Thank you for the suggestions. I actually am not even sure if my Nathaniel/Nathan Smith is from PA since the only mention I have found on him is that he is supposed to be the husband of Rachel Coates & father of Charles M. Smith - based on information offered by another researcher. 1) I suspect that he, his wife and child are living in the household of his widowed mother in law (Rachel Coates) in 1820 (based on the 1820 Upper Merion, Montgomery Co. PA census). I'm not sure if he is in the Coates household on the 1810 census or if he was even married to Rachel Coates in 1810 (their son was born in 1816). 2) By 1830 his wife Rachel Coates/Smith is listed as the head of household - her mother Rachel Coates having died in 1829. In the 1840 & 1850 census Rachel Smith is still listed as head of household - she dies in 1853. 3) Most of the Coates family in the area are buried in the graveyard of Christ Episcopal church (Old Swedes) in Upper Merion Twp., Montgomery Co. PA. including Rachel Smith d/o Lindsay & Rachel Coates. This information was given to me by a friend - what I need to do is find out if there is a Nathan/Nathaniel Smith also buried there before 1830. 4) Regarding the movement of/to counties in PA - From what I have discovered many of the early Coates and related families (Peggs & Sisoms) were Quakers in Philadelphia who disagreed with the church on some issues and removed to Bucks and other counties. Some of the later family members changed their religion to Episcopal/Methodist. I have no idea whether or not that also applies to the Smith family. Checking the various online sites I learned that Montgomery was formed from Philadelphia and the records of my group of Coates seem to span between the two counties with some listings in Delaware & Chester Co. I think in my particular case the very early records remained in the Philadelphia area because the Coates family were brickmakers owning land in the area. By the way on the 1820 PA census other than in the household of Rachel Coates (where I think the Smiths were living) there were at least 7 Nathaniel Smiths and 5 Nathan Smiths in various counties. Even basing my search on there being a 4 year old male in the household (there were a few) the rest of the residents were impossible to identify. If only Nathaniel/Nathan had lived into the 1850 census as his wife did I would not be beating my head on the computer screen right now... Susan McIntyre [email protected] wrote: >Susan, >You might try looking for your Nathan Smith in Bucks County census or >other adjacent counties. My Idles are listed in Bucks County 1790 >census, but I find their church records in Montgomery County. >Just a thought. > > > > rayfri wrote: Because most Pennsylvania counties were carved out of other counties or were formed by taking pieces of several other counties, census records and especially church records naming these people may be found in different counties. Also, in the case of church records, families often attended churches across the county line ... In my case, I've found my ancestors in church records across county lines from where they were living .... especially if they lived next to the county line. I have many Friess ancestors who lived in Berks County, but their names are found in church records over in Lehigh County, and in some cases, in Lancaster, York and Union County.... and vice versa.