My posting of "How Big Is Your Family Tree?" had quite a bit of feedback, both online and off. My intent was to get people thinking how far they wanted to go, and if they thought they were nearly finished, there's always room for expansion. One lady sent me an email saying she had been misled for years because of a misinformed biography that came into her possession. And it was just recently someone posted an email to a message board along the same lines about a social climbing relative. Both women are right. Wording can be very important. This, too, is worth looking at. I wish I had kept the biography I read a few years ago. I still recall the gist of it, although there were more nuts and bolts to it and I am probably embellishing and refining the writing. John (I forget the last name) was born near the banks of the mighty Mississippi River in Illinois in the 1830s (or 1840s?). One day, while still a young man, he decided to seek his fortune in the American west and being young, he impulsively left home the same day. However, in his case, his impulsiveness turned out to be a very lucrative move. Soon after, he found himself in Texas. There he met some businessmen beginning an export business and he threw his complete enthusiasm into that business as a partner. The business expanded and flourished across the southwest, but over time, competition stiffened, so, twelve years later, he decided to move on. Due to his success, he was, by then, well known. After entering the travel industry in Colorado, his name became a household word and caught the attention of the Governor, who invited him to be his guest. John stayed with him for 4 years before the wanderlust drew him eastward where he retired and spent his reclining years quietly in a small town in Iowa. Before his death, the town held a party for him and almost everyone from a hundred miles around, attended. Like many others, after he died, his name was soon forgotten and he remains an obscure figure in history. Translation: While still a young man in Illinois, John fled his hometown when a certain girl's father came after him with a shotgun. Not only did he flee, but he stole his potential father-in-law's horse to get away in the dark shortly before his pending fatherhood. In Texas, he fell in with cattle rustlers who were driving stolen herds to market in Mexico. The thieves moved west ahead of the law into NM and AZ, but remained busy plying their trade as they went. When John became a most wanted man, then, for "reasons of health," he found it expedient to remove post haste to Colorado. However, he couldn't stay out of trouble when his attention was caught by the travel industry. He robbed enough trains to get the attention of the Governor, who issued a State wide warrant and made him priority No. 1 for the law enforcement establishment. John soon became a "guest" for 4 years in prison. His arrival in Iowa was preceded by his reputation and a year later, when someone's cattle disappeared, a mob publicly hanged him. The preceding is an extreme example of misrepresentation, but it emphasizes that each of us should be careful to be accurate when writing biographies of our family members. I've read many that are a bit confusing and to those writers, I would suggest they adopt the attitude that the reader has no knowledge of the subject and your job as author is to present it clearly and acurately. Proofread it and pick out the places where you know what you mean, but where your description is ambiguous or confusing to readers. Bill