I appreciated seeing Janet's message to the loop concerning Avery information at Ancestry and also her note concernign the Beatty 2000 project. I do think it would be a great idea to emulate Ray's project with the Avery surname. What they have done is basically set up a huge research cooperative that is resulting in unbelievable success stories. Well worth the effort, in my opinion. Janet and I are both researching our common ancestors, AMY AVERY (born abt 1777) and ADOLPHUS DOWNER (born 1775). Adolphus was born in Preston, New London Co., CT; Amy was born in CT, specific location unknown. We have been searching unsuccessfully for *many years* to find the birthdate, birthplace, and parentage of Amy AVERY. Amy Avery and Adolphus Downer were mrd abt 1800. The book, The Downer Family in America, specifies that they married in Norwich, but whether that was Norwich NY or Norwich CT is unknown. We haven't found any documentation in CT records, nor in Norwich NY records. Any suggestions or help, especially specific to Amy Avery, would be very gratefully accepted! please reply to either or both of us: =Cheryl Hemingway chemingw@inet.net or my niece: Janet Tabares janetaba@wt.net