Hi Pete, I noticed that your first couple generations at least didn't have any census info attached to their profiles. I think I found this family in the 1880 census. The John Downs in Marion, Boone, Indiana lists his birthdate as 1815 and his birth place as Indiana. Granted, I don't know much about the history of Indiana, but that would seem to mean that he was born in that state shortly after Euro-American settlers began arriving in any real numbers.