Quote Originally Posted by Coemgen View Post
I know everything about my father's birth - the date, place, his mother's maiden name (Gallaher), even her brother's name! Still, nothing. I've even met her! She divorced his father and remarried; won't tell us anything about the father.

Until I can devote a really large amount of effort into a search, which I can't, since I'm a college student, I'll just be content with knowing that my forebearers came from Prussia, the Rhineland, Switzerland, and Alsace.

I wouldn't wait. The easiest, simplest way to obtain genealogical information at the beginning of one's research is by talking to the oldest relatives/ancestors you have. Once they are gone, getting the same info they could have given merely by being asked for it can become very time consuming and expensive.