In response to Burnie paying to join and not getting anything! About 20 years ago, I was researching my father's ancestors at Galena, JoDaviess county, Illinois Court House. At that time, I had to give them a list of people I wanted information on. They demanded $7.00 per item to look and see if they even had it. They gave me some information, but couldn't find anything for 11 names, $77.00 down the drain. A few years ago they had a computer print-out list and it is free to look up names on the list and only pay $10.00 each for a printed copy of what they have. Guess What? At least half of those names I wanted way back when have been reserected from the Dead (Files that is!). If you wanted to look up court cases on the second floor, they hand you the book and they will then let you copy by hand anything in the old records. Also the old Court House had a leaky roof and a lot of old records were stored in the attic. They were throwing the wet ones into a dumpster. A member of the Historical Society happened to see them and was trying to retrieve them to preserve those old records. A Court House Clerk threatened her with arrest if she took them. It took an emegency meeting with a Judge to rule that the Historical Society had every right to get them and dry them out and preserve those records. It was so nice in June 2002 when I was at the Emporium Court House to have them show me into the vault and then make copies at the most reasonable charge of any Court House in the U.S. and I have been to dozens of them across America. Walt ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dial Broadband has arrived in California! Up to 5 times faster than traditional dialup connections from $13.33/month! See the demo for yourself at http://www.BigValley.net