[I was going to reply privately to Bonnie Coy, but I realized that some newer listmembers might benefit from learning about various resources for surname searches.] Hi, Bonnie, and all! As for the COW name, you might try the following: KOUGH, KAUGH, COWE, COWIE, CAHOW. As for eliminating the "widow with a cow" entries, try starting with the "surname" lists, especially the following sites: The numerous searchable lists accessible from Cyndi's List: http://www.oz.net/~cyndihow/sites.htm http://www.gendex.com/ http://www.ancestry.com http://www.rootsweb.com http://www.familytreemaker.com * * I think that people who are not FTM 4.0 registered users can search for appearances of SURNAME-X on the home pages of FTM users. Those of us who are FTM 4.0 users can also search the Internet for SURNAME-X; only names turn up, not common words/phrases. (I believe this site uses SOUNDEX codes in the search, too.) Try also using Yahoo! or Alta Vista to search for "COW + GEDCOM" -- that's how I found GENDEX in the first place. http://www.yahoo.com/ http://www.altavista.digital.com ____________________ Here are "clickable" links for fellow AOL users: <A HREF="http://www.oz.net/~cyndihow/sites.htm">Cyndi's List</A> <A HREF="http://www.gendex.com/"> http://www.gendex.com/</A> <A HREF="http://www.ancestry.com">Genealogy: Ancestry Home Town</A> <A HREF="http://www.rootsweb.com">Rootsweb (surname lookups)</A> <A HREF="http://www.familytreemaker.com">http://www.familytreemaker.com</A> <A HREF="http://www.yahoo.com/">Yahoo!</A> <A HREF="http://www.altavista.digital.com">AltaVista Search Engine</A> Anne Lurie St. George, Vermont