Good morning, and thanks to all who responded.... The picture is coming in to better focus. Can anyone add anything more? Birth (1879) and/or marriage (circa 1906) records from Montgomery County would probably provide Samuel Murdock's parents names. Does anyone have access to these, or know how to access them? 1850 Census indexes from Montgomery County are available, and information extracted from the returns has been sent to me. The families noted in the census returns stitch in with information found on the web page <http://expage.com/eakley>, which suggests (remotely!, recognizing that there's a space of 30 years between the 1850 census and Samuel's birth....) the possibility that Samuel's father was part of this family group. The woman that Samuel married was Lelia D. Sweeney (also noted in Maryland records to have been born in 'Christensberg, VA'). Information sent to me (extracted from World Family Tree Volume 9) suggests that Lelia's parents were Joseph Evans Sweeney, 1858 - 1905, and Louisa Orba Stone, 1868 - 1948. Cheers, Bruce Murduck