I have previously posted information about my ggrandfather, James Strong, who appears in the 1880 Census for Vernon Co., MO. I believe he has now been found in the 1850 Census for Newton Co., MO, enumerated in the household of Hiram Strong. His age is right, the IL connection is there, although the 1880 Census had James born in IL not MO, and, most importantly, an Eli Strong appears, who matches family bible records. The 1850 Census information is as follows: Neosho Township, page 323B and 324 39/39 Strong, Hiram, 41, M, farmer, TN Rebecca, 41, F, TN John, 18, M, farmer, IL Eli, 17, M, farmer, IL Mary, 14, F, MO Andrew, 12, M, MO Nancy, 10, F, MO James, 8, M, MO Moses, 6, M, MO Margaret, 4, F, MO Sarah, 1, F, MO Now that I know who my gggrandfather is, hopefully he can be traced back through IL to TN. I'm counting on Bob T. Strong, Jr. to shed some light on Hiram, given his extensive knowledge of early TN Strongs, as seen recently in his responses to Sue Strong Hassler re her Isaiah Strong. Per the 1850 Census, Hiram Strong and his wife, Rebecca, would have both been born in TN about 1809. By 1832, Hiram and Rebecca would have moved to IL, where their first child, John, was born. By 1836, the family would have moved to MO, which is when Mary was born. This information was provided by a volunteer who does census lookups. To all of you who perform such lookups, thank you! You have no idea how important the volunteer lookup system is to a person such as myself who, by necessity, can only do research over the internet. Robert E. Strong, Jr.