Ah so.....so other than the "start" this clerk did what was entirely logical....and I think I'll use the dates just as he recorded them. Actually, in the matter of Minutes the dates appear to be almost irrelevant with respect to "years" and few if any years (or even days or months) are even stated on individual documents. One has to pick up the month by the "annoucement" of the "start" of a particular court session (typically the second Tuesday in each month) and dates are rarely shown in the minutes in any context other than this "opening" announcement each month. So, if the clerk is off even by a year as long we have verified him as "sequential" I doubt if we can stray too far. Thanks, Maynard