Hey Vance….thanks for the reply…I did in fact purchase the Carlson dissertation and found it very interesting and chock full of “leads” about numerous surnames in my maternal lines….which ultimately led to my phoning him in Michigan…we spoke at some length about my Nichols and Gibson specifically….being as State/Statan/Stanton Nichols and his wife Nancy Jane Gibson are our “brick wall” and moving above them just has not happened…Richard said that he had just oodles of Native American applications that he used both for his dissertation and his area of current employ and it is our combined hope that some of our answers lie in those….many of which I have not reviewed (they tend to get right expensive when you order this one and that) for ppl that MAY not even be your exact ancestor! It was his dissertation that led me to this forum…he recommended I, in his absence look into researching both the Saponi and Monocan tribes and that I have done for the past month or so now. He and I plan on phone conferencing moreso to TRY and “get to the bottom” of my State Nichols/Nancy Gibson line. He mentioned to me that he has far more data/info about numerous “Magoffin Indian” family surnames than either time, space or subject restraints would allow for when he penned his dissertation and said he would readilly share with me what he has when we next speak…he said too that I was the first State Nichosl descendant that he has spoken directly with and he would just love to solve that “mystery”…which was music to my ears I must say with glee! As a footnote for other Nichols and allied surname researchers: the Nichols name MAY have had it’s origins in VA (particularly Amhearst and Rockbridge Counties) in the surname KNUCKLES….this I gleened from a gal at the Monocan Society when we spoke….worth investigating to say the least. Best of luck to all~~~~Laurie