This went thru one of my other mailing lists. And I think it is a good point. I think we sometimes forget the internet provides us contacts world wide - instead of how I did it for many years of just snail mail. So we might want to completely spell out our state rather than abbreviations to not have confusion. Good luck in your search! Kathy <<<Hello: This is just a little request for the benefit of clarification. Many Americans express USA states with a 2 letter code, much of which is greek to non-Americans. I know most of the USA codes, but I still have seen mistakes made (I saw Seattle WN... would it not be WA = Washington?) Would you please type the name of the state at least the first time you use the code? In the most recent STOKES message it said "...born in MS". Is this Mississippi?... Missouri?... Massachusets? Is MA = Maine?... Maryland?...Massachusets?... Manitoba? (oops, wrong country). I saw recently "... Ontario, Ca." I assumed they meant the province of Ontario in Canada (CA is the international abbreviation for Canada). They really meant Ontario, California. Another researcher spent 6 months thinking that a WA lead was in Washington, when in actuality it was in Western Australia. Name lists are international. Do you see my point? Thanks..........Ben Whiting (in sunny Kingston, Ontario, Canada)>>>>