It has been said that anyone who thinks genealogy is fun has either never done genealogy or has never had fun. But is there anyone who has not enjoyed the challenge of assembling a five hundred piece jigsaw puzzle, even though, deep in his heart he knew that the effort was about as useful as taking a count of the stars?
     In fact, genealogy is fun, as any searcher of censuses will tell you. Perhaps it's just a matter of vanity -- pride in knowing something no one else knows. But more likely there is something inside us that produces an insatiable appetite for answers to the question: "Who am I?"
     What then is the goal? When the jigsaw puzzle is done, it's done, and except for the entertainment it provided, the exercise was futile.  The finished product was relegated in bits and pieces to the box from which it came, perhaps never to see the light again. Genealogy, on the other hand, never produces a completed image, but, like any historical research, reveals at least one new question for every answer that is found.  Portions of the puzzle may come into sharper focus, but its dimensions constantly increase. The game is never over.
     This writing, then, is merely a news bulletin through which the facts are presented as they are known today. Tomorrow will bring new revelations and a sharper, but even larger image. It is hoped that the reader will become a contributor, eager to fit some of the pieces into place and anxious to glean bits of history from fading memories while those memories remain to be tapped.

G.A.R.
March, 1988