hi all, more on rex chase's comments and "to sever or not to sever". tis a dilemma. who are the parents of Aquila and Thomas? i have a distant cousin in Vermont who has related a strange story to me. he says a researcher in Texas has passed onto him that in records in London, he (the researcher) discovered that Aquila and Thomas are sons of Mordecai Chasem the 10th child and 7th son of Richard Chase and Joan Bishop. Mordecai was executed (religious crimes?) by order of the king by being impaled on stakes. his sons fled to Cornwall, and from that location emigrated to the colonies. i wrote to a contact in Texas, but to no avail. The man had died, and his estate had no knowledge of his interests in genealogy. this is an interesting lead, however, and one i hope to be able to do some follow-up one day. i had hoped to be in England this year; now it appears it will be next year at the soonest. any comments greatly appreciated. Joyce Chase Jarvis