The Chester county site has many maps of the county, showing the area in different years....it's always wise to check any county site when you find ancestors there..... http://chester.pa-roots.com/ You never know what you'll find unless you look, and a county site should ALWAYS be on your list of places to look first. The Chester site has a ton of URL to help researchers, that'll keep you busy for quite a while. Coming in second on that list of places should be the genweb archives for wherever it is you have family, to see what has been submitted in the past. Our Chester and Del archives are 'run' by our fellow list member, Cyndie, and the Chester archives are absolutely FILLED with wonderful info...so, don't neglect visiting. http://usgwarchives.org/pa/chester/ Chester County also has a wonderful Archives and Records online site....the best I've, personally, ever run into, when doing my own research. http://dsf.chesco.org/archives/cwp/view.asp?a=3&Q=609969&archivesNav=| visit, too, the Pa State Archives http://www.digitalarchives.state.pa.us/archive.asp Check the holdings of the Chester Co Historical Soc http://www.cchs-pa.org/index.php I've been going through the old posts, looking for things I can, perhaps, help with, and must say I am touched by the lovely comments so many of you have made, while I was on '"sabbatical"! Believe me, each and every kind email was more appreciated than you can ever know....I promise in the future, as quite a few of you have admonished, to keep in mind the fact that I can't please everyone, and to disregard the complainers that, unfortunately all lists seem to have.....why is that, do you suppose? Beats me! A few things seem to have been forgotten concerning posting, so here are a couple reminders for us all. They are all aimed at either getting others to read your posts or to spare archival space for actual genealogical info. S. Place the ACTUAL subject in the subject slot...a full name and date is probably the best. Keep in mind, many folk belong to many lists, and only read those posts whose subjects interest them...so an accurate subject is essential if you want to get people to read YOUR posting. Never use what I call non-subject subjects, such as genealogy, brick wall, etc...these are totally useless....many simply delete these on sight. We need to encourage folks to read our query, not discourage them and we encourage them by using an accurate subject.. When you use the digest form of posts, ALWAYS remove the digest info from the subject slot, and place there the REAL subject of your post,...you need to also remove all other digest info from the body of the message..... that has absolutely nothing to do with your post and wastes a lot of space.. While it is necessary to include enough of a post you are answering or adding to, it is not necessary to include the whole thing...just enough to let us know what you're talking about. Some of you add to and add to, repost..then someone else adds to, and reposts...and, the posts get longer and longer and longer...unnecessarily so. So, before sending off a post, always scroll down and check to see that you have removed everything that doesn't need to be there. It's very important to thank those who have attempted to answer our queries, and with this in mind I have the list set up so that you may easily contact ONLY the person who placed the query answer that you want to thank. Simply select the REPLY option on your mail toolbar...this will send your answer to the individual only. Saying 'Thanks you' is an essential part of computer genealogy, but it doesn't need to be sent to the hundreds of folks on the list and included for posterity, in the archives.....it needs to be sent to the person who helped you, and I've made it easy for you to do that. By the same token, when you have genealogical info to share with everyone, then select the REPLY ALL option, which will send the info to everyone on the list. NEVER post some sort of test email. If you believe there is a problem of some kind, simply email the list administrator, explain the problem to them and seek an answer. You may reach the adm of any list in the following way; [email protected] (for this list the address is [email protected] In this way you can have your problem considered/solved by someone who is actually capable of doing so, without bothering hundreds of other folks who couldn't correct a problem anyway...it also keeps yet another useless email out of the archives and everyone else's inbox. None of these are new, and most, if not all, were included in your Welcome Email.....all are simply common sense ways to make things run more smoothly, for all concerned.