James, Is there any chance at all that you have misread the age of the son, John, of your John C.. Could it possibly be he was age one, instead of age 7? If you got the age from a census, that could very well be misread. My ggf has so many mysterious things surrounding his birth that I've often wondered if he was born to one John Vanasdal and then given to another John Vanasdal to raise. He was born in 1859, but he is not listed with the family in 1860, even though he definitely should have been. He does show up in the 1870 census, age 11. His name, however, was John Isaac, but that could have been changed to avoid confusion of some sort. (I write that as if the Vans ever seemed concerned about confusion regarding names) I have some other questions regarding your note, but they are mute unless you have any question at all about the age being 7, and not 1. Barb