Thanks for the reply. All of the 1870 Devan members in Missouri are my relatives. And yes they were born in Missouri. They migrated to Illinois then to Iowa. It is the patriarch, Richard Devan, who I can't get a handle on. Just can't figure out where he came from. It states in the censue Maryland, 1801 however he is owned by a person in Alabama and in just a couple of months after the civil war he and his family are in Missouri? I was thinking that he was owned by someone in Missouri after being sold by Benjamin Devan (in Alabama) and that he and his family kept the name "Devan". Other than trying to locate papers from the Devan family I can't think of any other way. Do you have any suggestions?