Not Dorset, but those who have been to Normandy will know that the countryside is very similar, and life as rural as Dorset must have been many years ago - in spite of tractors etc. Anyway, I was checking out my wife's ancestors - reasonably easy going back to early 1800s - sheer hell trying to do more unless you have blue blood. This tale reminds me of all the complicated brickwalls that we have all met at one time or another, or the doubtful births of children to 55yr-old ladies etc etc and etc.... But this one is 20thC! I am generally against the idea of including living people in my trees, but the family in general thought it would be a good idea to show the tree to my wife's 94yr old great aunt, still very compos mentis. She showed a lot of interest, and was even able to fill in a few blanks. She stared strangely at the name of what was one of her cousins b.1908, and said I would have to write to America to get his death details. The only thing was that we knew he was still alive, and no more than 10 miles away! Family tradition had it that there was a problem between the two families so we'd never mentioned it before. As usual I put my foot in it and told her. She seemed amazed, especially since she thought he had left for the USA in 1928 and had never returned. She hesitated when we suggested they meet up, but finally agreed with a french equivalent of "What the hell, it won't change anything". So we fetched the old man from his nursing home (not the same day), warning him that he was in for a surprise, because he knew nothing of his cousin's existence. It turned out that he had left in 1928, but it was not the best of times to emigrate what with the Wall Street crash, recession etc. and he had come back in 1931 - to his parents' farm. She did indeed ask why he hadn't come to see her parents, and he replied that his parents had told him that they were not on speaking terms and didn't want him to go. She had married and had had 3 children, he had married but without offspring, about which he was very unhappy. After a glass ot two of farm-distilled Calvados, the family drove the old man back to his Home, leaving me and my wife alone with the old lady. "Still as weak-minded as he was 70yrs ago," said she, "No good telling him that his son was buried 25 yrs ago, and now his grandson and great-grandson are running both my farm and what was his." To cut a long story short, when he left for the US she was pregnant by him but they didn't know. A boy from the village was ready to marry her - she didn't say whether he knew or not - so the child was baptised under his mother's married name. Who cares about a few months more or less? When he came back from the US he was told she was married, and that the families were not speaking so he didn't bother to try and contact. I'm not sure whether she was even then telling us the whole and nothing but the truth. If the families were at war, what could have been the reason, other than the child?? For what it's worth, but I had a little shiver thinking that it was a good job that DNA and blood tests did not exist until very recently!! Geoff