Judy, I agree with B&C Pierce. Please don't give up. Most of us probably share your frustration. Frequently, I wonder when and where I'll find my Miss Mary E. PIERCE who married Peter Isaac GUERRY in 1840 somewhere around Charleston SC. Have you tried every spelling of possible older KY accents and drawls of PIERCE (perhaps, include spellings like Piers, Pers; old letters which resemble P; and if you're really desperate try beginning the name with a B maybe)? Same for POWELL. I've had similar experiences with marriage records, deeds of conveyance, and other public records. To give you hope, let me tell you a short story. After many years of searching, about three weeks ago I finally found probable evidence in a census of my great grandfather and his childhood family. I had searched every avenue I knew, almost wore-thin printed Census Indices, and thought I would go blind reading microfilm SC censuses. Then one night, frustrated with business more than I was my ancestors hiding from me, I decided to search some of the pay and non-pay genealogy sites. I thought "what have I got to lose" and started playing a game with the internet. I searched only somewhat far-fetched spellings, until you consider names may be spelled by a census taker or public official as they are pronounced in a region. My memory of southern mispronounciations of the surname helped. I searched the rootsweb SC site where a publisher of a census index donated some census index materials. To my surprise, several people with the oddly-spelled surname, including someone with a given name and age matching my great grandfather, were before me in index form! They were in a SC county I would never have looked for them! I couldn't wait to get to a census microfilm source on a business trip to Charleston SC. Before pulling the county microfilm, I double-checked a well-known Census Index for SC counties in 1850. The people I had located in the on-line census index with a variation on their surname were NOT in this Index. I talked with the librarian who said "Well, if they're not in this printed Index, you're not going to find them on this microfilm." With a discouraged "probably not; let me try though, " I showed him my print-out of the on-line census index and he gave me the microfilm. Guess what? I found the surname for which I was looking! All the people with the same odd surname were in the same household -- probably my long-lost ancestors..I had met them all before, minus my youthful great grandfather. I met them when I did a family search of a more common spelling of the surname for someone else two and a half years ago! Looking over my shoulder, the librarian shook his head and said "Just goes to show you how the odds are against genealogists finding who they are looking for." For me, this sequence of events taught me once again: don't give up; let your right brain go into action and help you out; use your intuition; and, keep double-checking sources and leads, such as Indices. After this experience, I began to think: Of course, not all Indices are the same. Each may be doing a fresh reading of old, faint handwriting. Creating an Index depends on how a reader interprets the old handwriting with all the loops and variations unfamiliar to many of us today. Now I want to remember: just because I've checked one Census Index doesn't mean my ancestors aren't listed in the actual census. I need to check as many different Index publishers as I can get my hands on. I hope this encourages you and gives you hope, Judy. Don't give up. Your ancestors want you to find them. Mary Jacques in Montana [email protected] ----- Original Message ----- From: B&C Pierce <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2000 7:24 PM Subject: Re: [PIERCE-L] MARRIAGE > Judy: Don't do that! Remember the thrill of the chase and the victory of > the winner!> ----- Original Message ----- > From: Judy Arnold <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2000 7:07 PM > Subject: [PIERCE-L] MARRIAGE > > > > IS THERE ANYONE WHO HAS INFORMATION ON THE > > BRECKENRIDGE COUNTY, KY MARRIAGE OF JOHN POWELL > > AND MINNIE PIERCE WHO WAS THE DAUGHTER OF JOHN B > > AND NANCY PIERCE > > PLEASE HELP ME IT HAS BEEN TEN YEARS AND I AM > > HONESTLY READY TO JUST GIVE IT UP > > IF SOMEONE COULD EVEN GIVE ME SOME HOPE > > THANKS FOR LISTENING > > JUDITH PIERCE ARNOLD