Right on, Jan. Still, people like to have the other and it's ok so long as they take it with many grains of salt. I just posted the numbers because people will look anyway and it is mildly intersting. Inter-temporal comparisons are very difficult. Even today, we find it hard to compare this decade with the last. How do you value a home computer compared to 30 years ago. Should it be valued as a typewriter, chart-drawer, grammar-checker, entertainment device (and which device) etc. If we just take computing power, my little desktop is worth far more than Sperry-Rand's Univac. Does that make me a multi-millionaire? (We have several computers.) What would be nice would be some survey of prices and wages in the particular periods. I've seen some of it done for England, but not for the states. WBB >>> "Jan Jacot" <[email protected]> 11/12/03 12:25PM >>> Hi Listers, My own measurement mechanism utilized for evaluating my 1700s ancestors prosperity level is through examining and studying wills and inventories of others of same locality, e.g., ETown, Newark, Westfield. Comparing an ancestor?s property holdings and inventory makeup and overall value, with/against Others of community associates or even other family members, can provide a very useful barometer into your own ancestor?s level of means,life style,and prosperity of those times. Perhaps constitutes an even better equasion than trying to compute into some modern times money values... Jan in CA -- ... life is a gift, use it well every day... ==== NJESSEX Mailing List ==== Visit the NJGenWeb Site at: <http://www.rootsweb.com/~njhttp://www.rootsweb.com/~njgenweb/subindex.htm> ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237