No doubt you have received this suggestion for tracing your early settlers of Rowan Co. I am a great believe, as is Bill Dollarhide, in the use of land records for tracing early American ancestors, particularly in the South. Prior to the Industrial Revolution in this country, he contends that about 90 % of the Anglo [includes Germans, of course] population [male, of course but some widows] owned land. For North Carolina early land patents/grants, we have the published abstracts of Margaret M. Hofmann and for the surveys for most counties, we have the published abstracts of A. B. Pruitt. I know Mrs. Hofmann [note spelling] has a website which your search engine can no doubt locate. I hope a library near you has a few of these volumes. Try a University library online catalog. A Librarian friend tells me that while most genealogical libraries do not lend their books, most Universities and colleges do lend them. I have not checked the loan lists of the National Genealogical Society which books are available to members.. (St. Louis, MO seems a long way from the West Coast.) Happy hunting! E.W.Wallace with a number of ancestors with roots in colonial North Carolina (who either died there or went thataway!) ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour