Hello All, I found this article in our morning paper and thought it may be of interest. If you think you have come up against a brick wall, consider for a moment future researchers as referred to in the following abridged article: "Perils of rattling the Family Skeletons" Revealing the skeletons in your family closet can rattle chains, psychologically speaking. This from the British Society of Genealogists which is concerned that uncovering family secrets could be harmful to one's wellbeing. The Society wants psychotherapy to be made available tp people who suffer emotional shock when discovering dark deeds, after shaking the branches of the family tree too vigorously. What next? I thought. Certainly genealogy is very popular these days and many have ventured into the complicated tangle of Family history with the same sort of exhileration as a sleuth after a suspect. There is the expectation when doing a family tree that somewhere among the tangled branches lies a figure of some note. More often though it is the stumbling upon children born out of wedlock, adoption, bigamy, thieves and crooks of all types, and even murderers and this can come as a profound shock. We like to think our bloodlines are pure,somehow. More often than not we are in for a surprise and this can tilt our universe somewhat until we come to our senses and realise times were very different and our dead deserve the benefit of the doubt. One of the problems facing future researchers will surely be the modern mixing and blending of relationships, civil unions, de facto relationships etc. The lines get murky after a while and some children will never know who their father's were due to sperm donors and the mothers who decline to name. Also with today's lack of letters and family albums which have been taken over by emails and digital photos it will be much harder to begin research. One thing we can all do for future generations is to keep a journal of family events, lists of favourite things, medical records, school and work records. One archivist in Britain is training as a therapist. She wants to be able to provide counselling to people uncovering family secrets which they find unpalatable. She says it's not just about gathering information but revealing a mess of moral, ethical, social and psychological issues related to how we see ourselves. Still some of us are not averse to unveiling a skeleton or two, it has the sense of making life more interesting and a matter for rejoicing not psychotherapy." I would be quite happy to find a skeleton or two just to prove my Grandfather did exist in Ireland, Happy hunting, Anona