Dear Keith Bailey, You wrote Are there any people researching the Williams that were in Morgan Co. GA in the 1830-1860 range? I am searching out the parents of Nancy Williams who married Jesse Hollis there in 1848. Keith Bailey kbailey@frontiernet.net Response: Are you near an LDS family history center? If so, there may be a little tool there which MAY (no guarantees in genealogy) help you narrow your search for the appropriate Williams family. In the time period you are interested in, fellows generally married girls in the neighborhood. The horse got tired, and besides it was generally a round trip to go courting. Therefore you want to find a Williams family who lived in the general vicinity of the Hollis family in the time period specified, and perhaps in Georgia or a nearby jurisdiction. First, determine whether Morgan Co., GA was in existence at that time. Then determine what are the surrounding counties. The bride may have lived on the county boundary and her fellow was just across the way. At your LDS center, there are hundreds of microfiche called AIS. Call you your center and ask the days and hours it is open. Then ask whether they have Accelerated Indexing System (AIS) on hundreds of microfiche. This is a consolidated census index (index only--not census) for the whole US as the US was composed in each census year--it kept growing bigger!!! This index goes through the 1850 census. Since the 1790 census is missing, tax lists were used instead. But don't start with the first census years--called Search 1. Start with one of the later Searches when you know your people were in Georgia. Look for the Hollis families first and note the locations--the counties and the states are given, and the census year. Make notes of likely candidates. (A New York or New Jersey Hollis family is probably not a candidate.) Be sure to note the locality. Now, you are ready to tackle the Williamses (whew! What a job!) Instead of reading every name, note which Williamses are in the localities where you have located the Hollis families. Caution--if you find your families, it is a great tool. The only problem is that unskilled help, I am told, was used in compiling this massive index, and there are misspellings, omissions, duplications, etc. But you may find it useful. You should train yourself to use this tool when you are stumped as to the whereabouts of some of your families--who did migrate, didn't they? As we moved Native Americans out of their usual homes (cessions, we called them), the Anglos and their compadres moved in!!! And the Louisiana Purchase opened up many lands for occupation. There should be a four-page handout (free) at your LDS center to explain AIS and its uses. If you want to try to tackle the instructions on the internet, try www.familysearch.org Look for research guidance (or guides). Check the word Almanacs and then look for AIS. The instructions may confuse you, but get used to the terms, and after you try this index, you will get used to it. Professional genealogists use this index all the time when beginning a new project for a new client.!! E.W.Wallace Who has three Williams lines!!!