Hi all~! I just had to share this really neat story! For the past 8 years, I have been searching for ANY member of the LONGWELL family who lived in Knox/Fulton county from 1860 to around 1955. My grandfather Longwell died at age 23 (in 1921), leaving an infant son. His widow remarried and could never give any details about the LONGWELL family to her son. That boy (my dad) grew up, but never really put any effort into finding any of his relatives. He wasn't even sure if he had any to look for. When he was in his 70's with heart failure, he suddenly had a desire to find ANY living blood relatives. I told him I would do whatever I could ------ so I began searching Moline IL, which is the last place his father was from before marrying my grandmother in 1919. I learned that his grandfather's name was Thomas, living with a (4th) wife and a daughter Dorothy in 1920. I searched for Dorothy (my dad's aunt), only to find she died in 1981. Her two sons really were not interested in meeting us or even keeping up with correspondence. So that trail sadly died. Strike One. The trail remained empty (on his marriage cert he listed mother as "Does not remember") So, I finally had to go TO the court house and found the divorce records for his father, Thomas Longwell. I learned that Thomas was married several times, each one ending in divorce. While reading these documents, I learned that Thomas' first wife was Grace Chambers. The divorce was granted in 1896, and a daughter -- HAZEL b. 1894 -- was ordered to live with her mother, who quickly remarried Howard BRIGHT. I have been searching for Hazel since 1995 --- I even search SS death records for any "HAZEL" born that year, and always came up blank. One month ago, I decided this was futile, and gave up my search. Last week -- I received an E-mail from a family in Saskachewan Canada who found an old post of mine from 1998 ---- Their ggrandmother is HAZEL LONGWELL!! She was put up for adoption at age 9, but kept her surname! Her adoptive parents moved to Canada when she was still young! They just sent me a photo of her when she was 9 years old, shortly after her adoption. I am so excited ----I never DREAMED to look for her in Saskachewan!? The family says many other families left for Canada from that part of Illinois at the same time her adoptive family left. I am so excited to finally find HAZEL!!! I really felt this was a lost cause. Unfortunately, my father passed away in 1998, so he'll never get a chance to meet them eye to eye. Now I will continue my quest for Etta May (May Etta) Ingram Longwell Wagner -- my ggrandmother, Thomas' second wife. They had only one child before divorce, and that child is my dad's father. If Etta May (May Etta) had anymore children after the 1900 divorce, then I might have even more living relatives that I don't know about! For anyone searching for lost relatives of Knox and Fulton county, who vanished about 1905-1915, you may want to try Saskatechewan, near Regina. Just a hunch! Also -- never change your email address :) Valerie