Hello Don (and everyone) -- yes, the list is working. It's just that we all seem to be in a sound sleep! And have been for a while. I'd been thinking myself that it might be time for a wake-up call but have been busy with other things, just one of which is the adminning of more than two dozen Rootsweb Message Boards. No doubt the rest of you are busy with your own "other things" that inevitably come up in life. So thanks, Don, for posting to the list with your query. Maybe it'll rouse some of us (yes, me too). Anyone care to post about their research? Let us know who/when/where and why. All the details. What you already know, what you are hoping to find out. Or do you have some general info which you think may be of interest to fellow subscribers? If so, please post it. I'll even send out a special invitation to our many lurkers (there are hundreds of you here on HWE, always have been) who seldom or never post. How about it, lurkers? Nobody knows you're here unless you speak up. Did any subscribers in list mode notice the tagline at the very end of Don's message? Ironically, it says "Be a participating subscriber! Post your surname interests often. Once a month is about right, or more often if you have new details." (Taglines are rotating messages which are composed by the list admin on a variety of topics relevent to the list. They're sent out automatically. HWE has quite a few different ones but this is the one that randomly came up this time. But only list mode subscribers will have them included as part of each message they receive from the list. They don't appear in digest mode messages.) And lastly, a comment. If you're wondering in the future if the list is working and/or if you're receiving all the list messages you should, a good reliable way to find out is via the list archives. Our website has info on how to access the archives here: http://www.island.net/~andreav/archives.htm. Select the threaded archives and then the appropriate month/year. A quick glance down the list of subject lines for that time period will tell you if you've received all the messages there. Regards, Andrea (HWE list concierge)