I've recently added my e-mail address to your mailing list. So far all the discussions I've seen have concerned surnames containing the letter "a"--(Starnes as well as Stearns) as your address clearly indicated they would. Although the dates involved in the questions I've seen submitted are close to the years I find connected with my Grandmother's family, I had hoped that the similarity in spelling would produce her name, STERNE, but unfortunately that has not been the case as yet. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has any connection with family members who use this spelling as in: Charles L Sterne (born approx. 1859 who married in approx. 1879) who raised his family in or around Petersburg, Va.