For several decades I have wondered whatever happened to my gt Uncle Charles Macfie (often referred to as "Naughty Uncle Charlie" by older members of the family. The only info I remember is that he had gone to South America and started a railway. His wife was called Jessie, her surname possibly Duncan. When I realised the potential of the web, I entered his name on a search engine and finished up on Rootsweb's WorldConnect, and there was a Charles Macfie, his father was Daniel Macfie, but his mother was Spanish, not Scottish,"Portoda Caros", and his wife was Jessie, but her surname was Humberstone.. He was born at an address in Scotland that seemed tantalisingly familiar. He had two children, Kenneth and Nora, both now dead. After a while, becoming more familiar with Rootsweb, I was emboldened to email the filer of the GEDCOM. We kept getting stuck on the Portoda Caros name. Then I found some notes made thirty years ago talking to my grandmother about him and there were the same two children, Nora and Kenneth. Rather late in the day I searched under "Portoda" and found that, of course, it isn't a name, it's Spanish for "for all" and "Caros" would translate as "dears" . So I emailed the owner of the GEDCOM, Michael Outram, who was Jessie's great-nephew, and he has now sent me a copy of Charles and Jessie's wedding certificate - in South America, Chile, and her father ran the railways there - and a photo. I was so moved to see at last the photo of this shadowy relation, looking amazingly like his brother, my grandfather. And I realised why he was" naughty" - he was in South America when he should have been fighting in World War I. Ironically, his son was killed in World War II. One thing this taught me - trust family recollections. Thanks to Rootsweb - there is no way in the world I would have solved this little mystery without you. PS There are lots of us who use you but aren't US citizens - can you extend the drop down boxes above please? I have clicked on the first state that comes up so that I can file this.