Allen: No need to be embarrassed, really. I know I can say I got excited the first time I got one of those offers in the mail (I can't speak for everyone else on the list, but I'd be willing to bet I'm not alone on this...). My grandfather bought just about everything he got junk mail for and one of them was one of these 'history' books on the Winger families of the US. It was as someone else just described here; a bunch of pages on how to do research and then names and addresses of everyone with the same last name in the country. I'd also bet that there are a few folks that have written 'legit' histories on Whitaker families. It's just a matter of finding them, unfortunately... Greg