RootsChat.Com

True?  My heart sank when I saw something about this happening.  Ancestry gutted the Rootsweb site so thoroughly that it's essentially useless today - and undoubtedly other websites that I hadn't used yet.  It's crushing to think about all that work posted on Rootsweb that's just gone. 

Fascinating, thank you

Thank you so very much for the thoughtful feedback.
 
My apologies!  I originally included a note that I'd tracked John and Elizabeth through the 1840, 1850, 1860 and 1880 censuses (1880 Elizabeth as a widow), but thought I was getting too wordy and deleted.  Beginner’s mistake.  I'm sorry to have sent you looking for duplicates.  (Looked at every line of the 1870 county census, but couldn't find them.)

Very good point about referring to the county from the vantage point of time.  I agree with you that John was probably born in what remained as Frederick County.

John’s will was registered for probate in October 1878 so I’m assuming that the 1879 date is inaccurate.  I still have to pull up the actual probate documents.

Yes, I did look for William and any other first name with a surname that came close to Elliott, Ellet, Ellsell, etc. in prior Frederick County censuses.

*There's a Nicholas Elleott in Baltimore for the 1800 census, but I didn't see him afterwards.
*There's a Christopher Elliott spelled with a 'y' in an early marriage record and I fancied him for a sibling, but while he lives in Clarke County through the 19th century, nothing from his family ever seems to cross with my Eleyett or Ellyetts so I've tentatively crossed him out.
*I was also excited to see a William Elliot named in 1800 for Frederick County Maryland, with a John listed as well (albeit possibly too early to be my John); William Ellet or Ellit in Hartford MD; William Elliott in Prince George's County, MD; and a William Elliott in Queen Anne's County, MD. 
*William Ellsell (1830 VA census) seems to have been a true “Ellsell” since there are still Ellsells in Clarke County in the 1870s and 1880s.
*I may have missed other Williams in Virginia, but one I thought my best lead since he was born in 1785 turned out to be William Aquilla Elliott and wife Nancy.  I’d originally hoped she might have been a second wife.

I’ll double back and try to dig deeper into the other William with early census listings in Virginia. – For example, there’s a Benjamin Elliott who’s recorded near William Elliott near Pughtown, VA on the 1810 census.  Pughtown is essentially part of the Back Creek area, which is where Wm Aquilla Elliott is counted for the 1860 census.  Ben ends up living in Clarke County, but that doesn’t lead me to think he’s part of my people.
 
I’ve also tried and failed to find documentation online that would tie the Jane Eleyet who gets married in 1832 to my family.  I still think she could be John’s sibling.
 
I’ve tried searching death records and cemetery records, etc to see if I can find William or Mary’s death without success but will try contacting the local archives and historical society folks too.

What do you think about searching for English data for William’s forebears?  Is it too much of a needle in the Elliott haystack?  I wondered if using the 1668 will date in Maryland as a starting point would be worth trying?

Many thanks again!

Am looking for confirmation either way: fellow Americans tracking the origins of the Quaker Browne/Brown family which emigrated to the colonies and helped create the Nottingham settlement for William Penn may have grabbed a document which doesn't belong to our family. 

Specifically, there's an online marriage record for a Richard Browne who married a woman named Mary Masters in Gloucestershire on 14 Aug 1651.  I didn't know whether to automatically accept this as fact if only because of the travel required at the time.  Would this have been usual practice? 

Richard's wife was named Mary and his name was spelled with an "e" on the end and his known children were born after that date, but it might just be convenient to find an ancient, foreign, record online.  Thoughts?

I've used yearbooks to pin down activities like clubs and nicknames as you mention, but they can also give you data as to when the schools opened or closed, changed names, etc.  It's also cool to see the photos of the school grounds and building interiors from the time period, especially if you could never get there to see the present building(s) for yourself.  My grandfather and two great-aunts were all public school teachers, but I didn't know when one of the three had started working.  I could confirm it using the yearbooks.  Believe it or not, the copy I found online had my great-aunt's signature in it!  (It's a thing in the States to get as many people to sign your book as possible before school lets out, or at least to get your favorite people to sign it.)

Ancestry has some yearbooks, but I suggest checking with the school(s) directly if you know the facility's name.  The first place I look is usually off the library link on the website, often as part of the school archives.  Many, many colleges and universities have already scanned their yearbooks here in the U.S.  If you don't see any or don't see the year you're looking for, email the archivist, reference librarian, or whoever seems appropriate from the website.