as many of you know, my 5th great gpa John Steele (bef. 1760-1823) came from outer space, but his (grandchildren wrote it) descendents thought he came from Scotland, so maybe that's where John landed, and it's the direction I follow. In that light, I've found that there was a sub-branch of one of the larger Scots clans (have lost the slip of paper I wrote it on, sorry I don't have the clan name in front of me). We were at a Celtic Fest last year, and many Gaelic clans were represented with booths & books & researchers, both Irish and Scots. Irish Steel/es seemed almost completely Ulster-Scots, part of the Plantation of Ireland (interestingly they were also called Saxon-Scots). In a book of Clan Maps of Scotland, STEELE was shown on the south side of the river Tweed to the east. ("The Tweedside District") in the border country. Further reading stated that that border country was nearly all Anglo (vs. Celt) in makeup, that most were Presby., with New Light being common. Also stated in the section on Borderers, from "Albion's Seed", was the fact that in Scotland at that time (couple hundred years) that the Highlanders & Lowlanders did not get along at all. In my search I've also turned up the German Steihl/etcs, and Swedish Stihl/man. It seems to me that just like WHITE, COOPER, SMITH and many others, that it was just a fairly common word to use when last names came into fashion. Plus, England was invaded and overcome by the Saxons some time before the Norman invasion, and England was considered a huge melting pot even "a thousand" years ago. I have enjoyed the book "Albion's Seed" by David Hackett Fischer for insights into the early lives of the "Four British Folkways In America" that he describes. But I don't know anything about the German or Swedish "Steele" families, since I'm pretty sure that's not where John's from. Some time in the 1730s old Ben Franklin {Poor Richard] said "all blood alike is ancient". ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Not to miss the opportunity for a question, though: in Mary Steele's (1777-1837) homework, she quotes a Timothy Dwight (ca 1755-1817?) poem, then remarks on the man's character in a rather personal way. Do any of the CT Steele's have connection with the Dwights or Edwards (Timothy's mother) or Yale Univ in the period 1760+- to 1817????? Looking for "Lost John", Kathryn