My most exasperating dead end is a Sophia Tompkins (one census record gave her name as Eunice - either an error or she was Sophia Eunice Tompkins). Anyway, she married Jacob Hornbeck and they went to live on the Denning/Neversink border in Sullivan County for many years. Jacob was born about 1816 and served and died in the Civil War. Sophia applied for a widow's pension and claimed she was married at Chapman's Hotel in Prattsville on August 3, 1844 in a ceremony officiated by Rev. Orlif g. Hedstrom. I've seen no proof of this and I don't think Sophia had proof either since she had to get friends to certift that fact. All census records state she was born in Greene County, and although the different census records give different years she was born (sigh!), the best consensus in a birth year of about 1826-1828 - making her a pretty young bride. My problem is I have never been able to connect Sophia with any Tompkins family. I searched the southern Greene census records to try to spot a family with a female of the right age in 1830 or 1840 census, and did get two possibilities. My best hope is that someone has records of the Rev. Hedstrom (perhaps a traveling minister). A Tompkins researcher alerted me to a Sophia Tompkins born in 1818 in Mt. Pleasant, NY (The researcher thought this was a small crossroads in northern Ulster County, but more likely it is in Westchester County since most of teh Tompkins on this person's list were from there.) Ot would make her closer in age to her husband and a bit older when she married, but unless she consistently lied to census takers or to friends who then gave the data to census takers, I can't account for this difference in years. (However - if some Tompkins researcher could account for the Sophia born in 1818, it might be useful too). I have noticed a number of Tompkins postings in this roll call period. Anyone with a Sophia (or Eunice) or even a missing unnamed daughter from around 1825-1828? Green, Ulster and Sullivan Counties seem to be a black hole of my family. They seem to just show up and then live a while without ever leaving clues of where they came from.