Well, I am back. Not that easy to get rid of me....See, I never paid attention to the bottoms of these listed e-mails before...Well, that is until now. Says I should pass on my success story, so here goes....So if I get flamed OK....If I get thrown off the list OK...(NOT!) Hey, you two who are thinking I shouldn't be doing this...Yea, YOU!!! You two..You know who you are....didn't think I knew did you...HA! Ya know I only started doing genealogy about a year ago. Actually been pretty easy for me so far. Have found 2 published books on collateral lines all the way back to before the 1750's, got access to a published CD-ROM on my mothers family side. Found my g-greatgrandmothers whole line published on the Internet. Found my other g-grandmothers full line by one little press of a button in a search engine. Oh, I know I could go on and on.....But, ya know I still have not to this day found my main KELLY line past 1850...I will. I have through research and others found my g-g-grandfathers recollections weren't the best. I have eliminated mostly what he put in an autobiography, while verifying other things. I did find a couple tidbits of information that was startling to say the least. The Civil War is long over, but the history remains with us forever. Almost all of us, if we search, has an ancestor or two or many more who served both North and South alike. The most startling revelation to date is that my one of my great-great-grandfathers was with the 11th Virginia, Kempers Brigade, Picketts Division on July 3, 1862 at Gettysburg. I have found other tidbits and so on and so forth.....Is this success? Yes.... But, you know what? The most successful story I have doesn't involve genealogy directly. No, the most succesful thing about all this research I am undertaking is meeting people. People like you who prove this world is still kind hearted, still cares. It shows me that no matter where in this land or in this world we exist we are all basically the same. We will bend over backwards to help our fellow man in what ever way we can, be it large or small. I have met descendants of ancestors, met people who don't connect, and have kindled full blown friendships. Nope, the greatest success story for me is I met YOU!!! You allowed me a moment of time to come into your life, no matter how brief and share a part of me with you. You have allowed me the priviledge of entering your life and you shared with me your life. People I have never met, probably will not face to face, people I had no idea existed....but, you did...... Is this success? Damn right in my book!!!! Thanks all for everything. If I never find another KELLY who is connected to me, so be it. But, ya know what? Figure we connect somewhere along the way........ OOPS! Thanks list owner for the time and bandwidth.... Mike