I've been tinkering with genealogy as a hobby for 30 some years, and the subject constantly reminds me I have LOTS to learn. Recently, I was trying to determine whether or not Moses LEWIS was really the person who in 1790 built the house in which I was born on the road between Fort Edward and South Glens Falls. A kind friend found a Moses Lewis in the 1790 census, and TWO entries in 1800, followed by one in 1810, and 1820. There are children and so on in later years, whom I know. So, I thought this will be rather straight forward to sort out--just get the original census records and record the names of 3-4 people who lived on each side of him for each Census. Then compare neighbors and try to sort out the two Moses. For example did Moses-1 come in 1790 and leave by 1810, while Moses-2 came before 1800 and remained until after 1820? Or did Moses-1 come in 1790 and stay till he died after 1820, with Moses-2 only living there for the 1800 census? Found the 1790 census in the local genealogical library. It is all neatly typeset. Indeed I did find several known neighbors listed. But I was wondering why one I knew, who lived 3 houses away on the same road, was listed 15 entries away? And why typeset? So, I found it interesting to read the 1790 census introductory pages. It was typeset from the originals in about 1904. the government did not give out forms. Each Assistant Marshall provided their own paper, in loose leaf form. These were bound later. Each Marshall's paper was a different size, hand ruled, etc. The originals are in the Archives in DC. The other interesting thing was that there were 540,000 people listed in the entire original 1790 US census, but only 400,000 names survive in the typeset version!! It did not say how the losses were distributed across states and counties. Some was war of 1812 damage. That may explain the statement in Sylvester's write-up of the Town of Moreau, in which he says: "Churchill, Porter and Hamlin came here in 1790 and Moses Lewis soon after--John Thompson lives in his house today." Maybe their records were lost?? Maybe the binder did not correctly "order" pages? My moral of this story: read the introductory pages to microfilms!!!!! We will see what the later Census records hold when we go to Phoenix this weekend. j John F. O'Hanlon O'Hanlon Consulting (There is "Nothing" to Vacuum) 1720 East Placita Padre Isidoro Tucson, AZ 85718-4027; Fax: 520-529-8225 [email protected]