Carol Swinehart wrote: >Don't miss your ancestor because you haven't considered all the possible >spellings of their last name and or first name. Carol: You are entirely correct. Variations in spelling often occur, and researchers should also be aware of downright misspellings. When I was trying to locate my great grandfather George Wilkinson in the 1880 census I found that he was not shown, although I knew he was living in Lancaster in 1880. After a brief panic I decided to look at all similar spellings. I found a "Wilkins" listed as residing in Lancaster and decided check him out. It was him...... the microfilm confirmed this by the names of his wife and children, which I already knew. His handwritten surname was hard to read, and was very likely misspelled when transcribed. I would think that this type of situation is very common. Bud Wilkinson