This one has me scratching my hear. I was looking up some distant relatives of the Handley surname and found a family that had moved from the OH/KY/WV/VA area to Decatur, IN, by 1850, at documented in that year's US Census. Of the information in this post that did not come from Census and other records on file with Ancestry.com, the rest comes from the family trees of other members, and I do not have any source for those. I'll mark those with an asterisk (*). Except for a look at some Decatur histories, I have not tried to find any information outside Ancestor because I would like to see additional Census records first...and they are not in sight.

On the 1850 Census (Clay, Decatur) is the household of James Barger (b. abt 1819 in VA; died *1852 in *Decatur). His wife is Elizabeth (b. abt 1826, KY; died *1862 in *Decatur), possibly nee *Wooden. In the home is also a girl child, Lavina F. Burrus, b. abt 1845. A couple of family trees state that Elizabeth was previously wed to Edward D. Burrus (*1820-*1846). Also on some trees, Elizabeth and James had a daughter *Ann Liza Barger in 1851.

Most of the * items seem to be supported by what I found on the 1860 Census (still Clay, Decatur), although it was buried deep. The "shovel" with which I uncovered it was an Indiana Marriage Collection item for:
Name: Aaron Harlen
Spouse Name: Elizabeth Beargar
Marriage Date: 5 Feb 1860
Marriage County: Decatur

This led me to:
Name: Aaron Harlan
Age in 1860: 51
Birth Year: abt 1809
Birthplace: Kentucky
Home in 1860: Clay, Decatur, Indiana
Gender: Male
Post Office: Clifty
Value of real estate: View image
Household Members:
Name Age
Aaron Harlan 51
Elizabeth Harlan 35
Luvina Harlan 14
Ana Liza Harlan 9
William Harlan 15
Olive Harlan 13
Sarah Harlan 11
Edmond Harlan 9
Nancy Harlan 6
Adaline Harlan 4
Robert Spaw 20 (a laborer not noted as family)

Some trees at that point appear to have mingled this Aaron with a couple of fellows with the same name, but conflicting in children, residences, etc., too many conflicts for a possible match.

That is where I lost the trail. I can't find Aaron or any of the children of this blended family on another Census record. All of Aaron's kids on the 1860 record were marked born in Indiana but I don't find them as expected on 1850 with their father and his previous wife.

While these folks are very distant family, I'm still curious about their place in the world outside the 1860 Census. Does anyone recognize them?