Research Hell

My dad was here from Orlando till Tuesday morning. He came up for my daughters recital at Monmouth University. The event went off beautifully with only the rain making it a tough day. Her program went off without a hitch and a crowd of around 100 came to see the performance. She sang in four languages, French, Italian, German and English. Afterwards we had a reception for family at Rooney's right on the boardwalk in Long Branch. With the Northeaster dumping 8 inches of rain traveling was tricky but we made it through. After dropping dad off at the airport I headed straight to Trenton which was a tricky adventure, I actually took a route I never have and made it into the heart of town. That's when my week went sour. First I never have tried to eat in downtown Trenton before so I rode around for over 30 minutes looking for a place and then a few more looking for parking. The state parking deck was flooded out. I decided on J's Chicken and Waffles. Awesome meal and great service, a bit pricey for lunch (at $12 for basic Chicken and Waffle) but something very new here on the east coast. They have this in Los Angeles and it's very popular. So after a great meal and some relaxation I headed to the State Archives. Nothing. I found nothing. Nothing on slaves, nothing on the black Van Dykes or Ten Broecks. What little they had I have already exhausted. So now I am left with a lot of guessing and searching for a magic bullet.