LIST-friends-- Well, I could not take it anymore --so I skated around on the old NET and found out the following: 1. The Yankees homepage also lists O'Neill as "direct descendant" --see his listing under yankees.com. 2. O'Neill has a homepage -- at www.pauloneill21.com/ There, I find the following direct quote . . . . "Sometime in the late 1800's Paul's Great-Grandfather, a Nebraska homesteader, married Mary Clemens of Missouri. Paul's Great-Grandmother was a cousin to one, Samuel Clemens, alias Mark Twain." (thus, not exactly "direct" . . . not to mention faulty use of commas and capitalization!) 3. I e--mailed the 2 webmasters for specific comment on the direct descendant business. I will alert the media, or else at leat the Twain-LIST, as soon as I get an official response. __Hal Bush **=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=** Dr. Harold K. Bush Assistant Professor Dept. of English Saint Louis University 221 N. Grand Blvd. Saint Louis, MO 63103 314-977-3631; fax 314-977-1514