Faith asked about selecting random counties to search (1880 census) when you're not sure which ones. I've done it! It's like deciding which haystack to search when you need a certain needle! First, are you looking for ancestors of people in the census, or descendants? Do you just want to know where they went, or where they came from? As a stab, I'd try counties in either state that are nearest to each other. You may be able to narrow it down, though. I've had a lot of luck by calling the most likely county court house's deeds office. That's because, after somone lived in an area and has moved on, they frequently sell their old house--and on the deed, they sometime say what county they currently are living in. I've also had luck with ordering the microfilm of the newspaper in the place where I know they lived. Often there are mentions when arrives or leaves town, sometimes there are other clues. For example, I found one sentence in an old Nebraska newspaper that mentioned a child had died while the parents were on a visit to the wife's home town in Iowa. I checked the real estate office in Iowa and found a deed where they bought the Iowa land while living in a county in Wisconsin. I check the WI census--and found not just this man, but his brother (my great grandfather) living with an older, married sister in WI. This is a family originally from PA. Then I was able to search the web and discover that my great grandfather went into the Civil War from WI, of all places. Boy did he cover some ground (he lived next in TN and GA, and died in TX). Soooo...follow the trail from known area, using real estate records and newspapers. Happy hunting. Best regards, Laura in NC