This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Cole Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.newyork.counties.jefferson/12427.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: You are searching in a tough time period. The US census did not list children's names until 1850. You may want to try subsequent censuses. Sometimes you will find elderly parents (and in-laws) living with adult children. You always want to work backward from what you know but you are somehow working forward into the unknown. I'm not sure how you managed to go back so far but not know the descendants. The oldest records that are also easy to search are land records, wills and probate. If your people owned land and left any kind of estate at death (assuming they died in Jefferson county) you may find records at the county courthouse in Watertown. I wouldn't rule out the possibility of finding some old baptism records but based on my work with church records in neighboring St. Lawrence county (less than a dozen churches so far) it is unusual to find many records from prior to 1850 or so. Hope this helps - Russ Sprague Kensington, Maryland