Mercifully off topic: Running down ancestor information, I notice that counties in this country vary widely in how they’ve kept records, and how even now the access to the records span from searchable free online to hidden somewhere accessible only by paying hundreds of dollars.

STATES RIGHTS!!

Anyway, thankfully the US census is pretty much available (except where the Census records were lost in fires, etc.) Yes, the evil Census, tool of the UN to take over America (according to the wingnuts), but in reality mandated by the Constitution for very good reasons.

There’s a big hole in my genealogy, since my mother never knew her father (not unusual I guess.) I’ve got a name - which has never been independently verified (i.e., my maternal grandmother could have lied about her fling) so I’m looking for possible candidates to do genetic testing, since any other descendants of my maternal grandfather, or descendants of his siblings, should readily show up genetically as my 2nd or 3rd cousins.