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Alice Wilkinson of Houston started out with just two names and ended up with personal links to America's history

With up-to-the-minute technology available to supplement ancient charts and records, more and more folks are finding it easier than ever to reconstruct their families' unique histories

By EMILY MITCHELL

rowing up in eastern Tennessee, Alice Wilkinson liked nothing better than listening to her grandmother talk about the family's past. Little did she imagine that this childhood fascination would lead to a 17-year quest for her roots and the discovery that she is related to Revolutionary War soldiers as well as fighters on both sides in the Civil War, and that she shares ancestors with former pro quarterback Terry Bradshaw, Senator Strom Thurmond and Elvis Presley.