Delores and all - I, in no way, meant to imply that one should give up looking for ones ancestors. My thought is that IF there's a source out there that tells us which records are destroyed or unavailable, it saves us the struggle of looking for them. Especially us folks who live great distances and are relying on long distance research and/or the generousity of others, and suffer the shortage of extra cash for research. Like most all of us, I'm having total difficulty in finding birth or death info on a certain individual, back in the mid-to-late 1700's, and have an "idea" that perhaps these records have been destroyed. It would definitely help me to know what not to bother looking for. And let me add that the Indiana Library Delores speaks of is definitely a surprising source of NJ info. I have used them and posted this source a few times on other NJ lists. Stay well all -- Terri in faraway WA