There are lessons here for all genealogists.

While we are saddened when we discover that some ancestors have passed away between census years, we are encouraged when we see their progeny, who begin to appear in subsequent years, eventually leading to our own existence.

Another lesson is that people don't just live from one census year to another census year. What happened/s to them during the intervening years is what's really important and what occupies the bulk of our research energies. And as we all now know, it has become our purpose to discover that and "tell the story of the stones" for others.