Dear Michigan researcher of Harrises I checked a list of LDS Family History Centers (online at <A HREF="www.familysearch.org)"> www.familysearch.org)</A> and learned that there is a center in your town in Michigan. The link to this list is on the lower right, and adjacent to it is the Family History Library Catalog where you can do all kinds of searches for Place, Surname, etc. The information online may not be up-to-date about FHCs, but you can get the address and telephone number of the local center, then telephone & find out what the summer hours are. These FHCs are operated by volunteers (unpaid) so you cannot count on their being open as are public libraries (unless like most libraries which are bleeding these days, and probably will have shorter hours). Nearly all these FHCs have hundreds of microfiche called AIS = Accelerated Indexing Systems. This is a rather comprehensive census index (index only) for all the United States through the 1850 census, and for some States, AIS goes beyond the 1850 census. There should be a free 4-page handout at your center, but sometimes the best way to learn about this helpful index is to dive in and teach yourself. Look for your Harrises in each search. Note the locality where that name is found--also the page number of the census.+ Not all those Harrises are yours, thank goodness, but if you know what given names were pervasive in your family, search out those. Nearly every family had a John and a William, unfortunately. Search 1 of AIS includes the first censuses, including some early tax lists which are an effort to make up for the lost 1790 census. There is a high error rate in AIS--omissions, misspellings, duplications (and how!), but this AIS in some instances can show the migration trails of your ancestors. Of course, with Harrises, this is a difficult job, but you have some very good clues on which to build. Each census year is called a Search. Also, ask the FHC about their policy when you order microfilms (short term for a small fee) from Salt Lake City. Also ask about when you order microfiche. Some centers keep these microfiche on permanent loan. Each fiche costs 15 cents apiece, and you may be amazed what documents, books, censuses are on microfiche. Nearly all the microfiche held by Salt Lake City begin with a 6 million number, such as 6,000,000 and so on. For example, if you have some local genealogically oriented friends who are interested in colonial North Carolina, perhaps all of you can get together and purchase the entire North Carolina marriage bond index (groom index and separate bride index) to your local FHC. It may cost quite a bit, but probably not as much as a hardback book which is not discounted. Search Place for each place where you know your family lived. By the way, some of the printed Pennsylvania Archives are on microfiche (dozens of them), Earl G. Swem's Historical Index for Virginia is also on microfiche at FHC and so on. I have not explored many Tennessee records, but I am finding some of my ancestors either stayed in TN for a year or two before proceeding to KY, or some floated down from KY to TN and then on south to help start the Texas Revolution! Never be amazed at how your folks moved around! Incidentally, the transcribed 1880 US census is also on this website. Look for the kids on the left--the link is there. Now, Michigan has a jewel of a library, in some respects, for genealogists. It is the research library at the University at Ann Arbor. A long-ago correspondent, long before e-mail was available to us civilians, told me he had done all his Virginia research at the Research library there. Some of us are able to borrow books from our State libraries and from our State university libraries. Most universities do not want to admit they have genealogical books, but by prowling my large local state-supported university Research library, I have discovered caches of genealogically-oriented books. But, horrors, do not call them genealogy. Refer to local history or emigration/immigration, or tell them you are looking for Burke's Peerage, etc. One genealogical book for Granville Co., NC was cataloged by the University as being in the Law Library--why, because it dealt with colonial NC laws, even though it had been compiled for genealogists! I hope this encourages you NOT to give up on Virginia research because you live far away! +By the way, if you have a page number of any book or census which Salt Lake City has, you can send in a request for a copy--minimum $2.00 each request, but I believe you can request 10 copies at a time. This form is probably also on the website I have given you. One of the topnotch genealogists at Salt Lake City said these requests generally are given priority over other correspondence. So look for the form which you can download--something like Request for Microfilm, etc. A genealogy friend (and now author) tells me she frequently requests copies of indexes of books. E.W.Wallace Pass this info on to your friends, and get friendly by correspondence and internetting with the Family History Library.