Barbara and all, the 1870 household includes only Benjamin, age 72, George, age 25, and Anna, age 23, all surname Stanley, all born Virginia. Ten years later, George, age 47, is listed as single and the only other household member is one black servant, George Valentine. Anna does not appear in either the 1860 or 1850 households and, of course, not in the will. She makes this 1870 cameo appearance and then is gone. Perhaps Anna is a familiar name used by Martha. (Martha is listed as age 14 in the 1860 census.) Perhaps the census taker received incorrect information, Martha being reported incorrectly as Anna. Perhaps Anna is a real other person, not Martha, in the household. In brief, the children of Benjamin Stanley and Rebecca Poythress are as follows: George M., single as of 1880 (age ~47) Sarah F., married to ____ Thomas as of 1876 Benjamin L., died 1861, age 23 and unmarried, reported by his father John D., married Lucy _____, died between 1870 and 1876 Martha R. J., single as of 1876 (age ~30) James W., died 1867, age 20 but no marital status returned, reported by his father Barring errors in the records (a big IF, as always, of course), it may be possible that Anna is the widowed and childless bride of James W. In summary then, we have at least four possibilities for "Anna" - 1) Anna does not exist; 2) Martha calls herself Anna; 3) Anna is the widow of James W.; 4) Anna is some other person as yet unknown to us. Oh well, lot's of discussion, no definitive answers. I guess that's what makes genealogy a blood sport. :-) -Lyn On Tue, 3 Jul 2001 23:36:12 -0400 Charles Neal <[email protected]> writes: > Thank you, Lyn & thanks to your mother for the transcription. > > I am curious re "In the 1870 census an Anna Stanley is present in > Benjamin's household. For whatever reason, she does not appear in > this > will, unless perhaps it is another name used by Martha or Sarah." > and I'm > not where I can get to any records of that household in the 1870 > census. > Can you refresh our memories -- were Martha &/or Sarah listed? > > Thanks again. > Barbara ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.