Hi Nancy - Thought you might like to know that the author of "I WANT" is Barbara A. Brown of Nazareth, PA. She's a very talented lady, with an excellent vocabulary, and a wonderful sense of humor. She certainly has a "way with words"! The article was posted in IIGSĀ Newsletter - August 1998 at http://www.iigs.org/newsletter/9808news/genhum.htm.en In fact, there are lots of good genealogy-related articles you would probably enjoy at the IIGS (International Internet Genealogical Society) web site, such as monthly newsletters, etc. Their address is http://iigs.rootsweb.com/ Faye > Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 07:26:53 -0500 > From: "Nancy, David & Charles Bedell" <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > > "I WANT" > I want ancestors with names like Rudimentary Montagnard or > Melchizenick > von Steubenhoffmannschild or Spetznatz Giafortoni, not William Brown or > John Hunter or Mary Abbott. > > I want ancestors who could read and write, had their children baptized > in recognized houses of worship, went to school, purchased land, left > detailed wills (naming a huge extended family as legatees), had their > photographs taken once a year -- subsequently putting said pictures in > elaborate isinglass frames annotated with calligraphic inscriptions, and > carved voluble and informative inscriptions in their headstones. > > I want relatives who managed to bury their predecessors in established, > still-extant (and indexed) cemeteries. > >