Liz asked/commented: a. What you need to do is determine why it "generally" is believed, and what did Granville Leach support his statement with. It's odd for someone to make a point of the legal age at all in a land transaction unless they weren't implying there was some claim to him not being of legal age. Is there anything else in Leach giving context to the remark? b. Why do people generally believe they know Joseph Jr's age? A quick look at Ancestry didn't show any references to the arrivals in PA, births, marriages etc, while they do have some extensive early PA references they're not complete. I would be checking the records for something more concrete then others generally believe. The Ashtons are pretty documented, where they lived, attended church etc is known. If there is nothing showing Jr. was born here I'd be seriously questioning the generally knowns. Over the past two years several of us researchers have combed through LDS films, Ancestry, World's Vital Records, genealogybank, genealogical CDs, ship manifests, google, in short anything and everything we can to "check the records for something concrete." The early Ashtons are documented via a church baptism, church activity, and land deeds. (Yes, I've contacted the churches.) Their ages are not, their origin is not, etc. And, there are numerous other Ashton lines in the Philly/Bucks Co area that are not related but much better documented; they must be sorted through as well. "Someone" posted a family tree for this line originating in Ormskirk, Lancashire listing parents, siblings and specific birthdates. NO documentation/sourcing for info. I have been able to substantiate much of this, but there's also a couple gross errors, which calls the whole line into question. Is Joseph of Philly the same as Joseph of Ormskirk? Having worked both sides of the Atlantic, I am unable to make that leap. Is he from another location? "England" probably, but maybe not -- there's Ashtons in other countries as well. And ANY country is pretty broad to research without something more specific. As for Granville Leach, I looked at the LDS film; he's making notes/records on various people/events in a diary of sorts. No other context. My previous note indicated that I believe the determination of Jos Jr's age is based on that one note, mainly because there's nothing else to pinpoint ANY age. The recently discovered land deed provided another source for age because my understanding was that a person must be 21 to buy/sell land. Evidently, that's not always true either. Thanks for your comments and suggestions. If you have any other ideas for discovery, please let me know! I've pretty much run out. Sharon **************Shop Inspiron, Studio and XPS Laptops at Dell.com (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1222616459x1201464730/aol?redir=http:%2F%2Fad.d oubleclick.net%2Fclk%3B215218145%3B37264238%3Bd)