Well, today I am on the chaise with my feet elevated and two cats curled up beside me while I transcribe the will of James Haworth written in 1826, using a laptop computer. In the background the computer is playing the 2nd movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 and in another window I am searching Probate Book #1 of Hendricks County for the years 1825-1835. And, in yet another window I am emailing records that I copied from that Probate Book to a computer in my library to print and then store on an external hard drive….. All of this and, I really don’t know how to operate a computer. This is all lucky point and click …and the persistence to keep pointing and clicking until something positive happens.

What ever happened to the typewriter and ditto machine?

I also realize that if I were suddenly transported back to the Massachusetts of the 1630s and 40s, I would be burned at the stake by my own relatives!