Boot in single user mode gives same "getty repeating too quickly" error.
That is strange. The problem in your FreeBSD installation must be serious, although it might be simple for an expert to repair. I like your idea of saving important files, then re-installing.
Yes I'm very unclear on a lot of FreeBSD knowledge but have no desire to quit using it.
Good. I like the fact that you are using RELEASE versions, those are more solid and stable. First starting point: Do not try to do normal work as root. Matter-of-fact, try to never even login as root, except from the console for installation and other serious administration work that requires doing lots of stuff as root. Second: Try to not mess with the installation any more than necessary. Install a stable version, and then don't mess with it. Old joke: The best way to administer a computer is to hire a man and a dog. The man is there to feed the dog. The dog is there to bite the man if the tries to touch the computer.
When I boot from liveCD as user root with no password is that not root as you described?
It is. When booting from live CD, you should be able to mount the file system, as was described above, and copy the data to for example a USB stick (which you also have to mount, and perhaps format).
... which uses EE and found that easier to learn than vi.
You should try different editors, to learn what you prefer. Ee an nano are quite simple. Emacs and vi are quite powerful, but complex.
I have to use liveCD burned onto DVD. Any advise how access HDD to recover files?
Nutshell: Boot from live CD. Now you have a running system on the hardware. Find the hard disk that your file system was on (probably /dev/adaXXX). Mount it on a temporary mount point, for example
/mnt/temp, preferable with the readonly or "ro" option. Now you can look in the mount point, and find your files. Find an empty USB stick, and insert it. If it doesn't have a file system yet, or you don't like the file system on it, format it with a file system of your choice (personally, I just use FAT on USB sticks, good enough for short-lived stuff). Copy the desired files from the mounted disk to the USB stick. Make 200% sure the data you want really is on the USB stick. Perhaps insert it in a different computer, and quickly read it. Unmount all, shut down, and reinstall the FreeBSD OS.