Another suggestion in lieu of the 1890 census is check for county directories for the area...these are similar to city directories. In Schuylkill Co. PA they are gradually putting all the information from the 1890 county directories on the web. This information is nearly as good as the census would have been. The households are being listed by city, town, and township. Ages are given as well as occupation...even street addresses for cities. Peggy Mike and Annette Poston wrote: > There is one problem with this excellent suggestion. The 1890 census is > lost--or nearly so. A fire in the Commerce Department in about 1919 > destroyed almost all of the census. That is why there is now an effort (by > Ancestry.com, I think) to attempt to reconstruct the 1890 census. Civil War > veterans may be found on a special census from the 1890s, I am told, but for > the most part one must rely on the bracketing Federal censuses, 1880 and > 1900. That of 1880 is indexed only if there is a child under 10 years of > age in the household and that of 1900 is completely soundexed. > > Mike Poston > Rockville, Maryland > > ----- Original Message ----- > Here's a suggestion: > > > > Since you have one concrete piece of data, start with it. Assume that Omar > > Curtis was at least 20 years of age when married. Thus, he should have > been > > included in the census of 1880 and 1890. Begin searching the listings for > > the area around Nelson, PA in those two census reports, to see whether you > > can find anything listing the SHEWMAN line. Sometimes, we're lucky on a > > first try. > > > > Once you have found the area in which his parents lived, you can search > the > > records of that county for wills, deeds and other documents that might be > > on file. Often, they will help provide "hard evidence" of a time and > place, > > and thus assist you in your research. Sometimes, they will provide names > > you didn't already have, and point to other geographic locations. > > > > The more new information you uncover, the more leads you will have to do > > further research! Soon, you should be able to trace the line back to John > > and Laner.