You need to work from the known to the unknown... from the present to the past. Get the death certificate for 1901. Get the obituary for 1901. Get the 1900 census for her (a bit trickier as she is probably living with one of the children.) Get the 1900 census for each of her children. Get the 1880 census for each of the children and Elizabeth. Get the 1870 census for each of the children and Elizabeth Get the 1860 census for any children out of the house and Elizabeth Get the 1850 census for Elizabeth Who is living around them in the 1840 census? When did Samuel die? Get his death record, obit, estate records. Check deed records at the courthouse for Samuel and Elizabeth's names. (She could have inherited land directly from her father and disposed of it immediately.) Do you know if they were affiliated with a church and got married there? In going through all the above data, you will pick up other clues that will further your research. The idea is to examine *all* available records so that you will know the complete story and be able to go back in time easier with this knowledge. If you only examine some of the records or jump back to PA too quickly, you may find yourself barking up the wrong family tree later. Best wishes on your continued success. -- Elissa Powell On Thu, 14 Mar 2002 19:22:10 EST LAFinken@aol.com writes: > I need to find the surname of my Elizabeth. She came to Wooster > abt 1825 > with her family. She was born 1814 in York PA. So she would have > been 11 > years old. > > She died in Wooster OH 10-1901. Had no real estate so there is no > estate. > Would there still be an actual death certificate for her? Hoping > her maiden > name might have been on that. > > She was married abt 1836-1837 to Samuel Lightner?Leitner. Four > children > Jack/John Leitner abt 1838 Lelette Anne abt 1843 William Zean > 7-4-1846 and > Emily Elizabeth 1849. The latter two were born in Apple Creek > Village. > > WOuld there have been some type of school list for the years > 1825-1826 that > might show an 11 girl on it? Or am I grasping at straws here. > > Any suggestions would be great. > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy > records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.