Donna, The way to positively identify connected persons is to collect all primary and secondary records of the same surnames and evaluate the signatures on the primary documents such as marriage bonds and consents, court cases and estate files and statements on the secondary documents/recordings such as deeds which should name the wife on a sale if she is alive as well as her dower's release. Unless you are lucky to find a manuscript collection with the deeds of sale which has the seller's signature on an undelivered deed which should still be in the county court loose papers or transferred to a Historical Society or more likely to the Library of Virginia; these are very few but I have found one in another county. Look at the margins of the deed in the recording book; it usually has written abbreviations for examined & delivered. It is my understanding examined = recorded; delivered = given to the buyer or another person to deliver to the buyer. Collect all recordings/copies of an event. Example: The marriage bond has a style side which usually has written Grooms last name to the Governor of the state and a date. It may say other things including naming the brides father who was present and gave his consent. Not the usual consent note which father writes or someone else writes and father makes his mark in which case there are usually 2 Teste (witnesses). The marriage bond and the consent are usually microfilmed next to each other but they can be "our of order', keep reading. Do copy both sides of any document. The bottom line is we look for statements that connects 2 individuals, ie. father-daughter, husband-wife. Wills in which children are named and yes an illegitimate one claimed. Study the personal property tax lists to determine when they became age 21 as they were supposed to be then named and if living with father .. bingo! In a new email: More, specifically, regarding identifying John Miller who married Lucy Spiker 11 July 1865 Phyllis Vannoy Spiker ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour