This list has so many really knowledgeable people I hope someone will have had experience with the above set of books. I have an old article from Heritage Quest suggesting using the First De-Cennial Digest when you are running out of resources. I am sure running out of ideas on my HARBINS, so I checked it today at our local law school library, but it wasn't what the author described. She described it as a set of books covering 1658 thru 1911 with an index in volumes 21 thru 25 - "These index volumes show most of the appellate cases in the United States from 1658 through 1911. ... In the volume section, you would check volume 84, of Illinois, page 612, and you would find written the case of ... plus the findings of the court. Here you could find other pertinent information, other than just the county were the case was filed." What our library had was indeed a set of books by that name and covering that time period but they were all in alpha order for the type of cases covered - no surnames - and then for the next several years there was a Second De-cennial Digest, and then a Third ...., and a Fourth ..... etc. So - has anyone used these books? Is there indeed another separate set by that name that goes by surname, which refers you to the court cases in the set I saw? The librarian spent quite awhile checking reference books & on Google and could only find a couple references that almost sounded like they were to this person's writing. I figured that surely some of the HARBINS got themselves in appellate court. I did find several similar books by state with court cases that I hope to check out for references. You get to the point where you grasp at straws! Joan Marie