In response to Mark's post about look-ups I posted my own dilemma and inadvertently sent it to Mark directly. He sent a nice reply that may be of service to others trying to learn how to get info out of PA by asking others for help. Hi Julia, I'm not quite sure why you sent this directly to me, but I'll try to answer your question. Each "looker upper" is different in the information that they need to provide you with what you are looking for. What I try to do is remember that these people are doing ME the favor. I'm sure that in may cases, the frustration they bare from all of the ignorant requestors is vented my way, however I try to be humble and respond very politely. As far as the York HS is concerned, you are correct in not knowing a specific question to ask. I think what you may want to do is ask yourself what it is you're looking for? You said you had a name, date, and location. Are you looking for parents? children? DOB? DOD? Is it you want to confirm something through a document such as a census record, birth certificate, death notice, probate record, tax record? Trust me, I understand your frustration. You spend fifty bucks, you want results! The worst thing is to send a "non-refundable" check and get a response such as "information not found". If you can find who your looking for on a certain index, then you can extract that information and send it in for a copy of the actual document where your ancestor may be. This way you know you'll get something for your $50. I hope this helps you. Good luck in your search, Mark "Julia Land" <julia@hillconet.net> on 07/26/2000 09:30:56 AM To: Mark Christy/NotesOne@NotesOne cc: Subject: Re: [PACHESTE] Chester County Look-ups I also do not understand what is being asked of me by some looker uppers. The York Historical Society recently told me to send $50 dollars and ask a specific question. I have the name date and location but am stuck on what question to ask. So often as we learn you find out the real question was something you would have never thought to ask. What kind of question would be useful to ask the York HS? For my time period 1778 their list of holdings seemed too late. If they had a file on my name surely they would have told me that in the first exchange. Being a long way away I have sent off to the Museum commission in Harrisburg to research land and Military records who just charge 10$ per look-up. Which is very straight forward your guy is in there or not. Maybe someone can explain some basic His society query stuff to me. Julia