The various speakers made some interesting points, including: Whenever the courthouse records burned, check any abstract / title offices.  Frequently they have many of the old land records. When ever you have a will signed with an "x" - especially if the person was elderly or in ill health - double check for lawsuits over the estate.  Such wills often were prepared by relatives living near the person making the will, and often disputes arose - sometimes justified, sometimes not - when the estate was settled.  The speaker has seen many examples where the relative close at hand simply wrote out other family members, and, of course, the person signing the will could not read what was written. Militia records often are in the county records where the militia company was raised, not in the state archives. When looking at wills [we should only be so lucky] look for a phrase such as "In the name of God, amen."  If you see a phrase like this, the person almost certainly was NOT a Quaker.  If you don't see a phrase like this, perhaps the person was a Quaker. "Great Slave Train of 1862" - slaves in many Southern states, including Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, & Louisiana were moved into Texas, mostly in either the Tyler area or else in the Houston area. There are four likely places to find World War I records: a) Federal government - far fewer records burned in St. Louis than they will tell you - some records are water damaged but perfectly legible. b) State adjutant generals' offices - theoretically, EVERY person who served had a duplicate record sent to the office in the state from which they entered the service. c) County courthouses - veterans were encouraged to register copies of their discharge papers d) VFW often got copies of papers for veterans who were disabled. This is very important - every soldier was entitled to get two sets of his medals - if the 1st set was lost, a 2nd set will be issued to the first descendent who asks for the medal.  In particular, if a soldier was wounded in WWI, then a crucial medal to request is the one that was issued in 1932 or 1933 which is 24 carat gold - a response to the Bonus army demands, but given as a medal rather than cash to avoid the stigma of giving a handout to veterans who were out of work. The Clayton Library in Houston has undertaking a massive project to build their microfilm collection.  They are funding a huge microfilming project in the Texas state archives to microfilm records prior to statehood, and also records from the Civil War. They are also buying microfilm records for all of the U.S. for the American Revolution and earlier dates. Among South Carolina microfilm they have purchased is: Evidence Laid Before the Commissioners for Ascertaining the Depreciation in Paper Currency, 1777-1780 Dockets of Causes for Trials, 1781-1782  Oaths of Allegiance, 1780 [both Patriot and Loyalist - one record book 2,000pp + has not yet been filmed] Grants of Land, 1674-1773 etc. They have bought "Papeles Procedentes de Cuba" which are the early Spanish records relating to the southwestern U.S. - which mention many folks from Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas and Alabama who had business dealings in Louisiana, Natchez, Florida, etc. And many other microfilmed records. And they will also be buying this the county records for most Texas counties that were microfilmed by the LDS.