This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/VlB.2ACE/1030.2.2 Message Board Post: There are several reasons a person may not be found on a county census record. You are correct that they are sometimes found in a neighboring county because the boundaries have changed, the census take was lost, they were actually living in the other county at the given time, etc. I have also experienced not being able to find someone because the name on the census had not been correctly indexed or because the person was listed by their middle name instead of the first name. I've just found my father on the 1930 census and they have him listed on the actual census record as W.F. instead of W. R. and the handwriting is very clear, the census take just made an error. And then sometimes they were just missed by the census taker.