Concerning the naming patterns .Here is what I know from my own family lines and those of others. The Father named his first son after his father and middle name after his own mother .So if you are looking for the mothers maiden name of the father that would be it. The second son named for mothers father and her maiden name is the middle name. The next son named for grandfathers. etc. Now there is a problem with this. Sometimes the mothers father had just died and so first son named for him out of respect. Also some were superstitious about naming sons for still living parents so skipped to previous grandparents. After the great religeous revival in about 1840's the middle name was used for the person who was the Godparent at baptism. Then there are the families of orphans who used their adopted parents names. This is so iffy and can only be used as a tool to give hints on who parents were. And if the first born son named for fathers father had died before 1850 census then it would look like the second son is the first. It is very unreliable but fun to ty and figure out. Pat