Researching for the past 7-10 yrs, I consider myself a relative newcomer to genealogy. I started with www.familysearch.org and branched out. I am an active indexer/arbitrator for the online familysearch indexing project. Thus far I have confirmed research on my Elston family tree back to Joel Brooke Elston and his wife Elizabeth Edrington, which covers 1794-1848. At first glance it appears that we are a branch of the New Jersey/New England Elstons that traveled southwest to Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana. The majority of my recent family tree center around the Richland County, Illinois area. The earliest info I have is on John Elston that dates back to 1604 in Androssah, Perth, England. I have not confirmed that branch on my tree yet but am working on it. I intend to purchase James Strode Elston's "The Elston Family in America" to supplement my research.