Hi all, I can fully understand what Judy is saying about the "manufactured" family information given on the internet. For 23 years I have been seeking the origin of my 6th great grandfather and his name. Recently I went on Ancestry Public Tree and lo and behold...............two of my young nephews came up with a name for the missing grandfather but the surname changed from STRAIN to STEARNS. There is no source listed to justify this. I see where alot of people have grabbed this information up as proven. Thankfully we began years ago to do our research onsite which gave us visible proof of what we do have and I cannot be moved by new information without sources. Also photos have been taken from what I posted them. I guess this is the risky part of doing research. Just ventilating, Jean

And, yes, there are those who will even mistreat you if you have the right doc'd info and refuse to budge without obtaining something different - just because of their own impatience about the whole thing. Such people serve the purpose of hardening your skin. Sometimes, they have to understand that true genealogy research is just that - it just takes years, even decades or life times before you can find something concrete to move to the next square on. But, if you want to make sure you have the right people, you have to be able to prove it. Purpose? Increases your patience with all kinds and everything else. Due to one small thing re: my particular birth line, it has taken multi-years (I've actually forgotten how many!) to find the connections back (and it was from researching the maternal side!) to the generation of my family in the Philadelphia area - but much of it is slowly getting on-line now - even on-the ground-efforts did not pan out much where I finally found who I was looking for - but sometimes that is all you can do - shore up what you have, get everything greatly organized, look at other branches, leaves, re-sorting for more (any) clues .... and continue to wait for those gold nuggets .... like relatives who are looking for the same thing that you are! Purpose? Increased perseverence/determination and mission minded! Then you can join forces and keep searching together and sharing what you find. Teamwork toward the same goal can only help! And WOW! some of the interesting stories along the way .... Bottom line, its important to use common sense, learn from mistakes, and only go by what can be proven - as false leads and false information only and usually lead to dead ends. But even the dead ends can be filed under that and set aside as something that is not worthy in the future and you can pass onto those who are confused. Veterans, unite! After all, that is what experience is all about .... helping the newbies and those who are in need of correction along the way. Have a good one, ya all! Merry Christ-mas & God willing, Happy New Year! nacs