I'm still looking for Joseph Payne b.1821 in Wayne County, VA, who married Margery Ann Cady in Lawrence County, Ohio 14 Oct 1838. I found a Joseph Payne living in Lawrence County, Ohio, but he is the wrong one. I thought I'd pass the data on. Page 391, Lawrence Co. Ohio 1850 census, Schedule "L". Free inhabitants of Union Township, enumerated on 2nd August 1850: Dwelling [119, 189, 14.9 - take your pick] Family 151: Mansfield Peters, age 24, male, occ. laborer Ellen Peters, age 72, female Thomas Peters, age 2, male Anna Peters, age 3/12 [or 9/12], female Mary Payne, age 55, female Joseph Payne, age 22, male, laborer Philem [Phlem] Payne, age 19, laborer All 7 have "m" in the "Color" box, where the choices are "White", "Black" and "Mulatto". All three Paynes have what looks like "Va" in the "Place of birth" box. Mansfield and Ellen have what might be a "Va" in theirs, and the two peters children what looks like an "O" for "Ohio". The penmanship is clear but the ink has faded, and the microfilm from which the copy was made is very scratched. The Lawrence County Ohio US Gen Web site is linked to a rare gem - the Lawrence Co. Register. the LC Genealogical society and the library special collections staff there joined forces. The combined volunteers spend thousands of hours indexing the special collections by name. They have the standard stuff - obits, census, marriages, births, deaths - but they are INDEXED by name, with references. So, supposing your ancestor is Mortimer Periwinkle, you look him up, find his obit was in the 01 April 1911 issue of the Lawrence Co. Gazette, then write to the library, asking for a copy. They have a very nominal charge - $3 for the first ten lookups and copies. >From their end, they no longer have to write to people saying they really can't wade through eight years of microfilm looking for someone who probably died between 1888 and 1896. From our end, we can poke through their indexes from the comfort of our home, in our pajamas, then send for exactly the copies we need. (In my case, it wasn't the copy I needed, but hey, it was a close thing.) The web site is the best I've seen at the county level; it is a rare gem. Any of you who belong to county genealogical societies and have three or four thousand volunteer-hours to spare (don't we wish!!) would do well to use it as an example.