Hi, Some of you may know me from other lists and under other names. My name is Jeanne Howell and I have been researching my family history on and off since about 1991. I started researching because of the tremendous loss I felt when my paternal grandmother died and I found out...much to my surprise...that not a lot of information was known by my family about her side of the family. I realized this at the funeral and at the wake when people I didn't even know came up to me and introduced themselves as my cousins and great uncles and great aunts. So I started looking into how to find out more about her and thus connect in even a little way with who she was and her family. About this time frame, I was in 9th grade and one of my English teachers made us do a report on one of our hobbies. Searching for something interesting that others wouldn't think of...reading, computers, and camping just didn't seem interesting enough...I found a book on Genealogy...Needless to say. I got hooked and have been searching ever since. Unfortunately lately I have been battling Chronic Ulcerative Colitis and Sciatic nerve problems and I have had to cut back on active researching. I figured it was a good time to start typing up a webpage for what research I had done or had found with the help of others. This need was compounded by the loss of a dear but distant cousin of mine, Earl Akers. I realized that there was a possiblity that what I had done could be lost and how much time that I had put into finding it would have been in vain. Therefore I have been typing up my information on each of my surnames and putting them on my page at rootsweb.com. The address of this site is: _http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~elyandra/index.html_ (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~elyandra/index.html) The main purpose that I started doing this was to pass on what I could to further generations of researchers. Even though I have been severely hampered in my efforts to do research and to travel to different sites by my Ulcerative Colitis and my sciatic nerve problems, someone should be able to benefit from what I have accumulated. Even if it is only just to sort of give them a sort of Jump off point. Another reason behind this is the fact that I noticed when I tried to put into the report the sources that most of my research has either basis in secondary (books) or what I like to call tertiary sources (correspondence). Therefore I have joined this list to try to help others with the various resources at my disposal and maybe find more documentation of my own lines. My direct Akers / Acres line is as follows: 1. Valentine Akers m. Frances Branham 2. Thomas Blackburn Akers m. Keziah Meade 3. Robert N. Akers m. Nancy Rebecca Porter 4. John C. Akers m. Lucinda Davis 5. Albert Lee Akers m. Elon Octavia Burchett 6. Nancy Louisa Akers m. William Halsey Howell 7. my father 8. me