Dear List, Please take the time to try to locate all living relatives of your ancestors. They have wonderful stories to share. If you look at the ages of the people listed in the obits. you will realize that those who could have known Civil War era relatives are reaching the ends of their lives. I met a man several month's ago who was 85, he remembered his grandfather born in 1848!! His grandfather died in 1925, when Jack was 10. Oh, I can't imagine meeting a relative that might have known my gggrandfather b. in 1849! So much of what we find in our genealogy searching is dry facts that we have to try to flesh out with our mind as to what our relatives lives must have been like. I think most folks are like me, we want to "hear" stories of our ancestors lives but have to settle for the bare facts we find. I've branched out in my searching this year to try and locate relations to my grandmother's brothers and her half-sister. I've been searching the SSDI and then looking for obits that might provide a starting point for names of their offspring. I also started sending out letters to folks with the same surnames living in my relatives area. I enclose a list of some of the generations as I don't know if my letter is going to a 65 yr old or an 18 yr old that might not know the name of his/her ggggrandparents. I have had almost a 50% return rate on my SASEs. Plus, I've enjoyed hearing from those that wrote notes back to me. I've also called some people and they have taken the time to call me back. my mom told me about Vartec phone rates. I only pay 5cents a minute with a 50cent minumum. There is no monthly fee. It has saved me much money, as some of my calls to relatives are in the multiple hour range! Only $3 an hour. Good luck on finding your brick walls this year! Jeanne searching: Averitt, Pardue, Coakley, Warden, Keel, Swindle