In a message dated 1/23/2000 7:59:50 AM Pacific Standard Time, [email protected] writes: << parish records were carefully made (unless you were Roman Catholic, which can be a problem). >> Liz, Why? I've used them in Portugal (I had to learn to read "old" Portuguese) to trace my foreign lines back to the 1500s. I found them quite easy to use. My Blackburn line isn't so nice. I can't get past my William (who else?) in 1814 in E. Tenn. Cheri