Marilyn, I am no whiz at this either. Mainly what you do it try and figure out a place the family was located at a certain time. Like myself. We knew some birth dates of my great uncles and aunts and that all had been born in east Texas so I started with 1880 which showed most of the children and the first one had been born in MI. in what would have been 1868 according to her age. So I then went to MI 1870. Fortunately where I was looking had an index in book form. I located the name in the book which referenced the film # and the page and county. Then the people at the archive where I was pulled the reel for me and BINGO. Most indexes will be on film. This means looking for the county and then the names are usually in alphabetical order. Hope you know the county or otherwise it could be a long time looking. But once you find someone it is such a good feeling it is worth it. Just like myself when you find a child born in another state or even the parent you can go back to that. My Parks line moved across the south. I have been working mostly on the Graff and Schliemann name but just recently found info in a small old note pad which had been my grandmothers. As a result I have the date of death and place of burial for my dad's father and his grandmother. I would never have known otherwise. I also ended up with dates of birth for all his brothers and sisters. Glad I finally went through all of dads old papers really good. When you find something on a film get a copy made then you have your documentation. Be sure to document everything, so there is no question about your info being authentic. Heresy can end up just being that, although it can lead you to the documentation. I wish you the best of luck. Mary Lou ------Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2000 10:22 AM Subject: Re: [PARKS] census find > In a message dated 1/19/00 11:49:44 PM Eastern Standard Time, > [email protected] writes: > > << Just in case this matches someone. I was looking for another name this > afternoon in the 1860 Washtenaw Co. MI census when I spotted a Parks. > >> > I am so new to this that I'm ignorant as to how to research census records. > Would you enlighten me please? > > Marilyn A. Parke > > > ==== PARKS Mailing List ==== > Posting back to the list helps the whole group, not just one person. > If we work as a TEAM, we will succeed at as TEAM. > >