I have a tip about how to find people in the census when you know they sh ould be there. This does not work all the time because as Orrin says, sometimes they were just missed. The 1870 census seems to be the worst for that. However, one way is to use the given name and the state of birth. If the indexers have messed up the surname, sometimes it will show up using the given name and the birthstate. I used that to find my gg grandmother two months ago. I had been looking for her for 6 years. She lived in Louisiana in 1850 and I plugged in Mary and her birth state of Pennsylvania. Lo and behold, there she was. In fact, the census taker was the one who messed it up. The surname was Insall, but the census taker spelled in Ancell. Even using soundex that name did not show up. So try things like that. When all else fails, do try what Orrin suggested, go page by page. It takes time but I have found people that way as well. Mary Beth

Just a note about the 1870 census that Mary Beth mentioned. For anyone who is researching in Pittsylvania Co., VA, the whole Callands District is missing from the 1870 census. I have a number of ancestors that would have been in that district. I have been through the microfilms of that census three times and the Callands District is just not there. I am not sure if it is missing from the actual census or just from the microfilm. ----- Original Message ----- From: <Mbmjlm22@aol.com> To: <WELLS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, March 07, 2006 7:43 PM Subject: Re: [WELLS-L] Re: WELLS-D Digest V06 #47 > I have a tip about how to find people in the census when you know they sh > ould be there. This does not work all the time because as Orrin says, sometimes > they were just missed. The 1870 census seems to be the worst for that. > However, one way is to use the given name and the state of birth. If the > indexers have messed up the surname, sometimes it will show up using the given name > and the birthstate. I used that to find my gg grandmother two months ago. > I had been looking for her for 6 years. She lived in Louisiana in 1850 and I > plugged in Mary and her birth state of Pennsylvania. Lo and behold, there > she was. In fact, the census taker was the one who messed it up. The surname > was Insall, but the census taker spelled in Ancell. Even using soundex that > name did not show up. So try things like that. When all else fails, do try > what Orrin suggested, go page by page. It takes time but I have found > people that way as well. Mary Beth > > > ==== WELLS Mailing List ==== > To contact Listowner, > Send email to: > dwells@zekes.com >