Hello Stark County, I've just joined this list to seek your help and advice please. My great grandfather Rees POWELL, b.1831, and his first wife Margaret née JONES, left for New York shortly after their marriage in Pyle, Glamorgan, South Wales, in August 1860. By mid-1864 we know that they had returned to Glamorgan, because Margaret died there and four years later Rees remarried. The family bible indicates that Rees and Margaret produced two children together: Thomas 14 October 1861 Mary 9 March 1863 I have located Thomas in subsequent UK censuses, where his place of birth is given variously as "New York" and U.S.A" but I have found no trace whatsoever of Mary. My hypothesis is that Mary was also born in the USA, that she died there, and that Margaret developed a serious illness prompting the family's return to Wales. The only clue to where the family were in the USA was provided by the census birthplace for Thomas and I have spent a good deal of time over the last two years trying to find traces of the family in New York State. Rees and Margaret were both from farming families and I had thought it likely that relatives may have emigrated and may be found farming somewhere in New York State - but so far no success. Then, this week there was a minor breakthrough. The project to digitise and index the local newspaper in the area where the couple had lived in South Wales was completed and the index made available for on-line searches. One of the many fascinating things to come out of my first session on this index was the following birth announcement: "On 14 October to the wife of Rees Powell, in Elton, Ohio, USA, late of Pyle, a son" Not New York at all, then - but Ohio!! I have spent the last hour or two trying to find Elton and there appears to be no sign of the township today but I have identified an old township by this name in Stark County ... so that's why I am here. And I have a lot of questions - some of which will probably sound pretty dumb to you, but unlike my ancestors, I have never been to Ohio, so please forgive me: 1. Do you think there is any other place that may have been referred to by the Welsh in 1861 as "Elton, Ohio" or do you think I have now found the place where they lived? 2. Are there any records available for the 1860's for the township of Elton? How would I obtain records of the two births? 3. If my guess is right and they were visiting family - are there any traces of farmers (or others) by the name of POWELL - with Welsh origins - in Elton? Indeed, was there an exiled Welsh community? 4. If Mary was also born there and died there, how could I go about checking for death and burial records? 5. How would Rees and Margaret have travelled to Stark County from New York? - my Rand McNally atlas doesn't show railways - was there a railroad covering part of the distance in the 1860's? 6. By 1880, two cousins of Rees Powell had emigrated to the USA and the census shows them in Derry, Westmorland Count, Pennsylvania. I see that's not so far away from Stark County Ohio - are there any logical connections between Derry and Elton? Would they have travelled through Derry to reach Stark County? ... I think that's enough for one posting! Thanks for hearing me out and many thanks in advance for any help or suggestions you are able to offer. I have a great deal of material on South Wales history, census records, parish registers, MI's etc., so if any of you have interests there please feel free to ask for look-ups - I should like to reciprocate. Best regards, Ron Davies.