Re: Doniphan Finding the origins of early immigrants to Virginia is quite difficult. Some books have been published, mostly about people from Pennsylvania (of course) and from Maryland, many of whom were convicts. However, I called up the URL for the LDS family history catalog and note that two family histories have been published (at least) which include a Doniphan family, and both have been filmed. Suggest you search www.familysearch.org You can order these films to your local LDS family history center. But be warned, it takes time to read most microfilms, so don't order too many at once, especially if your research time (microfilm reading time) is limited. The Catalog link is on the lower right side. Click on it, type in surname, and see what comes up. Some researchers like to use the IGI (International Genealogical Index) and the Ancestral File. With these, use caution: Garbage in, garbage out, as we used to say in the early days of personal computers. There are MANY errors. Other professionals use PERSI which is an index to articles in genealogical journals held by the Allen Co. Indiana (Ft. Wayne) Public Library. I do NOT think this valuable index is online. I bought a CD-ROM (updated annually) from ancestry.com for about $100 when it first came out. Updates are not as costly after your initial investment. However, if you are near a large genealogical library, they probably have several volumes of these indexes. There is a trick to using them, and that is why a CD-ROM is useful---because of the search abilities. For instance, if you are researching Stafford Co., then you search for the county. If you are researching the surname Doniphan, then you seach for that surname, etc. As an aside, please, listers, I DO NOT do look-ups. I am elderly, have bad eyes, and need to complete my own family histories (on which I have been working for over 20 years, thanks to computers!) Tell Santa you want a CD_ROM for Christmas. It may save you years of research work. E.W.Wallace