Hello listers! Thanks to everybody who sent directions and advice, my morning in Mauston was very pleasant. I didn't find a thing, however. It seems that altho 5 siblings of my ggrandmother were born there, nobody bothered to record their births. Hmph! How could my Porters live there for 12 years, have 5 children, and probably ggggrandpa Asa's wife Tabitha died there, and still not leave a trace, other than the 1860 census? Arrrgh! Anyway, the ladies in the Register of Deeds office were extremely friendly & helpful. They prefer, however, if you don't find your names in the Indexes, that you not page thru the books of records anyway. Book 1 of Births is not available for viewing, due to the fragility of the documents. Personally, I love paging thru the books. I often find that surnames were misspelled, and the Index records the misspelled version. By going thru the books, I can pick my people out via parents, etc. Also, the Marriage book is very interesting when I find my people as witnesses on other people's marriages. It gives me an idea of who their friends were. I love it for migration patterns, since very often people moved with their friends. That's my report! Does anybody know if St. Patrick's cemetery, on Rte. 12 just outside of Mauston has been indexed? Maybe my Tabitha Porter is there? Happy Hunting! Marsha Wilcox [email protected] Wilcox Web Design -- http://start.at/WilcoxWebDesign USGenWeb County Coordinator for: Lake Co., IL -- http://www.rootsweb.com/~illake/ Listowner for ILLAKE-L, tracing your roots in Lake Co., IL (Temp CC) Iron Co., WI -- http://www.rootsweb.com/~wiiron/ Home Page -- http://mall.lnd.com/wilcox/ My Genealogy Page: http://www.rootsweb.com/~mawilcox/index.htm SpamHunt! -- http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Meadows/1616/