Tammy, The volumes are arranged by quarter and by county clusters. The index is the way I went because they list all the "Lastname, Firstname, RegistrationDistrict,Volume,Page". It helped me reduce the number of false orders. Unless you know the exact time of year for a BMD, you have to look through at least one and maybe four volumes. With the index you never have to look at more than two, the index and the exact stipulated volume. Ernie Subject: [DONEGAL] BMD Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2003 23:51:31 -0600 From: Tammy <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Hi all, I had another thought on spending my pre trip time searching for birth, deaths & marriages. Can anyone tell me who has order through the LDS which I should be looking at first? I noticed indexes then volumes of years. Am I right to think that the idexes should come first, or is there away to know which volume one would need instead of getting the index? I have births and marriages ranging from 1865- 1900. Or any suggestions on how not to spend my flight money on this? Tammy