John Philip Adams's remark calls to mind the old saw to the effect that
"You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick
your relatives."

Exception:
I knew a delightful lady once - a grande dame who is no longer with us -
with third cousins who were "close kin" and first cousins who were "not
related".  She unequivocally did pick her relatives.

Let's celebrate the Fourth ... and recall that the day we're celebrating
fell during the real Civil War.

============================
Charles L. Dibble      
Columbia, South Carolina 29202-1240    
============================ 


-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Philip Adams
Sent: Tuesday, July 03, 2007 19:03 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] This forum

All of you are going to be amazed to find out how so many of us with an old,
pre 1700, Virginia backgrounds are related to each other. The Caucasian,
African, and Native American families are possibly related to each other as
close as 3rd cousins to 5th cousins. 
It is hard to bash people for their opinions when you consider so many of us
are related to each other.
HAPPY Fourth of July to all of us who want to remember why we are able to
sit here and discuss these issues, when our military is fighting against
those who would silence people of opinions first.

John Philip Adams
Texas