Ira (but Pam can tune in, of course)any others who have colonial Virginia Harrises.  (Or any colonial Harrises.) Do you have access through your local library to the online database HeritageQuest? If so, you should be able to find PERSI [I forget its full name but it is an index to the genealogical periodicals held by the Allen County [Fort Wayne, IN]Indiana Public Library. Curt B. Witcher, whom I have heard lecture both here in Los Angeles Co. and at one national conference, I believe, is in charge of the genealogical collection in Fort Wayne PL. The URL [this is old and may have changed] for the Allen Co. PL www.ACPL.Lib.in.us  Otherwise use google to search. Why should you care about periodicals? Reason:  Some years ago, Dr. Malcolm Hart Harris (now deceased) of Virginia wrote several articles about some of our colonial Harrises and they were published in The Virginia Genealogist, which periodical is privately published by Frederick Dorman.  One article I remember  he wrote was of three William Harrises, two of whom were father and son [probably our family--at least Pam's and mine] and a third, seemingly not linked to the William Harris-Temperance Overton group, was associated with a family named Alves.  As I remember, Dr.Harris stated that this particular William Harris married the widowed Mrs Alves.  (I must have this article in my files, and hopefully, I have it numbered and cataloged, but I will have to look for it.) This is a method which I use, at least in later years, is take the eight volumes of Cavaliers and Pioneers (colonial and some later abstarted Virginia land grants) and search all the neighbors of whomever I am researching.  I collect the neighbors, mostly those who are clustered around a common water course.  The watercourses are indexed in these volumes and so are many other place names.  The first three volumes were published by the Library of Virginia but the last five volumes have been published in the last decades by the Virginia Genealogical Society also headquartered in  Richmond.  I found out early on that if one belongs to the VA Gen Soc, you get a discount on their publications. Ira, you tell me you have a good library in your city, and that recently (was that some years ago?) you were friendly with the librarian.  If he/she has not purchased these Virginia land grant books, which are almost required reading for those of us with colonial Virginia ancestors, then he/she should do so as soon as his budget allows.  (All libraries have having troubles these days, but nearly all genealogical societies of any size have supported their libraries, especially if there is a genealogical collection.) Some nights ago, as I was watching the TV (except for English plays) I decided to go through the early volumes of C&P and study all the families (not just Harrises) who were located on or near Elk Creek--was it Hanover Co?  As William Dollarhide, a published author and until lately, a popular lecturer at least in Western States, said:  collect all the suspicious characters.  (Many times these became in-laws, and even migrated together.) Thomas W. Jones, until recently one of the co-editors of the NGS Journal, and now has set up with a former co-worker an organization to study genealogy [somewhere on the East Coast--but not Florida, Pam] is another who lectures about *inferential genealogy*.  I think if we use a lot of ifs and buts in our biographies of our people, we are using inferential genealogy.  And this is almost a requirement for colonial Virginia biographies.  Because my Dad has many common surnames in his pedigree, I do a lot of inferencial biographies.  As Pam has e-mailed me, I sometimes miss the mark, but in the meantime, I am learning!!! See if your local library has purchased syllabi of national genealogical conferences (or CDs)and take a look at these authors' works [it they submitted them for the syllabi]. There are pretty good tables of contents, and you can seek out the better authors (and bibliographers). Also check to see that your library has any of the genealogical research guides [little packable books] by Dr. George K. Schweitzer.  Dr. Schweitizer taught chemistry (or some such science) for decades at the U of Tenn in Chattanooga, and he gives some good guidelines for conducting research, particulary [sp?] in the original colonies and even Kentucky (where many of my people migrated from Virginia, the mother state, and from Pennsylvania but seemingly also from Maryland.  I don't always agree with Dr. S, but I respect his scholarly approach to genealogy. I will write more later.  My computer gets temperamental and does not like long e-mails!!! Best wishes to all Harrises of colonial origins. E.W.Wallace