Hello, Was your mother who was born in 1887 the first-born? If she were NOT and you think her parents were a family in 1880, you might check with your local LDS family history center and see if they have the 1880 census on CD-ROM which they will let you view. It is quite searchable. First there is an index you have to search, then you find the appropriate disk in whatever region of the US (North Carolina, I presume) they were living. Nearly all LDS family history centers of any size probably have for sale the 1880 census on a number of CD-ROMs (I haven't counted the CDs). If you want to buy it, you can also order it online at www.familysearch.org Look on the left side. It costs $49 plus shipping and handling. It took or five six years to assemble and compile this census on CD-ROM. I understand Utah prisoners volunteered to transcribe the census. Otherwise, you may have to go to the branch of the National Archives near Fort Worth to read the actual census. But the CD-ROM is vastly superior, as the index (called Soundex) for 1880 is only for those families who have a child age 10 or younger--which leaves out a great many persons!! Happy hunting! E.W.Wallace