Help Solve These Mysteries

As I come across individuals or families that needs special attention I'm going to start listing them here with as much available information as I can find. As this page is bound to be very large, I'll attempt to keep the arrangement as compact as possible. At least two categories jump to mind right away, one being those of individuals that are missing parents or are attached to the wrong parents, and two being those families that seem to disappear for a census or two and then, hopefully, reemerge.

Individuals:

George W Crawford ECHOLS
Birth 1848 in Franklin County, Georgia, USA
Death 1870 in Alabama, USA

We find George in the 1850 Census for Saline Township, Hot Spring, Arkansas with who is presumed to be his mother Nancy (Nancy Melinda BROWN) and other Echols family members.

Residence date: 1850
Residence place: Saline Township, Hot Spring, Arkansas
Calculated Birth Year: 1848
Gender: Male
Birth place: Georgia
Family Number: 28
Page Number: 548
Sheet Number: 275
Household Gender Age
Nancy Echolls F 59y Virginia
Martin B Echolls M 31y South Carolina
Thomas W Echolls M 23y Georgia
Welborn Echolls M 22y Georgia
D G C Echolls M 20y Georgia
Lewis B Echolls M 16y Georgia
Geo W C Echolls M 2y Georgia

We next find George in 1860 Census for Chanahatchy, Tallapoosa, Alabama, USA in the household of Cambell (Duncan Green Campbell ECHOLS), a son of Nancy & Wiley Joshua Echols.

Residence date: 1860
Residence place: Chanahatchy, Tallapoosa County, Alabama
Calculated Birth Year: 1848
Gender: Male
Birth place: Georgia
Family Number: 667
Page Number: 98
Sheet Number: 293
Household Gender Age
Cambell Echols M 25y Georgia
Nancy Echols F 67y Virginia
Crawford Echols M 13y Georgia

We next find George in the Alabama State Census, 1820-1866 in Tallapoosa County, Alabama.

Name: Crawford Echols
Event Place: Tallapoosa County, Alabama
Event Date: 1866
Certificate Number: 57953
Page: 127
GS Film number: 1492022
Digital Folder Number: 4808460
Image Number: 1253

He is presumed dead by the time of the 1870 census as he is not located anywhere.

He cannot be the son of Wiley Joshua ECHOLS & Nancy Melinda BROWN so who are his parents?

See Echols Notes Vol 1, Chambers County, Alabama Marriages - Campbell Lee Echols & Martha R Dailey, for more information.