I went off to an on-line database, created and maintained by a state's own government. I scoured it for a fairly uncommon surname, and copied the results into the database I created from a 1980s book on the family. I gotta tell you, there are some SERIOUS discrepancies between Marriage Record A and Marriage Record B! SOME of it is probably due to some data-entry-er (me or them, doesn't matter) picking up the date of the license rather than the date of the actual marriage -- I figure up to a 30 day difference is that. SOME of the discrepancies cannot be explained away. F'instance, I have a newspaper account of a marriage that occurred in a different state altogether; this account is complete with the name of the minister and the specific church in that other town. Yet -- same marriage appears in these on-line records as having happened in THIS state. F'instance, I've seen a marriage certificate that says the wedding occurred on 11 Oct 1869; state records say 29 Nov 1868. Now that's just _backwards!_ F'instance, woman still living says her name is Axxxx middlename; her marriage record gives her as Ayyyy differentmiddlename. Good thing her husband had a HIGHLY recognizable name or I'd never have found them! F'instance, woman is illegitimate and NEVER used her stepfather's surname -- except on this marriage record. Then there's the one where every detail of bride and groom match the database -- birthdates & places -- except that the marriage date makes him 11 months old at the time. I /don't/ think so. So, all the info is in the NOTES and discrepancies are marked. Let someone who doesn't know the participants figure it out. Bah. Humbug. Cheryl singhals <singhals@erols.com>