Friends One of the saving graces of researching Maryland is the Maryland Archives on line. I could spend years just sifting through the material in there and still find leads! From ..."Archives of Maryland, Vol. 41; Provincial Court Proceedings, 1658" < http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/00 0041/html/am41--98.html> ... is a typical URL - I found a court case of ... BOLIN v ANDERTON; ANDERTON v BOLIN p.98, p130, p156-7, p166-7 In summary it looks like Bowling and John Anderton had a trading agreement that when John went back to England in June 1657 "in Company wth the pent GouT" (the present government?) he would buy £20 worth of goods from the £40 that Bowling gave him, keeping £20 as commission. Bowling appears to have been the Overseer for John and when he he was away in England went to Virginia during a sickness, leaving the crop of Corn & Tobacco to ruin. Although the case seems to have gone against John, Bowling did not get his full £40 either. The operative fact for me here was that John Anderton was part of a Government mission to England. In support of which I found ... < http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/00 0041/html/am41--91.html> p91; dated 24 Nov 1657 When "Samuel Tilghman of Rachcliffe in the County of Middesex [sic] Mariner" made a Power of Attorney, it was "Signed Sealed & Deliuered in the [presence] of Josias ffendell; John Anderton. ffrom Grauesend the 24th of Nouembr 1657" I didn't realise what I had found until I started checking deeper into the historical background and found that between 1657-1660 Josias Fendall was governor of Maryland! Could anyone tell me more about this episode in your state history or point me to an online resource? Needless to say, books on Maryland State History are pretty thin on the ground in Wollondilly Shire, NSW! Thank you in advance Alan Anderton, Bargo NSW Australia