one year I got a form, but the contractor never returned to collect it. My point is: you must not expect that census data is 100% reliable. All the best, Ron