WARNING: Long! Nancy, Very good! I will post my query to you and the list in case anyone has anything to add. I live in Elk County, PA and have done quite a bit of research here. The families that I know the most about are living in Fox and Horton Twps in Elk. I find it amusing that so many of Clarion and Armstrong County's families (including most of mine) ended up over here in Elk. Lastnight, I was going over my copy of the 1900 census of Horton Twp when I came across something that really puzzled me. I hope I don't make your head spin with this. :-) I have an Emma Elder, who was born circa 1856 married to a John F. Copella in my database. (I am a direct Copella descendent). They had at least seven children that I can account for. The apparent published version of Emma Elder's family appears to suggest that she was the daughter of Harvey Rufus Elder and Anna Elizabeth Gray. Her direct line after that is James Elder, Jr and Catherine M. Adams to James Elder, Sr. and Catherine Buchanan of Clarion/Armstrong. This version has Emma having two marriages: the first in 1881 to J.L. Thompson, and the second to John Copella. On the 1900 census of Horton Twp., Elk CO., PA in Dwelling 129 is the following: HEPPLER, John L. age 45 born Sept 1854 Head Emma age 43 born Jan 1857 WIFE ELDER, Delinder age 83 born Feb. 1817 MOTHER-IN-LAW ------ Anna R. age 17 born Mar 1883 daughter George W. age 15 Born Sept 1884 son Arthur A. age 12 Born Feb 1888 Son Laura age 9 Born Sept 1890 Daughter Maud A. age 7 Born Dec. 1893 Daughter Martha D. age 3 Born July 1896 Daughter I began to wonder if this was the same Emma Elder married to John Copella, and thought it couldn't possibly be. But then I looked closer at the names of the children: THE CHILDREN ARE ALL COPELLA'S! I know this because starting with Anna Copella who was born March 30, 1883, I can follow the birth dates and years down through Martha D. Copella, who was born July 23, 1896 (Her gravestone says 1895) and died unmarried in 1923. She is buried in the Brandy Camp Cemetery, Horton Twp., Elk Co., PA. In addition, there was another daughter, whom my grandmother (Dolores Marie (Copella) Stubbs) always knew as Lucille Copella born on August 30, 1900. But how could this be if Emma is married to and living with John L. Heppler in 1900?!?!? Some obvious problems here: 1. I am also familiar with the Elk County Thompson family and I don't have a John L. Thompson or a J.L. Thompson born in the time frame that he could have been married to Emma Elder in 1881. Because she had her first child to John Copella in 1883, I think this is probably her marriage date to John Copella. (I do have a James Smith Thompson born in that time frame for whom I have no further information.) What was the documentation for this supposed marriage of Emma Elder to a Thompson? 2. The Mother in Law in the census is given as Delinder Elder, which is a far cry from Emma's supposed mother's name of Anna Elizabeth. Her birth date of Feb 1817 certainly isn't even in the ballpark with Anna Elizabeth Gray Elder's birthdate of June 1830. And there is in fact a DELINDA H. ELDER buried in the Brandy Camp Cemetery, Horton Twp., Elk Co., PA with dates of 1817-1909. It is ironic that Anna Elizabeth Gray Elder's published death date is June 1909. Not sure what is going on here, but it looks as though two distinct individuals may have been melded together for some reason? To make this even more bizarre, Emma E. (Elder) Copella, with a birth year of 1856 and death year of 1935, is snugly buried in the Brandy Camp Cemetery with her last name and apparently marriage to John Copella intact. (John Copella did not die until 1927, so Mr. Heppler couldn't have been a second marriage.) Did Emma just run away from home for awhile? Hoping you can shed some light on this. Knowing me, I am probably missing something obvious and will be hanging my head in shame after it is pointed out to me. :-D Sherry Bish Jesberger ----- Original Message ----- From: "Nancy Elder Petersen" <nancyelderpetersen@yahoo.com> To: <genequeen@alltel.net>; "Jane Stewart Atwell" <jalu@bayou.com> Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2003 1:27 PM Subject: [PAARMSTR-L] ELDER in PA > Hi Sherry, > I'm always happy to talk to anyone about ELDER genealogy! > I've recently been posting to PA lists about the new Y-DNA project, > which now has 3 matches for JAMES ELDER of Franklin Co PA, > part of the ROBERT ELDER clan of Harrisburg, PA. > > One descendant of the JAMES ELDER of Clarion Co PA has > ordered a Y-DNA kit, so we should find out in 4-6 weeks, > sometime in October, if he matches > the first 3 kits. Waiting is even harder than > finding the ELDER current descendants to test! > DNA results posted on Donna Y. Logan's webpage: > http://www.familytrail.com/elder/DNAresults.html > > Donna's explanation of the project: > http://www.familytrail.com/elder/dna.html > > We're hoping the DNA project will help with age-old > difficulties in connecting all the PA ELDER families, > and maybe some ELDER Scotland families, eventually. > > Let me know if I can help search the PAARMSTR archives > on Rootsweb.com for any info. > > Nancy Elder Petersen > Vancouver, WA USA > >