This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Sanford Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/4FFBAIB/1058 Message Board Post: My husband's 2nd great grandfather is Greenberry Sanford. Greenberry first appears on the 1850 Shelby Co TX census in the household of Thomas Sanford, age 35. It's a household that does not seem to be one family. The female head of household is Mary age 70. The next 4 people could be a nuclear family (John, 25; Mary,21; Hiram, 5: and Ben F, 6mos) and lastly is Green B, age 6, born in MS. My best guess is that Mary, age 70 is a grandmother to little Greenberry. Thomas and John are probably her sons. But is Thomas or John the father of Greenberry? Probably not, given the order of enumeration. They are more likely uncles to Greenberry. Who is the husband of Mary? There is an Elizabeth Sanford, born in AL, who died in Shelby Co in May 1850 at age 41 of unknown cause. My guess is that she is little Greenberry's mother. But who is and where is his father? I can't find any of this household in 1860. In 1870, Greenberry Sanford and wife Mary are enumerated in Shelby Co, Brooklin PO, with eldest son William J(Jackson). Mary, age 26 was born in LA, but the child was born in Texas, so I'm guessing they married in Shelby Co ca 1866. By 1880, this family is in Sabine Par LA (not far from Shelby Co, TX). They now have 3 children, William J, Samuel (my husband's great grandpa) and Greenberry, age 3- all kids born in TX so they probably stayed in Shelby Co till at least 1877. By 1900, Greenberry has moved all his family to Cherokee Co TX. Mary apparently died in the early 1880's because Greenberry married Elizabeth "Betty" Chambers and they had 8 children. There are a number of related Sanford/Samford familes who came to Shelby Co TX bef 1850: Elkanah, Samuel, Absolam, William, Uriah, Simon and Greenberry. How does my Greenberry fit? Was he orphaned?