Sorry but you cannot assume that The spelling of a name in a census is a typo, since they were hand written. You can assume that the census taker spelled the name they way he presumed it to be, which was often the case, you take what you get and hope for the best. You can never presume that the way you spell a name is the way your ancestor spelled it, Sometimes it depended upon the ability of that ancestor to even write. A surprising number of our ancestors signed everything with an X. If you find the will of your James you will know if he could write, since he will have signed it. You might follow his land to see where he got it, he may well have inherited from his parents or an uncle and this will give you a lead. Or after his father died he may have sold what he inherited taken the money and moved to another county, Since Grassy Creek is in Ashe county I am not sure why you are looking in Lincoln. Mitchell is in the north west part of NC and a bit removed from Lincoln it was not created until 1861 so I am surprised you were able to find him there in 1860 since there was no Mitchell then. What census were you looking at when you found the family in 1860? There could be some wills you could look at, a will index usually has a list of those who were named in the will, so an examination of Lincoln Co. will indexes could lead you in the right direction. He might even be mentioned in the will of his wife's parents You might also try to determine what religion he was and look for church records of baptisms, if you have a birth place Census records are only a beginning, there are many more records for you to examine. Of course you may already know all of this in any case good luck. Agnes C. On 4/3/05 11:00 AM, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote: > From: Cindy <[email protected]> > Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2005 11:34:19 -0400 > To: <[email protected]> > Subject: 1830 census > > Hi, > > In the 1860 census I found James in Mitchell Co. age 41 with his wife Nancy > and several children and his name was > spelled Jonson- I am assuming this is a typo. Of course, from this census I > can not determine who his father was. > > Thanks for any help you can be. > > Cindy