Hi Denise,

Your message brought me up short because i had just finished finding my Susan Thomas (1855-1884) in 1880 in Virginia, married to J.E. Peyton, as expected.

I have a similar problem: Frank Fletcher (correct age) is found in Warren County in 1860, also "sharing lodging with other free folk," but not with his wife and son. They should have been in Fauquier County if not with him. I have searched all Virginia for that year, and finally came to the conclusion that she was a slave, and, therefore, not documented.

It seems to me that either of your conclusions is possible, and i would not discard either. Only further research will ferret out the truth. For the same reason, i need to spend a month in NoVA to do more digging!

Good luck,
Pat