In a message dated 01/26/2000 12:33:10 PM Central Standard Time, DEAN-D-request@rootsweb.com writes: > Also I know that most of you like myself is running a direct line with not > too much time spent on Aunts, Uncles, Brothers, Sisters....ETC. Not at all. Collateral lines are as important to me as my direct lines because it isn't at all unusual for a direct ancestor to marry a cousin. Besides, my sister is very important to me, and I imagine my ggg-grandmother felt the same way about her sister. Honoring their memory is what genealogy is all about. Some of my ancestors owned slaves, and I know that there are descendants of those slaves researching their families. Their research task is so much more difficult than mine, I feel an obligation to help them as I much as I help my close cousins. Joyce