Hi Denise << Computers are helpful, but not the fun it is to go to the archives, churchyards and gather the evidence.>> How right you are! I recall a memorable event from years ago. An ancestral branch of mine leads back into Nottinghamshire. As a beginner, I was researching the 16th & 17thC Bishops Transcripts then held in Southwell Minster's Archives - up a spiral stone staircase into a lofty room lined with antiquarian books, ledgers, papers, map rolls, etc. and being handed an archival box containing slips of vellum - some rolled, some flat, some of them very small indeed - and marvelling that these scraps of information were IN MY HAND! They are now held in the Record Office in Nottingham and have been filmed, so are easily viewable there. They have also been transcribed by the LDS (now on IGI). However, no more handling. For many the computer becomes the only means of access. But, it just can't compare to that earlier thrill. I have been very fortunate in my researches. That occasion was very special. I started as many others will have done merely driven by mild curiosity which grew to an obsession. I've been given fantastic opportunities through my training, through working with other historians and through my ability to travel. I would urge everyone never to turn down an opportunity to visit record offices and archives - just to have that first-hand experience. Good luck! Ruth