It's been a couple of years since I've done anything but lurk on this list 
... and longer, still since I learned anything about my Virginia ancestors, 
although folks like Paul Drake are always teaching me more about the HOW of 
research (whether they know it or not). But Bet's story reminded me of my 
trip to Estill Co., KY, in 2003, and I wanted to share it with you.

I was recovering from surgery on my throat and could only whisper. I wanted 
to take the bus down there from my home in Northern Indiana, in much the way 
my late uncle had visited there in the '40s and early 50s. I contacted the 
Estill County Historical and Genealogical Society which was hosting it 
annual Front Porch Homecoming the week I intended to go. When I got off the 
bus a couple of weeks later, fully 25 miles from the only motel in Irvine, 
one of the members was waiting for me with her 80-year-old mother. They 
dropped me off at the motel, and the next morning the motel owner asked me 
if I wanted a ride downtown. I spent several days digging in the courthouse 
and the Society's museum, There was always someone volunteering to take me 
out to visit a homestead or a cemetery ("Watch out for the copperheads!" was 
a welcome caution.) In the County Clerk's office, work practically stopped 
as they watched in facination as I unloaded my portable scanner and digital 
camera, along with my laptop. They lent me an extension chord and asked me 
to show them how to operate my equipment. One kind lady even showed me how 
to take the huge binders apart so I could lay plat maps and such down flat 
on a tabletop to get a good picture (I didn't realize until I'd gotten back 
home that the red flaw that showed up in all too many of my pictures was my 
immodest belly, projecting into the range of the camera's lens!). When the 
folks of Ravenna and Irvine had wined (well, coffeed and teaed) me and dined 
me for a week, one couple I'd just met offered to drive me back the 25 miles 
to my bus station.

A couple of years later, while visiting in Central Indiana so my mother 
could attend her 65th High School Class Reunion, I had a plethora of 
government clerks, officials, farmers, store clerks and high school age kids 
assist me with great obvious pleasure as I explored court house records in 
Marion and Hartford City, and as many cemeteries and one-roomed schoolhouses 
as I could find while wondering the corn and soybean fields of Blackford and 
Grant Counties. And groups like this one--though a little noisy at times, 
are generally the most amazing resources you can find. I have grown my 
database in the last 15 years from about 1200 names to over 40,000, almost a 
quarter of them thoroughly documented (and leaving enough work for me, my 
heirs, and their heirs to substantiate what I believe about the rest).

I could go on and on ...

        Chuck West in Indiana 

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