Marc, I have been reading these notes to Ralph with great interest. I am working on a line in NC also, but not a PYLE line. As always, you need documentation. You may obtain complete marriage listings that show bondsmen, date, etc. from the state archives/state library. I recently received three or four pages of listings complete with filing numbers, from NC. If you can't make it to Raleigh to do your own lookups at the archives, their address is 109 East Jones. St.,Raleigh,NC. 27601-2807. They charge $8.00 initial fee for a search and your check should be made payable to North Carolina Dept. of Cultural Resources. There is also a book available in libraries that lists wills on file in NC, but I will have to locate my notes on that one, I think it is called Will and Testator Index for NC. I just ordered a will that was listed in that book from the NC archives, sent my $8.00, received it in about two weeks. Not bad. At least I was able to sort out some of the people that had been entries on the census listings. Now I know who their father was. Because I live in Texas but must do a lot of research in Wake Co.,NC, I joined a genealogical society there. You might consider doing that if you have a lot of research to do in a particular area. It gets you on their mailing list, most societies put out a quarterly that may be good for clues. Also, they generally offer local assistance in research. Sara pyle@airmail.net