Just a few things you ought to know about the will abstracts in general. 1. I kept the spelling as I saw it rather than trying to make it be "correct." So you will see names which obviously are something else. Plus you must keep in mind that these books, even though they are the ones which were microfilmed, seem to be copies of the originals. Therefore, you have the clerk, the transcriber, and me between you and the truth. I'm hoping we were all absolutely correct but know that flies in the face of reality. 2. With respect to names, in the first book (deed abstracts of Vol. G), I tried to group them and cross reference them. Then I decided that task was better left to the researcher. So it is wise to look through the whole list. 3. There is no guarantee about the significance of each entry in the index. Some of these people have a lot of references because they were often asked to be appraisers of estates or were justices of the peace. And sometimes (as in the list of physicians' accounts, which I found most interesting) it is only an indication that people by that name were living in the area. 4. Whenever property was referenced specifically, its description was always included in the abstract. 5. There is no consistency about the "additional" items that were abstracted. Sometimes I made notes regarding the fact that an inventory contained a "lot of medical books," or noted what jobs were done by recipients of payment (i.e., made coffin, dug grave) and other times did not, or included miscellaneous items that struck me as being somehow significant--like the note which got to me that the appraisers were so concerned about the destitute condition of the family that they decided that everything ought to be retained by the widow. The wills which spelled out relationships were marvelous and will be tremendous aids easily used. Other entries will require a little deduction and study. The wills that absolutely shortcircuited me were the ones where the husband/father refers to "my wife and children" and then neglects to mention a single name in the entire document. I kept holding my breath to the end and then wilted in despair when they remained anonymous. I guess he figured everyone would know who they were! Sorry to be going on about this. It's just that I get really carried away by what was sometimes available in these documents. And I kept wishing my third great-grandfather weren't so typically Scot and would break down and buy something at the estate sales, darn him anyway! =-} Well, enough. Hope you can use the index to determine if there is something useful for you in the book. Lorraine I. Quillon lorraineq@juno.com P.S. I have already determined one thing I will do differently for the next book. The names of the deceased for whom the probating is being done will be identified in some way, probably by an asterisk. Live and learn! ________________________________________________________________ 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.