I appreciate your take on this Mark. I am not particularly troubled by this. In fact it kind of comforts me in the commonality of all mankind. We really don't know who our brothers/cousins are so we should treat all people as though they could be.

At one time I was driven to search back as far as I could in my genealogy. More recently I have decided to try and learn as much as I could about the more recent lives and character of my more immediate family, parents, grandparents and great-grandparents who actually had a direct impact on me rather than some (maybe) ancestor two centuries ago.

If anyone out there still has a grandmother (or great-grandmother) around I suggest you make a big pot of tea and spend a whole afternoon asking her questions. I suspect you will learn a lot more about what makes you...you than ancestry.com will ever teach you.

Cam