Well, I'll jump in here... I totally agree if we are talking about 100 years ago and the involved parties are gone. But when we are talking about living people, I don't think I do. I know of at least three cases in my extended family where "secrets" are either common knowledge or my research has uncovered new info proving something no one knew. But the children involved, who are now 50-90 years old, may not know the truth or may have grown up doing everything they could to bury the truth. While it is statistics, info, genealogy, facts, etc. to us as researchers, to them it is their LIVES. I think it is like sticking one's nose in where it doesn't belong to publish or publicly share that info, even though I do record it in my files. One of my three cases, the "child" came to me because of my research and asked me to find the truth. Once found, he had definite ideas of how it should be recorded. While nowadays it is no big deal, these people weren't raised nowadays and, to them, it can be a big deal. Probably the best rule of thumb and one I try to follow is not to provide any info on any person (secrets or not) not confirmed to be deceased unless it is easily verifiable (i.e. via census or some other widely available resource.) I am often amazed by what I see being posted on some of the genealogy boards, including data about living people... Even contact information, like addresses and phone numbers. I think we get so caught up in the genealogy research, what we can find and what we can prove, that we lose sight of the fact that these are real people who might care what we write about them. Just my two cents. LuAnne -----Original Message----- From: gracie [mailto:g.winters@sbcglobal.net] Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2006 7:55 AM To: WVLOGAN-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [WVLOGAN] Secrets Oh, come on, ya'll, get out of the 1950s. In this day, there are single parents, sperm banks, gay marriages, cloning, etc. Genealogy is about telling the truth and showing proof, geez, just made a rhyme. rofl We all work so hard to make sure we have the right information on everything else. Shoot , just put in the mother and if you know the father , put him in, don't worry about a marriage licence. So much of the time we don't have those for the ones who did marry. So our ancestors weren't perfect, neither are we. Quit tiptoeing around about descretions over 100 years ago. Tis a better subject than the wars in mho. I know, wars are a part of genie too. I just don't like to think about them. I have such a delicate personality. (Now really on the floor laughing) Sorry for being so blunt but I just came in from weedeating(not my favorite job) and I am sweaty, itchy, and the other itchy word. The one with the B. Gracie hoping I don't get banned for this one.