Hello all, I have a bit of a puzzle on my hands, and am hoping that somebody can help. I am in possession of a fair number of old letters, most written to my gg-grandmother Frances Virginia (Kemper) Gibbons (6/16/1830-8/26/1912; born in Cross Keys). I am trying to transcribe these letters. I would like to add some notes regarding the individuals discussed in the letters, but am finding that difficult because I really don't know who everybody is. The letter I am asking about right now was written on May 12th & 13th, 1862. It is addressed to "My Dear Sister", and is signed "Mary". Unfortunately it does not have an envelope with it, so I don't know for sure who the receiver was, and therefore don't know for sure who sister Mary was. [I have a number of letters with no envelopes, as well as a number of envelopes with no letters; matching the two sets so far appears to be pointless.] There are some clues in the letter that may be useful in determining the identity of the sender and receiver. The letter refers to a "Cousin Will" and also to Cousin Will's uncle "Jacob Miller". I went to the 1850 Census Images for Rockingham County just now (both the Kemper and Gibbons family are found in Rockingham County), but there were so many listings for "Jacob Miller" that I just didn't know how to identify the right one. Does anybody know of a Jacob Miller who had a nephew named Will? I believe it is possible that Will was shot by the end of the letter, but don't remember for sure. Wherever the letter writer lived, she mentioned Jackson's army, and a "Camp", obviously a military camp, that was within walking distance of her home. She was close enough to be feeding soldiers on a regular basis. She mentioned Moorfield, McGaheysville and Staunton. Other names mentioned include Jane, Sarah, Bob (who had a new baby not yet named), one hard to read, but which I assume to be Layton, and also a "Cousin Sims". If you can help me identify any of these people, I would be very grateful, but I would be particularly grateful if you can identify Jacob Miller and nephew Will. Robert Allen Gibbons, husband of Frances, had a sister named Sarah Ann Gibbons who married a William Shanks Miller. Whether this is "Cousin Will" or not, I have no idea. When I finish transcribing the letter (hopefully today) I will send it to the list in case that will help with the identification. In case anyone is interested -- the earliest letter in that pile was written in 1840 from Christina (Gibbons) Hammer to her sister Elizabeth (Gibbons) Armstrong in Palistine, Cooper County, Missouri. Christina and Elizabeth were sisters of Robert's father John Gibbons who married Jane Elizabeth Ke(i)ffer -- all were children of Isaac Gibbons & Mary Gangwer (born & married in Pennsylvania). -- Mary Taffet mdtaffet@syr.edu