Just a follow-up on the subject of hanging in there. I had been searching for Bower in Ontario for about 2 years -- and was sure I was the only living branch on my family tree. Then I dug (as an aside, really) into American Military records for my great-uncle, Frank Bower. It was an aside because the rest of the family was definitely NORTH of the 49th but he went to Alaska back in the early 1900s. I found him... dug up quite a bit of information. So, when (just a couple of months later) my uncle -- also Frank Bower, got a letter from the grandson none of us knew Frank had... I was able to say, "yes, answer the letter, he really is Frank's grandson." A week or so later, I got a phone call from my cousin. We talked for ages. We now keep in touch, managed to meet for lunch once (we do not live all that far apart). Had I given up the search (or not ventured down side branches) I might have missed the clues and assumed my cousin was just some crank! It is not dead easy, but it is not brain surgery, either. Stick with it. Someone out there is related to you! Best Dixie Cutler Vancouver, BC