Dear Williams Listers I thought everyone knew this by now. The 1880 US census is online at <A HREF="www.familysearch.org">www.familysearch.org</A> Be aware that there are errors and you may have to be creative in your research. And frequently Williams is misspelled--can you imagine? The second L may be left out, or the final s may be dropped. Try a wild card (an asterisk) once in a while in your search. Not only did the original census-taker make errors in spelling, but apparently some of the current-day subscribers had difficulty in reading the old handwriting (something genealogists contend with all the time). Search for not only your Williamses but also all the neighbors, who probably were their cousins, their in-laws, or some relationship. Be aware that this census asks for the birthplace of the parents of each enumerated person. This may help you search another state!!! My great-grandfather who had left Kentucky before 1845, via Arkansas and Mississippi, arrived in Texas ca 1852. He died in 1881, but just before he died he told the census-taker that his father was born in North Carolina. This valuable information helped me confirm some KY linkages which I had already suspected were from North Carolina. When I got into the NC records, I could get back two generations in Virginia--to 1716 land patent. Scour those censuses, and try to verify with probates, deeds, tax records, and all that detective work you are looking forward to!! E.W.Wallace