I lost everyones e-mail that responded to this so hope everyone will be able to find this update. Thanks to Stan,Diane and the rest of you Angels! We arrived in Franklin Co. Sunday evening. Monday we started our day at the Information Center in Monroe. The gal was very helpful and gave us instruction on getting to the Court House and the Library. We went directly to the Courthouse and found scant information of use to us. EVERYONE was extreamly helpful. We did find a 3X5 card with some information about my Great Grandfather Denis McCarty's Naturalization. Following the gal's advice we contacted a man named Walter at the Court House. We showed him our "Land Record" for Denis and he even drew us a map on how to get to the exact property that was the McCarty Farm. We were estatic! What appeared to be the foundation of the house was still there. The land and trees were beautiful and my heart skipped a few beats just standing on the land that they had farmed. Why they left this little bit of heaven for land unknown in Iowa will always be a mystery to me. We took lots of pictures. Unfortunately for you, and for us all the offices were closed up because of the funeral of your Judge. Needless to say for us it was a big disappoinment to have waited so many years to be able to make the trip and to have run into this. I doubt that we will ever make it back up there. We also visited the Catholic Church to see if we could get some records as all of the kids were born and baptized there. However the Priest and House Keeper must also have been attending the funeral. Again I would like to thank all that responded to my e-mail. I also want to tell you all how wonderful this list is. If anyone runs across any other information on my Denis McCarty please let me know. Thanks! Cookie