I used Roots web, an off shot of ancestry.com - the free part.

I know my grand parents' names and most of my GG's. Thing is, *we* have only been here back to my grands. The GGs all were immigrants, just before Ellis Island records. Ellis Island is great for any of you who have people who might have come here around the turn of the century though. I don't know if they have logs prior, and they're just not online yet or what.

My peeps were coming 1860's -1880's.

GG on Dad's maternal side, Margaret O'shea - there are so many back then, that you could've swung a dead cat and hit two.

Gonna be a trial to find which one was her. I think I have a clue - the one the Irish side doesn't know what happened to her.

I think all dad's family was from Ireland. Some of Mom's side too, some of her side was German, and we're not sure if the others were French, Scotch, English or what. Her dad was an orphan, his dad died and put him and sibs up for adoption at age two, so nobody knew much about their family.

And most of the men, I don't know their names. They didn't live very long - were all gone by the time I was born. I knew my dad's mother and her sisters, grandmother, my mom's mother. I have pix of them.

My mom is the oldest living relative I have.

RW - that is totally cool.

Kicker - that explains a lot.