Dear List Here's a spooky tale that I thought I might share with you. It's 100% gospel true!! For some years I have been researching the Le Gear family line (and many of you have helped) but it's only been in the last few months that I have established the link to Europe with our IP ancestor Johan Adam. It transpires that he was the second son of one Hans LEGER of Canstatt, near Stuttgart. In leaps and bounds I have also managed to trace back Hans lineage to one Andreas Legger/Leger of that same place but born in 1495. At present, I can't see how I can get back further without going to Canstatt and shecking to see if there are other historical records. However, I digress. Andreas LEGGER, at this time, is the "lynchpin" (if that's the right word) of my research. I have been invited to a wedding of the daughter of one of my first cousins in the United States (I live near Bath, in England) and for some while have been pondering on what to take as a wedding present. With globalisation there wouldn't appear to be anything I could get here that would not also be available there. Then my wife Jenny suggested we consider some antique English Lace or Linen. Agreeing that this was a good idea I went off to Bath yesterday to purchase something. The Antique shop I went to specialised in English Linen but most of the stuff I looked at was really outside of my price range. A very nice old lady (about 140 I think!!) was serving me and it turned out to be her shop. I told her what I was looking for and explained that I was off to the colonies in a few days for a wedding. I also told her my budget and asked if she had anything suitable. She took down a really nice Old Linen Tablecloth and asked me if it was what I was looking for. It was, but I pointed out that it was twice my budget. She replied that although it was priced quite high it had, in fact, not cost her anything and was prepared to sell it to me for what I offered because she liked the idea of it going halfway across the world as a gift. I agreed. Whilst she was folding it up my thoughts turned to the trip I was about to make and the ease and speed at which I was about to do it compared to out IP ancestors 160 years ago and even further back, of old Andreas LEGGER born only 13 years after Columbas' discovery of America. (I'm whimsical, OK!) As she was about to pack it in tissue the old lady turned to me and mentioned that there was an very old laundry mark in indelible ink on the corner of the cloth and asked if it was a problem. I said that I was sure it wasn't but had a look at it anyway. The style of the writing was very old but nonetheless distinct - it said, quite clearly - "A.LEGGER". Spooky!! It's now packed in my suitcase and I'm off to California in a couple of days. In case you were wondering I never told the lady my name. Chris Le Gear _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp