Dick Eastman's newsletter this week suggests an article about what is happening to CD's. It seems that many of the CD's we have recorded probably have already lost their data and that there is an inkling of the cause. If you are planning on making a CD of your data or already have, you should read this article. http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=15800263&pg no=1 And again I recommend Eastman's newsletter. http://www.eogn.com The National Genealogical Society News Magazine had several good sites listed too. You can find more about NGS at www.ngsgenealogy.org 1840 special census of military pensioners. This would include veterans of the Revolutionary War and War of 1812. http://www.usgennet.org/usa/topic/colonial/census/1840 Please note that you may find the surname you seek in the column for head of household and find a pensioner you did not expect! The 1840 census just listed the head of household and indicated the number of people of each sex living in the household. However, this special part of the census listed the name, age of pensioner, head of household, city/township, county, state. So if you are wondering who that elderly man was living with your ancestor this might help. http://www.familysearch.org has their 1880 census index linked to the microfilm images on Ancestry.com. If you are a member of the LDS church you can see the images free. If you are not, you can pay $9.95 for 30 day access to the images. This is only for the 1880 census but if you are diligent you may be able to get all your research done in that 30 days. The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was an organization for Union veterans of the Civil War. There is a publication called "Grand Army of the Republic, Department of Illinois, Transcription of the Death Rolls 1879-1947" that contains the names and death data of 32,000 veterans. Look for it at http://www.ngpublications.com You can find some original GAR records at http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usamhi Use the finding aids. This is the site of the US Army Military History Institute at Carlisle, PA and it has some other goodies too including pictures of Civil War soldiers. The GAR had a lot of interesting records but they are hard to find. Sometimes you can find a local post and it may have information. The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (USVCW) has a website that might help locate information. http://suvcw.org/gar.htm Look for a listing of posts at http://suvcw.org/garposts/garposts.htm or www.loc.gov/rr/main/gar/garhome.html And have you thought about looking at passport applications for information? Look at www.archives.gov/research_room/genealogy/research_topics/passport_applicatio ns.html for information about this source. Have you thought about eBay for Bibles, photo albums or photos? http://eBay.com If you put in the search box bible, you will get over 9,000 items. If you put in a name and bible you will narrow down the search. For instance bunker bible got only a few items and a bible that had belonged to a man who fought at Bunker Hill in the Revolution. You can find some real treasures there. Bette