Linda, Putting the words out there, speaking them aloud or posting online, have always been helpful to me, too.  Many times, I've posted something online, and almost immediately after posting, within an hour or two, the answer comes to me.  I find what I need.  Then I go back and post my findings in case anyone else is looking for the same thing. I'm so glad you found the solution to your problem in such a definitive way. Alexa --- On Mon, 6/25/12, Linda Stokesbury Brennan <linda@stokesbury.org> wrote: I've found that I have to put into words what it is I need -- and  amazingly, occasionally I find what I'm looking for. My most wonderful example came when I was needing to find evidence  that a family with a different spelling of the surname was actually  part of my family. Many of my co-researchers disagreed, and said they  thought it was too different to be the same family. At that point, I  thought to myself, "I need to find a rosetta stone for this." It's hard to believe but within a couple of weeks, a new d-base was  put online by the Library of Virginia--a listing of all the early  chancery suits in Shenandoah County, VA. To my astonishment, I found a case which involved my ancestor, and it  contained papers that spelled the surname in the exact two spellings I  was trying to prove were the same family. It used the same two  spellings to refer to my own ancestor. How cool is that? I really could never have imagined such a wonderful  solution. I felt like I had won the lottery! So, from then on, I make it a point to define specifically what it is  I need to obtain in my family history search. Kind Regards, Linda