Hi, The brands were registerred in the County Clerk.s office of the county seat the year of registration, depending on the closest organized county to the east or south, usually. For instance, many of my family marriages in the 1800's were recorded and issued in Meridian, Bosque County even though the men lived in Erath County. Before that they were registerred in Waco, McLennan County. Some marriages family members thought were performed in Graham, Texas are in Stephenville records. Yes, there was one Erath county fire, but the older records in Meridian or Waco were nort affected. Before that it was Milam County all the way to the Red River- Cameron is the present county seat of the present Milam County, South east of Waco on Hwy 77. Look in the Texas Almanac for the date the counties were organized. It is published by the Dallas Morning News every year most of this century. The News is on the Internet- not sure about the Almanac, it may be also. Also, check for brand registrtion in Texas Cattle Raisers Association in Austin, Texas. They have active detectives working today The twin brothers, U.S. Marshalls, now retired, the McManara Brothers recently broke up a livestock theft ring. They had also before retirement, worked at Mount Carmel and on Kenneth McDuff and other murder cases. The theft of cattle and farm equipment today is more common than on the frontier. It does.'t take long for some good dogs to load cattle into a truck and be gone, sometimes leaving cut fences, sometimes they just drive into the pasture. Hogs are no longer worth stealing- too cheap- so don't camp out without dogs and/or a hunting gun on unknown creeks unless you want a Russian Boar or crossbreed to teach you how to climb a tree. Take care, Charles Wyly ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]