I have found in my research for some Illinois-Indiana-Iowa-Missouri and other middlewestern families that frequently OLD (not the new ones) county histories are sometimes very helpful. Many times the older citizens have been interviewed and they give some information about their migrations, their occupations, their marriages, their religious and political and fraternal organizations. Do count on some of these folks having faulty memories, however. Check out their stories with the deeds and the court records and tax records and whatever other record you can find!!! Probates are great. These county histories are not always reliable, and each fact (name, place, event, date given in a biography) should be followed up with other research, but there are generally lots of clues in such county histories. Many of these histories have been filmed by the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and generally can be borrowed for a small fee for a limited time through your nearby family history center. Many of these county histories are also in libraries in the various State libraries, and, of course, at the DAR Library in Washington, DC. Some MAY be at the Library of Congress, but I am unsure of the interlibrary loan policy of those libraries in Washington DC. Talk with your public librarian about interlibrary loan of books and films. You may be pleasantly surprised. Some small libraries have no microfilm readers, however, and my country librarian conveniently loses my requests for ILL!!! E.W.Wallace