For Frank: If someone could get a look at the 1865 RI State Census it would say which town Gorton Briggs was born in, Celinda too, which would narrow things down. I worked on a Briggs family from NK and EG a few months ago for someone, and found my answers by going to the EG town hall and digging through land records and probate administrations. One of the women in that family, Lavina Briggs b. 1793, dau. of William, married Oliver Gorton. It's possible that someone in her family named a son Gorton Briggs after that. That kind of naming was done all the time to honor a new member of the family, I guess, but there were so many Gortons in the area that you can't bet on it being the answer. Lavina's brothers were all too young to be father of your Gorton: David S., Robert D., Isaac, William, and one whose name we haven't yet found who left children but no Gorton. They were more his contemporaries. I don't know -- but you may have to do some serious digging in town records. There were so many different Briggs families in RI that until you know the town of birth it's nearly hopeless. There is some good Briggs material at RI Historical Society, on one East Greenwich family in particular. But basic here: Can anybody help with the 1865 census? It's at RI Historical Society (indexed) and on LDS microfilm. Jane