In a message dated 6/7/2004 2:02:41 PM Eastern Standard Time, NYGENESE-D-request@rootsweb.com writes: According to my gr.grandfather's civil war record Robert was born in Bethany, Genesee Co. in 1842. I have not been able to get a birth certificate to confirm the day he was born, but I now do have his death record which states the name of his father, Ezekiel, born in N.Y., and his mother, Maria Rapp born in PA. I would hope someone would be able to find where in N.Y. Ezekiel was born and hopefully the birth date of Robert. Of course I would appreciate any information on Maria Rapp but I have a feeling I am hoping for too much. ******* Found the following on Ancestry.com. Check with your local library to see if they have access to Ancestry.PLUS at their library. There might be other information for this man. 1810 Ezekiel Ellis Chester, Washington NY p 402 reel 30 1830 Ezekiel D Ellis Bethany, Genesee NY p 360 reel 90 Ezekiel Ellis Chester, NY p 35 reel 111 1840 Ezekiel Ellis Chester, Warren NY p 349 reel 349 Ezekiel Ellis Chester, Warren NY p 332 reel 349 With this information you might want to check the written local history for these locations and this ELLIS family might be written about. Susanne