** You said: > Looking to try to break down a rather difficult brick wall. My earliest known Reed ancestor was Marcellus James Reed, Born 18 Mar 1810 in Pennsylvania according to the 1870 US Census. > > His parents are listed as both being born in Scotland. Marcellus went mainly by "James Reed" or "MJ Reed" as far as I can tell. He somehow found his way to Nothern Illinois and married Mary Emily Botsford around 1848 in Chicago. > > They eventually settled in Racine Wisconsin and remained there the rest of their lives. Their children were Mary Scoville (or Soville) Reed, Marcellus Jabez Reed (My G Grandfather), Francis (Frank) Reed, Vaniah Reed, and Agnes Reed. They lived off of what was known as "Milwaukee Ave" back in the 1800's but now is known as " Martin Luther King Street". "Reed's Court" (A small side street) is off of this street and is part of the original property the Reed's owned in Racine. Only Mary and Marcellus Jabez had children. > > I have exhausted Obits, Cemetery Records, Family Histories, etc etc. on all of these people and can find no mention on where in Pennsylvania Marcellus James Reed was from or any mention of siblings or parents names etc. The buck stops there. > > Any info or advice would be much appreciated!!! > ------- ** One way out of your dilemna is to realise that not everyone, even in the same family, used the same spelling of the name. Also, in cases where a person was illiterate, the name was written down in records as the clerk THOUGHT it would be spelled. Thus, you find REED, REID, READ quite commonly. Have you checked the free online wills index on the scotlandspeople website? Happy hunting, Gordon.