Again from NEHGS newsletter Maine State Archives http://www.state.me.us/sos/arc The Maine State Archives has a number of online resources available to individuals researching their family history. Links to some of these resources may be found under the Online Services header on the home page. Click on the Archives Interactive link to open the database search page. Most of these databases are indexes to the records held by the Archives. They include legislation proposed or enacted between 1820 and 1860, early court cases from York, Washington, and Kennebec counties, the town and city microfilm collection, miscellaneous municipal records filed with the state, and maps. You will also find links to marriage and death databases under the Online Services header. The marriage database index covers the period January 1, 1892 to December 31, 1996, while the death database index covers the period from January 1, 1960 through December 31, 1996. A nice feature of this website is that there is more than one way to access and search the databases. You can utilize the website's search feature, as described above, or you can download the data files of selected vital records and indexes by clicking on the Databases for Downloading link on the home page. Most of the databases are in MS-Access file format. The vital records databases are an exception as they are text files. Instructions for downloading are found in the introductory material on the page. These downloadable databases include the vital records databases described above; the Courts 1696 - 1854 database, which is an index to early cases from the York County Court of Common Pleas (1696-1760), the Kennebec County Supreme Court (1799-1854), and the Washington County District Court (1839-1846); and a database of maps from 1674 to 1989. It should be noted that the Maine marriage and death databases and the courts database, as well as a number of other Maine databases, are available to members on the NEHGS website at http://www.newenglandancestors.org/research/database/reg_disp.asp?reg_id=2. Those of you with Maine ancestors who fought in the Civil War should explore the resources on the Archives' Civil War Page (http://www.state.me.us/sos/arc/archives/military/civilwar/civilwar.htm). From this page you can access summary unit histories; regimental, municipal, and other related correspondence; and officers' photos. And, those of you with Revolutionary War ancestors can look for them in the Revolutionary War Land Grants and Pension Applications index (http://www.state.me.us/sos/arc/archives/military/revlist.htm). There are many useful resources for the family history researcher on the Maine State Archives website. Visit http://www.state.me.us/sos/arc/. Look for another state archives highlight in next week's issue of eNews. The newsletter, which I highly recommend, can be obtained from: To subscribe or view back issues of eNews, please visit http://www.newenglandancestors.org/education/articles/NEXUS_eNews/emnehgs_en ews_em_659_6.asp. You do not need to be a member of NEHGS to get this and it has a lot of good information in it. Bette ____________________________________________ Check out the Bunker Family Association. http://www.bunkerfamilyassn.org. If your name is Bunker and you are a male, consider joining our surname DNA project.