Chuck, Based on info in responses and using some logic and family information to confirm it, I believe that the written census records list males then females but the age numbers in the readouts from the FTM Census CDs reverses this and you get the female numbers first then the male numbers. Lisa's input was the key, she said to look at a Census Line for a single Widow and it becomes obvious which numbers are the females. John Patterson Chesapeake, VA csf wrote: > > I'd be curious to know what their answer was ...? It seems to > me that this arbitrary rearranging of position-sensitive data > introduces a serious potential for error. Had I not read this > exchange, I certainly would have read it wrong ... > > - Chuck Fuller > [email protected] > Lisa Bonar wrote: John, I had problems with the census info on the FTM CD's also. I called FTM because it was apparent to me that their census info was backwards.