Linda, If Charlotte's pension application states an unknown step-son, that would make sense. If Richard was married previously, my thought would be that in 1850 the mother's family was taking care of him or someone else in Richard's family, (brother perhaps) and when Richard moved to Iowa, he then took the child with him. I don't find any listing for a Montreville CUMMINGS in the 1850 index, but there is an M.CUMMINGS, b. 1846 living in Carroll Co. with a J.P. (M 29), P. (F 23), and A. (F 5) CUMMINGS. I wonder if this J.P. was a brother of Richard's? Too bad the 1850 census didn't give relationships. You might try searching old marriage indexes for Morgan Co, (if any are available) for a previous marriage for Richard. Another thought......how many people would name their child Montreville (off the top of their head) UNLESS it was a family name? Maybe a father, brother or grandfather of Richard's first wife?? Or uncle or grandfather of Richard? I even thought that perhaps the mother's maiden name was MONTREVILLE/MONTERVILLE and that's how the child was named, so I searched the 1850 index using that as a first name or surname. Nothing showed up in the surname area in OH but there were 5 results for Montrevill/e as a first name with surnames of GROVER (Delaware Co), LUCAS (Morgan Co.), WEST (Crawford Co), WILCOX and YOUNG (both in Ashtabula Co) . Montreville LUCAS in Morgan Co., was b. 1823 VA.-- maybe a brother to Richard's first wife (if there was a first wife)? Just a little food for thought. :-) Marilyn ---------------------------original message-------------------- In a message dated 10/31/2007 11:55:43 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, lramz@theriver.com writes: Hi Marilyn, Thank you so much for your response to my query. It is entirely possible that Montreville was Richard's child by a previous marriage, as Charlotte's pension application lists an un-named 'stepson'. However, Richard is found on the 1850 census living with his parents in Morgan Co., OH., but Montreville is not there, and he was born in 1846. Perhaps he was living with someone else? But who? I know that it was common for young children to be raised by another family member when a wife died, particularly in childbirth. Maybe his first wife's family? Linda ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com