To Hollis Don Woolsey, Arlington, TX and any interested Woolsey reseachers: I am in the process of "running" the census records for Woolseys in various states. I have just finished the Woolseys [and their various spellings] in the State of Illinois. I was hoping to find a JOHN J. Woolsey but of course, not to be so lucky. But the only one I found born about 1853 was one John Woolsey, b 1854, [age 6 in the 1860 Grundy Co., ILL census], son of William (age 36, b NY)and Sarah (age 34, b PA] (and I don't know who William's parents are, yet). You stated that your John's father was born in Tennesse, so this is probably not your family, but it is the only one close that I found in the 1860 census. But of course, they could have moved from Illinois before the 1860 census. Now I have the following Census records for Illinois: 1820 - 1 family 1830 - 7 families 1840 - 15 families 1850 - 29 families 1860 - 52 families 1870 - 63 families 1880 - Need to do this yet. >From 1820 to 1870 there are 167 families in 38 counties in the Census records. Of course, some of them are duplicated in ensuing years. And they moved a great deal. The Woolseys came into Illinois from the following states: New York Pennsylvania Ohio Wisconsin Kentucky Virginia and others I also have 220 Woolsey marriages in 31 counties in Illinos, and am adding to that list frequently. Naively, I thought that I would answer many questions with this work completed, but I find that where I answer one question, three new ones pop up!! I find it interesting that one of the Illinois Woolsey families moved from Illinois to Yakima County, Washington, where I grew up. Some of them lived in Ahtanum Canyon (between Yakima and Ellensurg) where I spent a lot of my young years hunting and fishing, high in the mountains. [In fact, there are quite a few Woolsey families in Oregon and Washington.] Next, I'll start on the Missouri Census. I have done this hit and miss, but now I'll check every Woolsey in Missouri for those census years. Enough for now. Sincerely, Wilford W. Whitaker