Excellent response! I thought I had that "primary resource" fiddle about worn out, lord knows I've played it long enough. Perhaps I've become pessimistic as I go along, but I find it hard to look at almost any published work and take it as gospel. I have to check the sources first, because I have found just too, too many errors of sloppy or lazy research.

Perhaps part of the pessimism comes from knowing how much I still have to learn, and not wanting to be sidetracked with wrong information. You are so correct-wading through mountains of records to find the tiny kernel you seek-or to make sense of the whole can be a daunting task. I have a several page list of things to check or to verify. Rarely does one item get completely deleted-it's more common for each answer to add another half dozen questions. But in the long run, it is so much better to find those truths.

Admittedly, there are times as my head aches and my eyes glaze over
from trying to read faded manuscripts, tiny antique newsprint or decipher microfilms-that it would be so much easier to just refer to so and so, in such and such and leave it at that. But then I remember my own frustrations at finding out the untruths that had been taught to me in history class after history class, and I muddle on.

Keep it up, Mr. Phillips-there are those of us out there that really appreciate the effort-and hope that it will make those truths easier to find for generations that follow us. As Lloyd and Tony have both referred to-we all stand on the shoulders of others. It is up to us to make sure our shoulders are a strong foundation for the next level

Sharon