> It's true; a collection of BMD's, even photos of gravestones, is a very > incomplete, sketchy framework that doesn't really reveal peoples' lives. > But, it seems that is where one must start; and even if it's where one > must end, it is better than nothing. For me, anyway, given that I never > even met or saw a letter from my paternal grandparents or aunt, and have > almost no information about their or their parents' lives, it does > provide something of a feeling of family! Martha, I agree with you absolutely; I did not intend in any way to belittle the accomplishment and satisfaction of discovering ANY information about one's family. When I started on my Jewish ancestry, all I knew was that my grandmother - an only child - was Jewish and that the family name had originally been Lazarus. My father had grown up in Bermuda, so had had little connection with his mother's family back in England and knew nothing about them, though he could remember visiting his grandfather as a child. This being the case, being able to trace my Jewish ancestry back several generations earlier than my grandmother was a major accomplishment, and as you found the collection of BMD's and photos of gravestones did create a sense of family in the portion of my background where none had existed before. I'm just thrilled that I'm able to discover even more material and can begin to flesh out the bones a bit, and get some picture of what people's lives were like. Martha, the details you have gave you family; I hope you'll uncover more about them in the future. I've been working on the Lazarus tribe for 15+ years and am still turning over stones . . . Eve