Hello All Although Robert Downing is not *blood* relation, he was a part of my husband's family. In November of 1885 John Lautherboren from Denmark and my husband's gr. grandfather died in Philadelphia. He left two sons, John A. and Howard F. (my husband's grandfather) and a widow named Annie or Anna A. about age 51/52. Annie has been a problem. She was of Cherokee blood and at one time there existed a picture of Annie in full ceremonial dress, but no one seems to know what happened to it. About a year or so after the death of John, Annie married to a Robert Downing. We know nothing of Robert Downing. When Howard was about 14, (about 1889) he took the name of his stepfather and became Howard F. Downing. Later all his children were Downings, until in 1934, his son David (my husband's father) petitioned the Court of Honolulu, Hawaii to have his name changed back to Lautherboren. So, even though Robert was not a blood relation we would like to finally get to know him; to find out where he was from, who were his parents, if he had siblings, if he had been married before Annie, if he had children and of course see if we can learn any more about Annie. You can see from all the more progress we've made, that we are beginners and haven't gone very far. This one line has already involved the divorce and re- marriage of parents, name changes of the father, the grandfather and the great-grandfather, and the remarriage of the widow whose maiden name is never known. This all has been a challenge and any help will be greatly appreciated by the whole Lautherboren/Downing family. Thank you. Barb DB12251@aol.com