Lester, thank you for that suggestion ..I will try to find the book. I have alot of bones to pick with census takers myself, but that is another story. I appreciate your help. I am under the assumption that life in 1870-80 Vermont was pretty harsh, especially if one had no distinct occupation nor much family left except a spinster schoolteacher sister. I know that a huge chunk of marriage age men died in the Civil War leaving prospects slim in Vt.