Hi, I am sending your request on to the oneall discussion list for their input (see below) I suggest you join the group, its free let me know if you wish too......you are right, contact the Vital Records in Sacramento CA for the marriage record, the cost is $12. Also find the death certs of your grandparents, and their marriage and birth records, obits help too. And if you know where they are living in 1900, 1910 and 1920 look for them in census records, I suggest you visit the Family History Center at the largest Mormon church in your area and tell them you are new to this and ask for some help.......its free and you don't need to be Mormon, as for the spelling, look for all possibles.Ask your mother who all her aunts and uncles were so you have the names of all the children in birth order...... anyone else have suggestions, send them directly to papasunny address too please. Thanks for writing and good luck, Jill ---------- : From: [email protected] : To: [email protected] : Subject: where do i start : Date: Tuesday, November 03, 1998 9:41 PM : : My mother, maiden name Ruth O'Neil, doesn't know anything about her ancestry : beyond her father and mother. My mother was born in 1915 or 1916 in Oakland : Claifornia. Her father was James O'Neal (you see the different spellings of : O'Neil--my mother's mother and farther separated soon after she was born and : her mother changed the sprelling of the name to keep him from finding her) and : her mother was formerly named Rose McGuire. My understanding is that their : marriage took place in Oakland. My mother remembers her father singing to her : about the sidewalks of new york ("uptown, downtown, all around the town....). : her mother worked in gloverville new york before coming to Oakland, Ca. but my : mother thinks her mother may have been born in Boston. My mother's mother died : in a car wreck in Yakima (spelling?), washington in 1945 and her father also : diied in Washington state but when, where, or how is unknown. : : That is not much to go on, but i would love to be able to learn more before my : mother dies---she is 83 or 84 (depending on her actual birth date). I suspect : my best chance might be to track down an obit for her mother in Yakima or to : find marriage records for her parents. : : Can you help? : : thanks for your consideration, : : Michael Sunnafrank