I ended up leaving the beans cooking in the crock pot until 8 PM, then I refrigerated them overnight. The next day heated, simmered them on the stove top. Seemed to soften them up enough to eat. After reading all 5 pages, I think the problem was that I used chicken broth for the liquid instead of water, a recipe that I found on the internet, it was low salt but that might have hindered the softening of the beans. Great Northern Beans here I come!!!! Thanks to all for the replies!!!