They didn't make it easy...

This is a good reminder that we need to be very creative when looking for our ancestors - the census takers didn't make it easy. I couldn't find my great-great grandfather, John Johns, in Dakota county, NE in the 1870 census. I tried his wife, Cynthia Johns and his children James and Josephine Johns - nothing. I tried a search for all the men with a first name of John living in Dakota county, NE - 142 possibles. I finally did a search for all the men with first name of John, who were born in Ohio in 1842 (plus or minus 2 years). Two possibles - John Martin and John Johnson. Immediately I clicked John Johnson and up pops him with a wife Synthia and children James and Josephine. Yeah! Be creative...you just might get lucky.