I wanted to be able to answer my grown son's recent questions about my family; what we were about, who we were, where we were from, what kind of people were my kith & kin? I have 23 living first cousins on my mother's side and only know a fraction of them. Most of them I wouldn't recognize if I saw them on the street. And I realized, I would want to recognize them. I've been fortunate enough to reconnect with a few of them over the years, and found I really liked them and wanted them to be a part of my life. The same holds true for my father's side of the family. I know I have at least 4 first cousins and haven't seen them since I was a child. I don't even know where they live.

With the death of my dear brother, I began to do a little internet research. I was lucky to be able to find distant relatives that have done extensive research into the family lines already and was able to use their information in which to plug our current existing family lines. (Special thanks to Patty Richardson Fraley and Beth Bond). How my brother would have enjoyed knowing the full history of his families. Of the two of us, he was the family historian.

I decided to create this website as a tribute to family. It is my fondest hope that other immediate family members will visit and learn more about our family. I also hope that those 'cousins' like me, who would like to connect with certain other cousins find this website to be place of common ground.

There are no rules here, per se. This website is a work in progress. As (first, second, or even third) cousins pop in I hope they will contribute information concerning their immediate family. I will be building a Family Address Book. Listing your personal information is completely voluntary. It is and will be password protected. After awhile, I hope it will be full of names, addresses, and phone numbers as a means of contact one to another. Those who agree to post their addresses will be furnished a 'user name' and 'password' to access this particular page.

My ultimate goal is to create an interactive website for interested family members. Those who are not interested can keep their comments to themselves. Chances are they won't have anything positive to say anyway.