Linda, I'm not sure I am answering or understanding your question about "unknowns" but let me tell you something that I have started doing. I use Family Tree Maker by Broderbund. When I have individuals that I don't who or where they belong I make a file for just them. First I go to unrelated individual under the People catagory and click on that. It brings up a clean screen and I type in UNKNOWN AVERY in the male/husband line. Then I go down to the children, skipping the spouse/wife area and everything in between. At the children area, I break my "unknowns" down by geographic areas, i.e. Missouri, Illinois, New Hampshire. Type the state just as if it was the first name of a child, i.e. MISSOURI AVERY, and UNKNOWN AVERY, will automatically become it's "father". If you want to take is a step farther, click on the child/MISSOURI AVERY and on this page where the children are to be listed, break the enteries down to counties, i.e. CARROLL AVERY. To enter the "unknown" surnames or information, click on notes at any level your "unkowns" relate to and type to your hearts desire. It this clear as mud? What you have, as far as the computer is concerned, is a person by the name of UNKNOWN AVERY, with a child named MISSOURI AVERY, and a grandchild named CARROLL AVERY. FTM will question the capitalizaiton, but I over-ride that and use this because it is very easy at a glance in my index to find this unique file. It's important that you use the male/husband catagory and that you enter the UNKNOWN as a first name - this way it will pop up in the index correctly. You can print the notes from this file, just as you would any other, and be able to look it over at a glance or send it on to someone else who may be able to identify someone listed there. "If" you or anyone else is using FTM and needs better instructions, please E-mail me directly. I still have to try and place these guys into the correct context, but now when I am gathering information and I come across someone I may or may not need at a later date to fill in my family tree, I just jot their data into my FTM program and move on. When I find a new sibling or get a new lead, I click over to the notes section of this family and scroll up and down to see if anyone fits in. Good Luck! This file will gedcom into another file as a person named UNKNOWN AVERY. By the way, I have Witaker, Wittaker, Wittacre. Karen Avery Miller karenmiller@CompuServe.com