Dear list members: Now that I have posted so many inter-marriages among Hamricks, Gregorys and Dodrills, allow me a couple of questions and observations: What choice did they have? Like the people of Southeastern Kentucky, they were related to everyone. You may know that Arnold Hamrick and Angeline Dodrill are Patsy Hamrick Weikart's and Nancy Grimm's ancestors. But you should not hold Patsy responsible for this. She had other ancestors who were more closely related. So she should not be held accountable all the time for all of her words and actions. Her ancestors tried to mix it up: Hamrick, Gregory, Dodrill, Givens more than once, Harris, Hollingsworth, McCray, Conrad, Sands, Mollohan, etc. Of course, we will avoid going into the relationships of the Conrads and Mollohans to the same families. I asked Ted Smith if he thinks these were the times, the culture, the mountains that put difficult distances between families. But my neighbors have Quaker descent. The main reason, they say, for the loss of Quaker membership was a rule against marriage within the family. Much of this was in Pennsylvania. So it apparently was a part of the culture of the times, regardless of where you lived. My great-great grandfather, David Hamrick, married a Miller rather than a Hamrick, Dodrill or Gregory. On the face of it, that appears noble. But, boy, did his own family mess it up. So, I, too, do not want to be held responsible. dhamrick@neo.rr.com Dan Hamrick 402 23rd Street NW Canton OH 44709 Phone: 330-454-2376