Hi Carolyn, It's been awhile. I'm one of those sideways researchers that you seem to be describing. I am fascinated by the whole picture that researching my collateral lines (and their collateral lines) can give me. It also can help me break thru some brick walls. For example, in my German line, I kept seeing the same man living near my Great-Grandparents Mathias Seifried and Eliz. Veit. His name was Michael Hofelich. My brick wall was trying to prove my Great-Grandmother's surname. I decided to take a closer look at Michael and found his Will. It was unusually rewarding even for a Will. He left a bequest to his niece, and he named her father and mother, Elizabeth (nee Veit). I thought i'd hyperventilate when i saw that. Our ancestors did not live in a vacumn so there can be good info in those collateral lines. Barb Temple