I began my search for my family roots in earnest after I was on the web and had purchased Ultimate Family Tree 3.0 which is a branch of Roots programs. I posted my family information on several different boards and one day I received an email from Minnesota. A cousin had found me! I was very excited as this was the first contact I had ever had with anyone in Minnesota related to me. Dan was able to do the foot work and he sent me loads of fantastic information and pictures. What information I had he was able to confirm by way of the library there. Then one day he emailed to let me know he had been contacted by another cousin! This cousin is Bob. Bob and Dan are related by the same branch to their great great grandfather Johann Christain Knauss. I am related to his brother Johann Frederick Knauss who married Mary Magdalena Barbaras in ILLINOIS. Their daughter Sarah married Ira Kirkland aka Isaac Stegner who had been adopted at age three. Their son Fredrick Stegner was my Grandfather who married Esther LilyMarcelene Schmidt in 1912 in St. Paul, Minnesota. For my Grandmother's side I have come to a deadend. However, on the Knauss side the information flowed. The Kirkland branch was unknown to the Fredrick Stegner branch until 1990. It was about this time that we found out we had been adopted. We only had a smattering bit of information that had been saplied by great grandma Sarah. Bob at some point was in contact with my father's cousin Diane. She had been working on the family tree in Minnesota for many years. Bob had the Kirkland tree! Diane had passed away just recently which saddened me because I was never given the chance to know her. Without RootWeb I never would have had my program or a place to post information. Rootweb has been a great source of information and learning for me. Thank you! Dyane (Diane)