I would like to thank all of you who so kindly responded to my appeal (through Larry Snyder, bless his heart) about lodging in the Mifflintown area, Juniata Co. I did find the Econo-Lodge. Don't be put off by a price quoted on the internet. I called them and got a substantially lower quote. They are still a good place: clean, friendly, etc. They also now have a laptop in their lobby connected to the internet, plus a connection if you have your own laptop. The use is free. I did have problems finding places to eat. Being from the South/Southwest, I didn't find the food at the two nearest places to really be that good, according to my tastes. Unless you want to drive to Lewistown, I just didn't find that many places to eat around there, especially if you're staying for some time. However, I have to repeat that the ladies in the Juniata Co courthouse are among the friendliest and nicest I've ever encountered. This holds true through the years. I certainly owe them a big thanks for their help. The young lady in the Perry county courthouse was also a very friendly, helpful person. Perry county now has their records on computers in the records office, and it's really easy to look them up and print them out. I just wish I could access them from my home. I did go to Cumberland county also. Now that was harder. Some of the people were nice, but then some of them made me feel as if I were an intruder and had no right there. Perhaps they are just busier? I don't know, but it was hard getting anything there. I had to lug big books from one end of a room to another to get someone to make me copies, and then lug the books back to their place. No one offered to help either. After about 10 such trips, your energy and eagerness to research are both starting to wilt. They have some new "button" system for recording? the copies you make, and in order to be able to use one, I had to give over my carkeys as security. I'm not quite sure just what those buttons do, but I still ended up paying by check. Not to leave out Mifflin county either. The ladies are nice and willing to help. They were working on installing that new button system on their microfiche readers so the access was a little limited. The only bad part is going down to the vault when you can't find the records on a microfiche. It was a great trip and I did find some crucial information. I would advise anyone going to make sure of the dates they are looking for. The mish-mash mess of those 4 counties is terrible. If you need something from 1830 in Juniata county, you had better look in Mifflin or Cumberland, depending on which part of the county you need. Then there's the difference between 1819 and 1820 as far as items in Perry county. Often, something may have been recorded in an older county anyway. I guess what I'm saying is that the further back you go, the more you need to be willing to check out all four counties. There is a book I'd recommend as a guide to all the splits and new counties, townships, etc. It's called "Mother Cumberland - Tracing Your Ancestorsin South-Central Pennsylvania" and it is available in at least the 3 Historical Societies I visited. It's not expensive, and it does a good job of explaining the different geographical realignings. Barbara Rivas