Hello List, It sure would be helpful if in the Subject window would appear just the surname(s) included in your message. Have discovered that I am jumping around trying to find the message with a particular surname so I can check them. I am looking at the Surname Exchange Index which has over 8000 surnames (not limited to Saratoga County) which Heritage Hunters publishes each year. Some have just alphabetical lists of surnames; some have just pedigree charts; some have family group sheets; and some have all of the above. This list is distributed to members of Heritage Hunters. Heritage Hunter volunteers are currently working on a project at the Surrogate Court of Saratoga County. They are extracting and creating a list of the Testate (with a will), Intestate (without a will) and Guardianships in the index file for all dates 1900 back to the beginning in 1791. This is currently published in our bi-monthly newsletter which goes to our members. We are up to the "L's" in the newsletter about to be mailed. **DO NOT rush to send a letter requesting this info from the Surrogate's or you will receive the shock of your life. By NYS law, they are to charge $70 PER file for any estate older than 26 years even if there is only one paper in it. There are people locally who will obtain those for you for a fee and will follow thru on checking the information that might be in the Wills as well. The Guardianships are the result of an estate so they would need to be researched also. Children sharing the same Guardianship file number may be siblings but might also be grandchildren or children who may be heirs to the decedent. In the Surrogate's list for Banta are: Year= Year probate began Type= Testate-T Intestate-I Guardianship- G Surname, First name File# = Location in file cabinet of all of the probate information NOTE** DO NOT drop any numbers or letters in the file number. There is a difference in file 005/47 and 5/47. Very early files were 00numbers. Year Type Surname, First File# 1812 T Banta, Arie 005/47 1893 G Banta, Barbeam 124a/1 1864 T Banta, Caroline 070/8 1859 T Banta, Isaac 065/2 1883 T Banta, Mary 3/25 1857 G Banta, Pendleton K. 066/62 1853 T Banta, Peter 039/2 1855 T Banta, Peter H. 042/22 1857 G Banta, William H. 066/62 These are the Banta's listed in our newsletter. In Sylvester's History of Saratoga Pg 325 Aurie Banta, one of the pathmasters of 1788, wa a resident of Waterford. He was a carpenter. His name has also been spelled Aarie. There are other Bantas in this book. I hope that others on this list become participants in sharing information. If you have a copy of the History of Saratoga County by Nathaniel Sylvester, please take the time to look up the surnames that show up on this list. Someone else may have some other records. Sharing is what will make this list fruitful and help bring the information about Saratoga County back to Saratoga. Some people possess information from Family Bibles or record sources outside of Saratoga that will never be known to anyone else. Volunteers help to provide the information on the Saratoga GenWebPage <http://www.rootsweb.com/~nysarato/> which has links to other Saratoga related information. Check the Surnames, Queries, Cemeteries and all the other sections of this site. Volunteers contribute to the great bi-monthly newsletter published by Heritage Hunters. Our 16 page newsletter is loaded with Saratoga information and other information valuable to anyone doing research. If in Saratoga your ancestors sleep, they are also covered with snow quite deep. We had quite a storm here yesterday and looking at at least 8" in Saratoga Springs. Might be deeper. God Bless Ruth Ann [email protected] ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.