Gosh, methinks that this may be a good place to mention one of my very favorite sites . . . I have never, in the past, thought this site to be helpful to those abroad; but, because you listed the abbreviations for all the states, it jogged my mind - it could be an invaluable tool for you . . . I know it helps me immensely!! It is my favorite online telephone white pages . . . and for those of you outside the US, the white pages are residential phone numbers; yellow pages are business listings which may include a display ad. The site is www.switchboard.com and you can search for just a surname and use/not use a state, you may search by phone number, you can find out from these searches the concentration of a surname in any one state. I cannot tell you of all the blind phone calls I have made from gathering those numbers, that I've found the person I needed!! Just last week I found the person for whom many baby pictures, his parents, his grandparents are in our possession. . . he is a distant cousin and these pictures were found in the possessions of our grandmother. What a delight to speak with him on the phone and be able to fill some of the gaping holes in my information as well as find out that he is interested in learning more about US!! so the pictures were not only emailed to him, but the originals are in the mail to him as well. Check out that phone book . . . Jeanine ----- Original Message ----- From: Carolyn To: REYNOLDS-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Monday, September 27, 2004 1:24 AM Subject: [Reynolds] USA State Abbreviations Thanks to a helpful lister who sent the following explanations of abbrevaitions used, and I thought I might pass them on to help others who have as little knowledge of USA geography as I do. AL-Alabama, AK-Alaska, AZ-Arizona, AR-Arkanasas, CA-California, CO-Colorado, CT-Connecticut, DE-Delaware, DC-Distict of Columbia, FL-Florida, GA-Georgia, HI-Hawaii, ID-Idaho, IL-Illinois, IN-Indiana, IA-Iowa, KY-Kentucky,LA-Louisana, ME-Maine, MD-Maryland, MA-Massachusetts, MI-Michigan,MN-Minnesota, MS-Mississippi, MO-Missouri, MT-Montana, NE-Nevada, NH-NewHampshire, NJ-NewJersey, NM-NewMexico, NY-NewYork, NC-NorthCarolina, ND-NorthDakota, OH-Ohio, OK-Oklahoma, OR-Oregon, PA-Pennsylvania, RI-Rhode Island, SC-SouthCarolina, SD-SouthDakota, TN-Tennessee, TX-Texas, UT-Utah, VT-Vermont, WA-Washington, WV-WestVirginia, WI-Wisconsin, WY-Wyoming. cheers Carolyn