This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: Rekput Surnames: Stevens/Stephens/Boylin Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.stevens/4197.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Hi...found some things for you on this research question. 1880 Kalamazoo , Texas township, Michigan Adelia Boylan 58 (b 1822) New Y. NY CT Henry Stevens 23 son MI NY NY Ah ha....Henry is her son....still...could have also been adopted...so looking backward at 1870 1870 Kalamazoo, TX, MI Aaron Boylin (indexed as Baylin) Adelia 49 NY Ada Stephens 16 MI Laura 8 MI So, it appears athat Adelia had some Stevens sibblings...Laura and Henry. Note that Ada/Adelia's birth year calculates to more like 1853-54 rather than 1863 as you indicated. She was definitely shown as the older child in 1870....so she would have to have been shown as younger than Laura if she was born in 1863. So, then I looked for a marriage for Aaron Boylan and there was one in Kalamazoo Co on dec 18, 1868 to an Adelia Stenus. Note...I do NOT believe her name was Stenus....I think that is probably a very bad transcription/indexing problem...maybe hard to read on the original record. The name Stenus has the right shape to be Stevens and I'll bet if you send for a copy of the original record you will see that it's Stevens. In that case...Adelia was previously married to a Stevens...was widowed (probably) and thus she is the real mother of the kids... ...widowed maybe having sonmething to do with the Civil War..timing is right....and she remarried to Aaron Boylin. Alice Adelia may have married under the name Boylin or Stevens...hard to tell. You didn't mention who she married and I could not find a marriage for her...lots of Stevens out there without something to narrow it down. I don't think it's a big mystery...something that happened a lot. I doubt very much that Aaron formally adopted her...just wasn't done back then. However, he did apparently raise her for a few years and she may have married under the Boylin name out of respect. The girls in this situation often took the step dad's name...but the boys (even if they went by the step dad's name as a child) reverted to their true name upon reaching manhood and independence from the household. Hope all this helps. I couldn't find Adelia in 1860 and couldn't find Henry in either 1860 or 1870...but there were some things I could have tried...just don't have the time right now. Julie Bissell Tupker Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.