I can think of 2 possibilities for the discrepancy in your Mary A./Mary S. First, handwriting is difficult to decipher and the documents we have to work with do not always convey the subtleties that we need to determine one letter from another especially when we have only one letter to work with. Second, the Cranfords, Lillys, Ballards etc. seem to enjoy giving their children multiple names so that we have H.A.C. Ballard as an example. Then they use the middle name (H. Ann C.) as the name they use. Your Mary could be Mary A.S. Cranford or Mary S.A. Cranford or someone had trouble reading the "A" or "S" in the records. Another researcher and I just finished debating whether a child was a James L.D. or James L. G. Ballard. A Bible record finally confirmed that he was James Lawerence Ganalia Ballard and that he was the same person (he has same parents) despite the continuing problem of his exact birthdate. So you might want to be open to that possibility, especially if the ages for the two Marys come out about the same age. Cynthia McDaniel In a message dated 9/4/2001 12:11:06 PM Eastern Daylight Time, pastseeker@nc.rr.com writes: << So I have another Nancy in my database, the daughter of Elias CRANFORD and Lucy EARNHEARDT who did have a sister named Mary, but in the database it states that that Mary's middle name began with a S, the above 1880 census that I speak of shows a Mary A. Census of which I am speaking is: Spencer MOORE age 53, a farmer Mary A., his wife aged 40 Wm. S. age 13, his son CRANFORD, Nancy A., sister-in-law, aged 24. Can anyone help me too? >>