Thanks for the information, Slowhands. I had found the two George Gethings (father and son)at Springfield in Newport via Genes Reunited. My quandary is: the older one is too old to have a child in 1858 (or rather his wife is) and the younger one is still unmarried after my great-grandmother was born in 1858. So could either be the father?
It's extra frustrating that according to a book I own, there are many "holes" in the 1861 census, where I'm looking for a 3 year old girl. By 1871 she could be away at boarding school, though nothing shows up on the census.