A handy thing to know about is how to search the RootsWeb Archives for our List's earlier messages. To do so, one goes to: http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl [Note: the ending of that URL is "PL" as in "place", not the number one] I was able to use a search there to help in the following answers to Joan's & Susan's questions: The book is truly as the title says, a history of the town, not the whole county, though as the original message said (copied at the bottom of this message, from RootsWeb Archives for our List), "There is quite a lot of interesting information about the area, if you can take the time to "read" this history of Livinston, which is county seat of Sumter County." Winston families are covered, however the Gov's name only showed up in the index one time, on a page talking about the covered-Winston-families being cousin of him. For how to obtain, see my originally posted info (recopied here from our List's archives): " A History of the Town of Livingston, Alabama, the book by Robert D. Spratt, copyright 1997 edition, was published (thanks to a generous grant from The Sumter County Historical Society) by Livingston Press, Station 22 The University of West Alabama Livingston, AL 35470 No phone number is shown on their invoice When I bought my copy in 1997, the cost of this excellent 180-page paperback was $12.95 plus $3 shipping per order. Try sending them a check for $15.95 and requesting a copy; it should still be available. Barbara" = = = >Original message, posted by: Renee Hall Cumberland, SReneeHC@aol.com on Friday 2 June 2000 Interesting book: HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON ALABAMA is a very good book to use in researching ancestors. I believe the author is Spratt. You really must search the pages one-by-one, though, as the index is not complete. There is quite a lot of interesting information about the area, if you can take the time to "read" this history of Livinston, which is county seat of Sumter County. I was able to identify ancestors whom I'd never even heard of, and I grew up in around Livingston. Good Luck!