In article <As6oj.86243$L%6.33601@bignews3.bellsouth.net>, "Henry Brownlee" <hfbrownl@bellsouth.net> writes: > > "singhals" <singhals@erols.com> wrote in message > news:-fKdnTd6QYS8MT3anZ2dnUVZ_oytnZ2d@rcn.net... >| I remember hearin' about an ex-half-brother ... I was NEVER >| certain I had the mechanics of that down! >| >| Cheryl >| > > I could understand if it was an ex-step-brother. I have two ex-step-sisters; > my mother and step-father divorced. (Perhaps a nicer term is former > step-sisters? ) But how about if they hadn't divorced and were still married > when one died. Would the girls still be my step-sisters? I would think so, > anyway. > > Henri > Guess I'm confused by this thread. Are we asking about titles for obscure relatives or obscure titles for relatives? Stupefied Ol' Bob -- Robert G. Melson | Rio Grande MicroSolutions | El Paso, Texas ----- Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probable reason so few engage in it. -- Henry Ford

"Robert Melson" <melsonr@aragorn.rgmhome.net> wrote in message news:13q227dp43k9ef6@corp.supernews.com... |> | Guess I'm confused by this thread. Are we asking about | titles for obscure relatives or obscure titles for relatives? | | Stupefied Ol' Bob | | -- | Robert G. Melson | Rio Grande MicroSolutions | El Paso, Texas | ----- | Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probable | reason so few engage in it. -- Henry Ford | Bob, Ol' Son, The OP was apparently asking for obscure titles for relatives. Then, again, if they need obscure titles, they must be obscure relatives, wot? BTW, went to his site - after somebody called him a spammer. Guess he is, although he only asked for titles and wasn't pushing his products in this venue. Henry Brownlee Houma, Louisiana

Bob M.wrote: > | Guess I'm confused by this thread. Are we asking about > | titles for obscure relatives or obscure titles for relatives? Well, I'm quite sure my previous reply digressed from OP's post. I admit guilt, but not remorse. I guess I'll follow precedent and digress again, but it's somewhat loosely related:::::: I have come across men (let's say pre-1810) who had odd middle names---not after family surnames, but more like a place name in that county. And his brothers would have no middle name at all. The story is (given by a reliable source that of course I can't remember) that a few times when there were multiple names of, say, William Smythe, in the county, to avoid confusion in tax lists, etc., the county recorder would arbitrarily add to the name for clarification. So that the older William would remain William Smythe, but the younger (who might be his nephew or cousin) might be scribed on some docs as William Bradford Smythe--because he owned the grist mill at the Bradford River, for example. Which clarified for the court recorder and for those at the time, but muddies the water for us researchers. Come to think of it, today we might do that verbally. For example, we had in our small school district two teachers named Sue Taylor. We referred to one as "Sue Evans Taylor," because she taught at Evans Elem. Our inflection and a slight gesture [no jokes please] indicated what we meant, but in a written note to one another, it might seem to a third party forty years later that the one Sue actually had the middle name Evans----and of course off the researcher would say "Eureka!" and be off to dig for a maiden name of Sue Evans. Second thing I learned from same forgotten but reliabe source:::::::: Let's say once again that the county has two William Smythes. Instead of throwing in a place name for clarification, the recorder might arbitrarily add "I" or "Sr." to the name of the older man and "II" or even "Jr." to the name of the younger man. When, in fact, they were uncle and nephew, not father and son. So, I've found it comforting to know that even in original image court documents, the names may not be what they seem, and relationships may not be what they seem. "Woe to them that are at ease in Zion." :-) Warmest Regards (and greetings to Bob M. in El Paso---hope he's a native Texan :-) Donna