25 July 2000: DJ (son of James J. Pritchard II) and his baseball team the Steelers won the City Championship on July 5, 2000. At that point, after more than 20 games in the season, the team was undefeated, and earned the right to compete in the state championships. Many thanks to Michelle Stafford for capturing this special moment!

22 July 1999: The family and main pages have been updated to add a color background for the text. (Many thanks to the suggestion from Joy Klemmer -- Joe's wife -- that some color be added to the pages with white backgrounds.)

18 July 1999: More photographs have been added! Stafford branch: Michelle, Susan, Cindy, James E. Margaret Stafford, and! Geronimo. Place branch: Bud, Jean and Irma Place. Pritchard branch: Tisha Duffy (our star!). Young branch: Uncle Mack, Nelson (Junior Mack), Margaret, Uncle Frank, Jack, Grandfather Young, and a group picture of the family. Still more to come of course!

28 June 1999: Nadine Young writes with some news about her husband, Nelson: "We went to a Masonic Lodge picnic yesterday at the Albert Neese Lodge. Albert Neese was the most prominent citizen of Richland back in the days when your dad and Nelson were boys and young men. As you may know, Georgia Neese Gray (former treasurer of U.S.) was his daughter. Anyway, this Masonic Lodge was started in 1948 and Nelson became a member a year later. When he went off to the military, his dad kept up his dues for him. The point I am leading up to, Nelson was given his 50-year pin yesterday at the picnic in a little ceremony." Congratulations, Nelson! We'll be adding this in the Young page soon.

26 June 1999: The Many Branches website is officially launched! This site is intended for all members of our family, to help preserve the legacy and memory of those who have given us so much, and celebrate all those who are with us and yet to come.
     The website is managed by Susan Stafford (me!) -- if you have any questions or problems, or materials to contribute, please contact me at . When I originally got this idea on June 16, I had in mind that other folks in the family might like to pitch in -- so please let me know if you want to volunteer to do some scanning or web design for the site! This is for all of us, and anyone in the family is welcome to participate however they feel comfortable. Also, please keep in mind as you browse that this is definitely a work in progress -- there is much more to be added. If some links don't work yet, please be patient!
     Some materials are also located at KanColl, a website I help manage which is dedicated to preserving old books, letters, photographs and other materials about Kansas life and history. Please stop by there and take a look around -- there's sure to be something to interest you.
     At Many Branches, you'll find material organized by birth family. If you're not sure where to find a particular person, you might want to go to the Site Map and use your "Find" command to locate that particular person. As time goes on, we'll improve navigation at the Photograph Album page, between individual photographs, but for now the Photograph Album page will serve as your anchor for browsing family pictures.
     Many thanks to those who have already contributed material or assistance, including my father, James E. Stafford; my mother, Jean Place Stafford Pritchard; my cousins, Mary and Marshall McLin; Rev. Paul Mitchell, who gave permission to use the memorium he wrote for cousin Gordon McLin's funeral service; and Joe Klemmer, whose unending patience and support in setting up this website will be forever appreciated (he makes dreams come true).
     I hope that you enjoy this site as much as I enjoy working on it!

COPYRIGHT ISSUES: As a family member, you may of course copy any material for your personal use. If you wish to use something for other purposes, please contact the contributor to request permission. If you don't know how to reach the contributor, you can contact Susan Stafford for information on how to get in touch with that person. Please remember that Many Branches is a labor of love, and contributions are given in kind.