For more than 25 years, I presumed that Mary “Gram” Jenks, my great-great-great grandmother, had been widowed a second time before she became the first women’s police matron in Rhode Island in 1893.

In the little book she published a decade later, “Behind the Bars,” she made no mention of a husband, and it appeared she was on duty nearly around the clock, tending women inmates and those left in dire straits because their husbands were in jail. Her 1909 death certificate lists her as widowed, but with no mention of who her husband was.

Here’s what I knew: She was born Mary Payne in 1831 to a couple of Connecticut descent, John and Clarissa (Doolittle) Payne, in Cairo, Greene County, N.Y. She married John Bray and had at least six children, including my ancestor, Agnes (Bray) Eldridge of Maine. In fact, Mary is my maternal line all the way – my mother’s mother’s mother’s mother’s mother.

She studied medicine from 1873 to 1875, I don’t know where, and practiced medicine until 1892. By 1893, she was definitely in Rhode Island, Pawtucket to be exact.

You might think I could find her on the 1880 census – which is free on the LDS Church Web site at www.familysearch.org. But was she a Bray or a Jenks by then? And Mary is such a common name. I tried narrowing down my search to New York and Rhode Island, with no success.

In Maine, there are census indexes for heads of household 1790-1870, but I didn’t have access to indexes for other states. It’s possible, and very affordable, to rent census microfilm from other states through the LDS Church Family History Centers such as the one in Bangor, but you sort of have to narrow down what town or towns you want to search.

What I ended up doing is subscribing to a paid database on the Web in order to get easy access to U.S. census records from other states. Many of these databases are cheaper if you sign up for more than a brief period of time – for example, I paid about $190 for a year.

As with the LDS site, you can look up anyone in the household. With John and Mary being such common names, I chose to look for daughter Agnes.

Well, come to find out, in 1870 the Brays weren’t in New York or Rhode Island, but in Holyoke, Mass. Better yet, there were six Bray children listed – Agnes, Edwin, Marshal, Charles, Clara and Maria. Mary was listed as “keeping house.”

And one more. John Hall, age 3 months. I have no idea who he was and haven’t seen him as a relative in obituaries.

John and Mary, no children listed, were in South Hadley in 1880. She was listed as a physician.

In 1900, in Pawtucket on Read Street, I found Mary A. Jenks, police matron, born in New York, both parents listed as born in Connecticut. Bingo.

And, her husband was Edmund Jenks. They told the census taker they had been married 15 years. Also, Mary had borne eight children, four of whom were still living.

The thing about some of these databases is that you can look at the actual page of the census and print out a portion if you like. They also offer vital records you may not find elsewhere. For instance, I found Mary and Edmund’s marriage date.

I don’t know whether I will always subscribe to such a database, but it certainly enabled me to do quick searches of U.S. census records in all states.

I will, of course, also continue to use the free LDS site for the 1880 census, which actually is a transcription of that U.S. census.

Keep in mind that when you use transcribed material, or an index compiled for just about anything, you are presuming that the transcriber copied names exactly – and that the census taker also was accurate.

Looking up the Bray family in 1860 in the census of Lexington, N.Y., I found that three of seven members of the family had been indexed as “Bailey” rather than Bray. When I pulled up the actual page of the census, I could tell it was supposed to be “Bray.”

By the way, using a search engine, I found two copies of “Behind the Bars” in used bookstores. One was $7, the other $137.50. Guess which one I bought!

3324. PREBLE-McFARLAND. Seeking parentage of Lydia McFarland, 1791-1863, who in 1805 married John Preble, 1788-1864, at Knox. The 1810 U.S. Census has Lydia and John in Beaver Hill, Kennebec County, with first child Cyrene, born 1809. By 1830, they are in Bradford, Penobscot County. Col. Charles E. Preble Jr., 8027 Garlot Drive, Annandale, Va. 22003; Cpreblejr@aol.com; telephone (703) 560-8852; fax (703) 569-5962.

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