Hi all, I'm scratching pretty hard here, but these are the only clues I've been able to pick up after several years of searching. Here is everything I know about my 3g grandmother. If anyone out there thinks they might connect, I would love to hear from you! Rebecca Jane TAYLOR was born in May of 1825 or 1826, most likely in Ohio (according to 1900 census). She was commonly known as Jane. According to that same census, both of her parents were also born in Ohio. The 1880 census, which is otherwise pretty accurate for this family, gives Jane's birthplace as Kentucky. Jane married David or James David GILBERT 21 Oct 1847 in Kendall Co., Illinois -- but that is the only connection to Kendall Co. that I'm aware of. Many members of collateral lines were found together in the 1818 and 1820 Illinois censuses (Madison and Monroe Counties) and in later years in Fulton County. There is a Levi Taylor listed in HH #4 of 1818 Monroe Co., IL census, with 5 household members. His household is surrounded directly by Rolly McKinzie (HH #3, with 3 persons) and Michael MILLER (HH #5 with 1 male over 21 and 6 other people in household). Could this be Jane's father or uncle? Monroe county's next few pages of census data are loaded with Gilberts, Millers and other families from our family tree. However most of the surnames on that side are reasonably common or very common. The two uncommon collateral lines that are fairly easily recognized are EVELAND and STUFFLEBEAM, but they are such uncommon names that they are also frequently found using alternate spellings. My direct lines of the collateral families began their U.S. lives in MD, NY, PA and NJ in the very early 1700s. Some were early Ohio settlers, primarily in Washington Co. (at Marietta), as early as the 1790s. Others took the "long way around" through VA (mostly Augusta/Rockingham and Amelia Co. areas), NC, and KY (Lee, Owsley, Estill and Madison Cos.). Then they moved on to IL and some later went to IN and IA. They scattered about throughout the southern half of Iowa beginning in the 1840s, with many in Mahaska, Muscatine and Bremer Counties. That brings me to this possibility, who could logically be one of Jane's brothers or even an uncle: History of Mahaska County, Iowa Des Moines: Union Historical Company, 1878. TAYLOR, WILLIAM, farmer, Sec. 28; P, O. White Oak; owns 150 acres of land in this county, and 160 in Kansas; his Mahaska county land is valued at $30 per acre; born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1816; came to Iowa in 1857; he married Ellen Mommonier in 1841; she was born in Baltimore in 1822; they have one child by adoption, Mary. Mrs. T. is a member of the Roman Catholic church. After Jane and David GILBERT married in IL, they apparently moved to Iowa with the rest of the group, but I can't find them in the 1850 census. Their first son, named Geoffrey or Godfrey GILBERT, was born about 1852 in Iowa, according to a biography done on David in his later years. My gg grandmother Charlotte was their next child, born in Muscatine Co. 18 May 1854 and her brother Augustus was born there in 1856. The family was on the Republican River in Clay Co., Kansas in time for the 1860 census and is believed to have moved there in 1857. There the family added Daniel Webster, Josephine, Henry, Martha Ann and Elizabeth GILBERT to the family by 1868. David and Jane both lived out their lives in Kansas. He died between 1885 and 1900 and she died sometime after the 1900 census. We believe part of the family moved to Douglas, Republic and Cloud counties in Kansas, and part of them went to eastern Oregon during the mining days of the 1870s and 1880s. Jane may have had brothers named John and Jared. I've found a Jared TAYLOR of the right age (b. 1820) in Baker Co., Oregon's 1870 census, in a cluster with several collateral families known to have migrated there between 1870 and 1880. A John M. TAYLOR is found in Republic Co., KS veterans' pension rolls in 1883. And here are a few other possibilities that could be related: Marriage Index: IL, IN, 1790-1850 Gilbert, Eber´[prob. should be Ebenezer] Spouse : Taylor, Sarah H. Marriage date : 7 Jun, 1847 Jefferson Co., IN Could this be a brother & sister to David & Jane? Also found, both in Washington Co., Ohio -- where many collateral lines lived during this time frame: Taylor, Ebenezer S Spouse : Tuttle, P Marriage date : 25 Nov, 1821 Taylor, John Spouse : Kipple, M Marriage date : 25 Mar, 1819 If anyone is still reading this and is related to any of the families named herein, I would love to hear from you. If nothing else, it might help me to eliminate some of them, and it is possible that I have information that could be of value to those of you who are researching TAYLORs in any of these locations. While fishing around for clues, I've collected a good stash of TAYLOR data, so please feel free to ask about your ancestor. Thanks for reading this l-o-n-g posting. -- Cheri Dohnal editor@historysavers.com