My great-grandfather (and his three sons) worked as coal miners in western Pennsylvania. Everyone currently alive thought that he and my great-grandmother were married in Windber (PA) and all their children were born there - my grandfather (the oldest - born 1906) always believed that. Well, no records exist of the family in Pennsylvania before 1912! My grandfather and his brother were NOT born in Windber, nor were my great-grandparents married there. They deliberately mislead their own children. Not only that, but g-grandfather was rich. He always had the biggest car in town - if somebody bought a bigger one, he'd have to go out a get a new one. They also owned a brass bed - at a time when only the biggest of the mine bosses had brass beds. He lost all his money during the Great Depression. If he was so rich, why the heck was he working in a coal mine? And why did he mislead his own children about when he came to the US, and where they were born? Now THOSE are secrets I'd love to know! Thanx, Paul paulochi@alpha.betac-stl.com