Where was John P Oviatt in 1850?

The 1850 census is the first U.S. census that enumerates names of all members in a household.  Until that time all census listings included the name of the head-of-the-household along with the number of males and females listed by age group.  This makes it particularly difficult in researching female lineage.  From the 1850 census I was able to discover that John P. Oviatt and his family were living in Concord, Lake County, Ohio.  

1850 United States Federal Census, Concord, Lake County, Roll: M432 701, page 281, image 341

I was able to find him in the same locality in the 1840 census, this time spelled correctly as Oviatt.  Since the name and location matched, as did the gender and ages of dependents I felt sure this was a fit.  So far – so good.  From there it got a little more difficult, but equally exciting.  Just a little reminder, this research took place prior to the explosion of the Internet, which meant many long exhausting hours pouring over microfilm and dusty books at various libraries.  Most information had to be gathered via U.S. mail and interlibrary book loans.  It was not possible to “google” information as we do today