Cousins, In going through the 1920 and 1930 Censuses, I've come across a Yelton family that's a little unusual in some ways, and I'm hoping someone on the list has more information. This concerns some descendants of Nimrod Washington Yelton, son of John James Yelton & Mary Jane Wheeler. I found an F. R. Yelton in the 1920 Census for El Paso, TX. His wife's name is given as "Mrs. F. R. Yelton" which is something I haven't seen before in a census. I'm pretty sure that this is Frank Rodney Yelton, son of Nimrod Washington Yelton. The age and place of birth are consistent, and another son of Nimrod, Victor Herbert Yelton, is also living in El Paso. Both men are in the painting business. In the 1930 Census, he's listed as Frank R. Yelton and his wife's name is Mary. Now for the unusual stuff. First of all, Mary is 17 to 19 years older than Frank, and based on information in the censuses I think she was his first wife, he was her third husband, and they married when Frank was about 21. In the 1920 Census, the household includes two of Mary's sons, one by each of her previous marriages. There's also a 12 year old girl named Ruth, identified as Frank's daughter, and presumably Mary's child as well. By 1930, the two stepsons have married and have households of their own. Ruth has vanished from the household, but there's a new child (next unusual thing), an 8 year old boy named Alfred R. Yelton, born in New York. At this point, Frank R. Yelton is 47 and his wife Mary is 64. Now I know it's not absolutely impossible for a woman in her fifties to have a child, but it is somewhat unusual. Furthermore, Alfred was, according to the census, born in New York, although the birthplaces of his father and mother are given consistently with his identification as the child of Frank and Mary. I think I found this Alfred R. Yelton in the California Death Records Index, but it gives his place of birth as Texas. Oddly, the spaces for his mother's name and father's surname are blank. You'd think that, even if someone who didn't know him very well was providing this information, they would at least give the father's surname as Yelton. I can think of some theories to account for all this; my personal favorite is that Alfred came out from New York on one of the Orphan Trains and was adopted by the Yeltons. I did check the Orphan Train website, but there was no Yelton information there. The other possibility that occurred to me is that, as I've seen in some other families, Alfred was actually their (illegitimate) grandson. I can't find Ruth anywhere in the 1930 Census as a Yelton. I can't find a married Ruth of the right age in El Paso. Maybe she went to New York, had a child out of wedlock, and sent him to her parents to raise while she pursued her acting career (I have a lurid imagination). Does anyone have any additional information on this family? I've looked at the Texas GenWeb archives, but while they have lots of comparatively recent vital records, there isn't much for the period I'm looking at. Cheryl