Chris and WRG's In reply to Chris.... I am fortunate to live near a number of towns where my Whitneys lived, and so I've gone to the Town Clerk in Town Hall and asked for the books of Town Records in the years that interest me. In Groton for example, I was able to take volumes to a room where (with white gloves provided) I could look at them...At the end of each year of Selectmens notes, you will usually find a list of Vital Records and a list of persons who have been "Warned Out". Persons who entered the town without owning property were formally "warned", and that meant that the town was not responsible for the support of those persons and their families if they became indigent. Often they did not actually leave, found a place to board & room and worked to support himself and his family. I learned when my ancestor Abner entered the town, which children were with him, that his son Abner was apprenticed to a shopkeeper and that his widowed mother came from Townsend to live with him. For those of you who remember the problem of identifying which Sarah Whitney married Benjamin Wilson in Groton...this latter piece of information confirms that the Sarah in question was John and Rebeckah Whitney's daughter, for widow Rebeckah Whitney was found entering Townsend in 1769 from Montague, where son Ezra was known to reside, and then entering Groton in 1773. Benjamin and Sarah Wilson lived and raised their family in Townsend, and Sarah died there in May 1771, leaving several small children. Benjamin remarried in Aug 1772 and Rebeckah left Townsend to live with son Abner in Groton sometime in 1773. I highly recommend(to those researching in New England) purchasing two valuable books ..."Digging for Genealogical Treasure in New England Town Records" Ann Smith Lainhart and "Genealogist's Handbook for New England Research" edited by Marcia D Melnyk. Both are published by New England Hist. Gen. Soc. in Boston. The first tells you what to look for and the second gives all the addresses, phone #s, hours open and holdings of Libraries, Town/City Halls, Hist. Societies, and County Registries and Probate Courthouses in each of the five states. Good Luck! The search is great fun and the discoveries are rewarding. Jan