Duane, Now that aunt was truly great and absolutely adorable. I haven't found any horse thieves yet, but maybe they were just real good at eluding the law. Possibly a name change to Smith. Hee hee, maybe that's where my Smith lines come from? Nah, I have plenty of documentation for them. None that sprang full grown at the back of the picture from out of nowhere. You've seen the pictures, "This is Great Aunt Hester and Great Uncle Dudley, Unknown man in the middle" You can lump me in with those rank ameteurs, but I do look for documentation where it exists, I learned my lesson about 3 years ago when a possible second cousin to my mother told me I would have to prove my grandfather before I could be accepted into that family. Basically she was asking how I knew he was my grandfather. Jeez, he told me and my mother told me! But it made me remember to search out what proof exists out there. This has been enjoyable Duane. Thanks. Ali United we stand, divided we fall. God Bless America!! From: duane mills <duane@online.no> Reply-To: MCBEE-L@rootsweb.com To: MCBEE-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [McBEE] Documentation versus Word of Mouth Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 17:51:00 +0100 Ali. >. But I think I may be the only surviving descendant. LOL. I thought I was too, until I discovered the horse thieves and all the illegitimate cousins. Talk abolut LOL, I fell out of my chair while transcribing a court document where my gggaunt was testifying about her husband: "We had our family quarrels, and I never would commence the fusses, but when he commenced to fuss and quarrell with me, I would help him out, for he would get my dander up, and I would give him as good as I had." You canŽt get more honest that that! If you think about it, "Hobby Genealogist" is a misnomer. No one talks about "hobby doctors", "hobby lawyers" or "hobby nuclear physicists". Amateur genealogist would be more descriptive, and even the rankest amateur should care greatly about his credibility. Duane Mills Stavanger, Norway ==== MCBEE Mailing List ==== Don't forget our Message Board, courtesy of Rootsweb! Queries, Bible records, Biographies, Deeds, Obits, Pensions, Wills and other data: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/board/rw/surnames.mcbee ============================== Search over 1 Billion names at Ancestry.com! http://www.ancestry.com/rd/rwlist1.asp _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp