Hello, The story about the discarded family history seems to be becoming all too fa miliar in recent times. Just last year I saw a neighbor put her deceased husband's family heirlooms out for sale at a moving sale.....everything from huge original framed ancestral portraits ca. early 1800s to books to china, etc.....sold for a pittance as if it were all so much rubbish (even the grown children had no interest in the items.) This really bothered me, realizing my own family's (few but precious) heirlooms might meet a similar fate if I die before my siblings do. I'm glad the records mentioned in the earlier post were rescued and it occurred to me that if no family members can be found who have an interest in them, they might be donated to the local genealogical/historical society, or maybe even a post could be made to the list with that surname (or other related surnames) at Rootsweb and maybe a distant cousin/or connection might want them for research/archival purposes. I am so fortunate to have many heirlooms which came from my Allein/Wood ancestors who lived in Church Hill in Jefferson County. I've always appreciated them but never as much as I do now, now that I am interested in my family's history (I just wish I had started on it long ago.) Just this month, my siblings and I got together to decide "who gets what" when my mom is no longer with us. While they can at least appreciate the heirlooms for their aesthetic/or monetary value, the history is lost on them. This will be the first time the collection has been split up since its days in Church Hill/and Vicksburg going back at least to the 1840s. I think some ghosts have been disturbed in the process too, for no sooner did the first pieces of furniture get carted from the house than minor but noticeable phenomenon began to occur, leaving thoughts in my mind that the Allein/Moore ancestors were agitated <strange but true.> In the ten years I've been doing genealogy, I've met so many people who have told me that they have virtually no family heirlooms (records, photographs, etc.) and I always feel genuinely sorry for them, knowing how much even the smallest artifact would mean to them. It is for that reason that I often think there could be a substitute fulfillment in taking an interest in (or adopting, so to speak) a stranger's family history and yes, even the artifacts if they are to be had. About a year ago I got a 1918 school yearbook on eBay; I searched high and low for the original owner, only to sadly find on the SSDI that she was dead. I then searched for living relatives but never found any. Inside the yearbook were two name tags....the original owner and her husband....from a reunion held 40 years later. The little name tags had the school's colored ribbons attached. How special it would be if a living relative could have these....especially since the owner's class photo was in it. I plan to donate the yearbook to the local library's research room, where it might be found by still-living alumni or descendants, but also plan to post all the book's alumni names on the locality list at Rootsweb first. I did make several posts on Rootsweb for that surname, hoping a cousin might turn up but with no luck. Anyway, I enjoyed the previous post and wanted to also say that I myself would have no problem whatsoever in digging in a dumpster if I thought I might find anybody's family history there. Your deed was noble and good! I've never been to Jefferson Co. or Church Hill, but would love to go dumpster-digging there anytime...ha! Peggy Dyas Researching: ALLEIN/WOOD/FITZPATRICK in Jefferson Co. MS