I have two women in my ancestry for whom I have found no information as to maiden name, parentage, etc. Elizabeth was the wife of Samuel Brillhart, who was born ca 1780-1790 in Pennsylvania. He was likely from York County, but I have not made a definite connection. He first appears in Centre County in 1815 in Aaronsburg. I don't know if he and Elizabeth married before or after coming to Centre County. Their children Jacob (1815), Margaret (1817) and Peter (1823) were christened at Salem Lutheran Church in Aaronsburg. Samuel remarried to Abigail Frantz Stover, probably between 1833 and 1840. Samuel apparently died before the 1850 census. Jacob, the son of Samuel & Elizabeth Brillhart, apparently died young. Margaret married John Ross Bell in 1832. Peter married a woman named Mary J., born 1811-1812 in Pennsylvania, and I have no information on her parentage or her maiden name. At the time of the 1850 census, they lived in Milesburg Boro. Peter died in the fall of 1855 at the age of 33. His estate makes no mention of Mary, so I assume she was no longer living. I suspect they both succumbed to illness. Their children Hiram (12) and Agnes Amelia (4) were left orphans. Hiram may have been taken in by David & Amelia Feese of Woodward. (Are there school records available for 1860 for this area?) He later married Sarah Fees of Union County. Agnes was taken in and raised by Israel and Lucetta Weaver of Aaronsburg. Would there have been any kind of legal proceedings involved in these arrangements in 1855? If so, where would such records be located? I sure would appreciate it if folks could take a look at their databases and perhaps any will transcriptions they may have to see if they have a Mary J. born about 1811-1812 or an Elizabeth of an age to have children born 1815-1823. I know these are extremely common names, but somewhere there must be a record of who they were. I have no marriage records, and no information on where any of these folks (except Hiram, Agnes and Abigail) are buried. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!! Happy New Year to all of you from Fairbanks, Alaska! Sue

Sue, 1855 was a very bad year for illness in Centre County. Oddly enough, I can find no written records of the event, but have been told on good authority that it was supposed to be typhoid fever. There are many graves in the Bald Eagle Valley which bear dates of 1855. This came on the heels of the dysentery epidemic in 1853, and a terrible outbreak of typhoid fever in Sugar Valley in 1850, which decimated the population to an amazing degree. (Go down the 1850 census of Logan and Greene Twps. and note the number of people for whom the enumerator wrote, "since died.") Justin At 12:22 AM 1/5/2007, you wrote: >Peter married a woman named Mary J., born 1811-1812 in Pennsylvania, >and I have no information on her parentage or her maiden name. At >the time of the 1850 census, they lived in Milesburg Boro. Peter >died in the fall of 1855 at the age of 33. His estate makes no >mention of Mary, so I assume she was no longer living. I suspect >they both succumbed to illness.