Hello Glenn SMITH, I saved your e-mail address, because you come to mind whenever I am working on the Hampshire Co VA PILES Families. I've got a couple of comments and a question. I believe you have the John H/W PILESs sorted out properly. We know that Captain John PILES (born c1832) was "John of John" from the 1850 census, so I'm convinced he was the son of John PILES and Elizabeth RUCKMAN. Farmer John PILES (born c1837) presents a couple of possibilities, I think the most likely of which is that he was the son of Benjamin PILES. He was "John, Junior" in the 1850, signifying that he was a younger John PILES, somehow related to the older John of John PILES a few doors away. Beyond that, we don't know. Note that Elizabeth PILES (the one back in Loudoun Co VA in the 1810, 1820, and 1830 census, who I think was the mother of Zachariah and Francis PILES of Hampshire County VA) was living directly next door to a John WILLIAMS in 1830 (male age 30-40; female age 20-30), and could easily have been a son-in-law (or grandson-in-law) to Elizabeth. This may be where the John H/W(illiams) given name comes from in the Hampshire Co VA line. Remember that the later John PILESs sometimes appear as John H. and sometime as John W. I think they may have been John H. W. PILESs, named for John H. WILLIAMS. Or the John WILLIAMS in the 1830 Loudoun Co census could be the John H. WILLIAMS who married Elizabeth, a daughter of Zachariah PILES in 1824 Hampshire Co VA. Maybe the granddaughter returned to Loudoun Co to care for the grandmother. Something to think about. Thomas PILES (born c1824/6) presents a couple of possibilities as well. Of course, he's the right age to be the first child of John H. PILES and Elizabeth RUCKMAN (married in 1824). This is what I would tend to believe. But there's nothing to say he was not a child of Zachariah PILES and Hannah MITCHELL; or a child of Francis PILES (who in the 1830 census has a male aged 0-5 years in the household); or he could have been an illegitimate child of one of the females in this era. I can't offer much help here. Which brings me to a question: Can you share with me the source for the statement you made that Rector PILES (born c1832) was the "orphan son of Nancy PILES". I haven't encountered a Nancy in this line. Since the record says Rector was an orphan, I'm assuming it is from 1852 or before. (If it were later, Rector would not be an orphan, but simply an adult whose parents had died). And since both parents must be dead (since he's an orphan), I think it is significant that only the mother is named. If his father were known, seems like he would have been mentioned in addition to, or instead of, the mother. This makes me suspect that Rector was the illegitimate son of Nancy (but who was Nancy?) I had thought that some of the disconnected males in the 1850 Hampshire Co census (Rector and Joseph) might be illegitimate children of Sarah (born c1807), who is living with (her mother) Hannah is the 1850 census with what is possibly another illegitimate child (Malinda, age 13). Nancy is completely new to me. Can you tell me when and where that record is from? As before, I'm filing your e-mail address. Thanks. Jim Smee Pittsburgh PA