Since I received such good information about Pine Forge I thought I would ask another question. This same John Randolph Shaver/Shaffer had six children, 5 boys and 1 girl. On the 1870 census it shows the first 2 boys, Daniel and Casper. On the 1880 census it shows the 3rd son, Charles, and his daughter Cora. In that ten year span his wife died and he moved in with his brother, James Perry and his family. For whatever reason his son Daniel is found living with a Jonas & Phoebe Myers and the 4th son, Ellis is found living with Joseph & Rebecca Hupp. However, Casper and the 5th son, Mervil J. are both missing. I cannot find them again until the 1900 census when Casper shows up with his own family and Mervil shows up living with his father and stepmother. Was this something that occurred a lot when a parent died and the other parent moved in with other family? I found Daniel and Ellis and the folks they were living with sort of by accident. I thought that Daniel and Casper might have been apprenticed to someone and so looked at pages before and after the page that John and Perry were listed on. However, Ellis was only 8 and the man he was with is shown as a blacksmith. Would he have been an apprentice at 8? Also, there was a notation that says either "taken in service or taken in raise". How does someone disappear for 30 years? I would love to find out who Casper and Mervil were with during those years. In 1880 Casper would have been 12 and Mervil would have been about 6. Any ideas on how to find them or do I just start going through ALL the pages of the census around New Market? Thanks again for the Pine Forge help and any help you can give here. Sharon --------------------------------- Yahoo! oneSearch: Finally, mobile search that gives answers, not web links.