This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Smollack, Smallack, etc Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/ScB.2ACE/532.1 Message Board Post: Your grandmother and my mother (also named Mary Smollack) may have been cousins. There is a tree that has been started by Paul Beausoliel (Rhode ISland). Also there is an Irene Wolansky (Arizona) who has connections to Smollack family. My mother had 2 sisters: Anna & Lilly and 1 brother: Steve. Your quest for birth certificates should start/end at the Department of Health for the State that they were born in. I can get a copy of mine (for fee) from New York State Dept of Health in Albany. I can get info on prices by going to www.nys.gov you should also be able to link simularly to your state's official site and get prices and other info from there. Lots of luck, and don't get discouraged if you manage to run in circles at first. Write down all of the sites you visit and a little blurb about each site. That way you can go directly to the site you want instead of doing what I did and take the grand tour of the internet!