Maureen--- Thank you for a fascinating story! I myself had an amazing experience a couple of years ago. My grandmother's family is INTEMANN---a rather rare surname, and I knew from old Bible records that they came from a village near Rothenburg, in Hannover, in Germany. I went to international White Pages on the Internet and found telephone listings for Intemann in that area. There were only a very few of them. The only problem was, I don't speak German! I finally located a listing for a little cosmetics shop in the village, which was run by an Intemann. The FAX number was also listed, so I composed a one-page message in English and FAXed it. Two days later, a cousin of the shop owner, who speaks English, replied by e-mail, and we have been enjoying correspondence since then. From local parish church records, he found our mutual family wedding and baptism records going back to about 1800! His family owns a bed and breakfast, and so we even have a place to stay when we visit there, someday! This really works with rare surnames, but if you know the village, or even the county in Ireland where your family came from, even a common name may be traceable. Another thing to think about is that your surname may be comparatively more numerous in America nowadays than in its country of origin. Thanks for sharing your experiences. ---Bob Robertson In a message dated 11/5/2006 12:24:06 AM Pacific Standard Time, [email protected] writes: I've had two good experiences through the years: 1) When I phoned all the listings in the USA with my great-grandfather's surname, the older ones of an age to have had the information I wanted were mostly widows of men with our name ..... elderly widows who knew absolutely nothing about their husband's families. Until I called the one furthest away ..... and that old guy said his sister (who had a different surname, of course!) had the entire family history and he'd take my name and address and have her write! He also took my email and said he'd let me know that way how it was coming along. I got everything they had -- superb!!! I called about 45 listings on a Saturday -- some weren't at home -- and I think it cost about 5 or 6 dollars altogether. Not very much for what I got!!! And even the ones who had changed their names were helpful as I no longer had to wonder "what if" about them! 2) I also, at another time, sent a long email to a store in Ireland owned by relatives, which I found online. When I hadn't had a reply in a month, I edited down my letter, put the questions in the first paragraph, and sent it again. Within two weeks I had a big brown envelope in the mail from Ireland. The storekeepers were not interested in answering ... but they gave my inquiry to another relative whose different name I would never have found .... his second great-grandmother and mine were sisters (the name on the store), and he has been absolutely wonderful, sending all manner of things including photos of graves there and 50 miles away, research in city directories of the early 1800s, books on the area, transcripts of a trial our mutual ancestors were involved in, great stories about my third great-aunt and her husband. Amazing stuff! Don't give up! And remember, your very best good manners can never hurt! And send a Christmas card every year after! Maureen