>From personal experience, I can tell you that there are rather complete records of wills, deeds, etc, for Orange Co., NY going back to the early 1700's. Some of the originals of wills even exist. The wills and related documents -- letters of administration, etc. -- are in the Surrogate Court office. Just inside the front door are fat books which provide an index to their holdings. Once you locate the volume number and page, you head to the basement to find the actual document. These are in similar binders which contain xerox copies of the originals. You will be looking, not at the original will, but a copy made by the court clerk of the original. Other than possible goofs in reading the original handwriting, one is as good as the other. The Surrogate Court office is in a small yellow brick building just east of the Goshen Presbyterian Church which is in the center of the downtown. You cannot miss its tall steeple. Deeds are held by the County Clerk. The Clerk is in the country office complex about two blocks up Main Street from the Presbyterian Church. This is a modern looking group of buildings which I think you might describe as a bunch of stacked blocks. As with the Surrogate, you can go help yourself and find the deeds that interest you. They are all kept by volume and page number. When you find documents you need, then go see one of the clerks to get a copy. Last time I was there, it was quite inexpensive, like 25 cents a sheet. These are all legal documents you will be looking at, so treat them with respect. Make no marks of any kind on them as others after you may want to look at them, too. Tom Cornell Orange Co. Cornell/Knapp descendant