Ted: A few years ago I had a wonderful experience when researching a similar question. All I had to go on was family stories and absolutely no hard documentation. The Oregon-California Trails Association(OCTA)was very helpful. At the time, they were pilot-testing a database--COED--Census of Overland Emigrant Documents. They were able to turn up one reference to the "Ball Brothers" which led to a newspaper account of the attack on the wagon train they were part of (from Iowa!). To make a long story short (I'd love to tell you the whole story, but you know how we genealogists are--don't get us started), I'd recommend exploring this organization. They are online at http://w3.trib.com/~lwisch/octa.html. Choose the "Genealogy" button at the bottom of the page and it will give you info on the COED. It sounds like they may be backed up doing the searches, but you might as well get in the line. It does cost, but I had exhausted (I thought) all possible resources. (And look at the "Emigrants" page for an account of my "Ball Brothers" and some other treks. If you need other suggestions, feel free to contact me. (I'm a librarian and I just won't let go of things! :-)) There are some compiled bibliographies that might be helpful, for example--I just don't have them at hand. Good luck! Debra Debra Osborne Spindle Oklahoma City dspindle@telepath.com