diff --git a/js/jquery.tablesorter.js b/js/jquery.tablesorter.js
index 4a60c90d..a8ce77f8 100644
--- a/js/jquery.tablesorter.js
+++ b/js/jquery.tablesorter.js
@@ -394,7 +394,7 @@
 					for (j = 0; j < cells.length; j++) {
 						c = cells[j];
 						rowIndex = c.parentNode.rowIndex;
-						cellId = rowIndex + "-" + $(c).cellIndex;
+						cellId = rowIndex + "-" + $(c).index();
 						rowSpan = c.rowSpan || 1;
 						colSpan = c.colSpan || 1;
 						if (typeof(matrix[rowIndex]) === "undefined") {
@@ -424,7 +424,6 @@
 				}
 				// may not be accurate if # header columns !== # tbody columns
 				t.config.columns = cols + 1; // add one because it's a zero-based index
-				return lookup;
 			}
 
 			function formatSortingOrder(v) {
@@ -433,13 +432,15 @@
 			}
 
 			function buildHeaders(table) {
-				var header_index = computeThIndexes(table), ch, $t,
-					h, i, t, lock, time, c = table.config;
+				var ch, $t,
+					h, i, t, lock, time,
+					c = table.config;
 				c.headerList = [];
 				c.headerContent = [];
 				if (c.debug) {
 					time = new Date();
 				}
+				computeThIndexes(table);
 				// add icon if cssIcon option exists
 				i = c.cssIcon ? '<i class="' + ( c.cssIcon === ts.css.icon ? ts.css.icon : c.cssIcon + ' ' + ts.css.icon ) + '"></i>' : '';
 				c.$headers = $(table).find(c.selectorHeaders).each(function(index) {
@@ -455,8 +456,7 @@
 					$(this).html('<div class="' + ts.css.headerIn + '">' + t + '</div>'); // faster than wrapInner
 
 					if (c.onRenderHeader) { c.onRenderHeader.apply($t, [index]); }
-
-					this.column = header_index[this.parentNode.rowIndex + "-" + $(this).cellIndex];
+					this.column = parseInt( $(this).attr('data-column'), 10);
 					this.order = formatSortingOrder( ts.getData($t, ch, 'sortInitialOrder') || c.sortInitialOrder ) ? [1,0,2] : [0,1,2];
 					this.count = -1; // set to -1 because clicking on the header automatically adds one
 					this.lockedOrder = false;
@@ -829,9 +829,9 @@
 					// tbody may not exist if update is initialized while tbody is removed for processing
 					if ($tb.length && tbdy >= 0) {
 						row = $tb.eq(tbdy).find('tr').index( $row );
-						icell = $(cell).cellIndex;
+						icell = $(cell).index();
 						l = c.cache[tbdy].normalized[row].length - 1;
-						c.cache[tbdy].row[table.config.cache[tbdy].normalized[row][l]] = $row;
+						c.cache[tbdy].row[ c.cache[tbdy].normalized[row][l] ] = $row;
 						c.cache[tbdy].normalized[row][icell] = c.parsers[icell].format( getElementText(table, cell, icell), table, cell, icell );
 						checkResort($table, resort, callback);
 					}