Dear Cousins: As your List Founder and Administrator, I felt it was my duty to let you know that today, Rootsweb issued a press release concerning a new relationship with Ancestry.Com. Rootsweb and Ancestry have merged; you can read about the particulars at these links: http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/merge.html and http://www.ancestry.com/home/celebrate/rootsrelease.htm I have been a voluntary financial contributor to Rootsweb for several years now, and have watched a great deal of the growth that has occurred in recent years. Brian Leverich and Karen Isaacson, the founders of Rootsweb, have nurtured the Rootsweb Data Cooperative through this tremendous growth, including taking on enormous personal debt to keep it afloat when voluntary contributions were not enough to do so. They have always been honest and straightforward in their dealings with the Rootsweb community, and I am taking the position of trusting what they say now regarding this merger. Call it a "wait and see" attitude, if you will. According to the press releases, the merger should have no impact on the free genealogy that we have access to via this list and our GenConnect boards, so until I hear or see otherwise, I recommend "business as usual." If you have further questions about this subject, please keep them OFF THE LIST. Rootsweb has a help desk where questions may be asked at: http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/help.cgi You are also welcome to e-mail me privately at carfpaige@aol.com, and although I really don't have any more information than what has been issued in the press release, I will do my best to get answers to any questions you may have. As the List Administrator, I am subscribed to a mailing list that discusses issues relating to the management of Rootsweb mailing lists. Up to this point, there has been no additional information posted regarding the merger, and I honestly believe there isn't anything that needs to be. To the extent anything of interest is posted, please be assured that I will immediately let you know. Thanks for your attention to my lengthy, off-topic message. Back to genealogy! Christine Alwine Paige carfpaige@aol.com ALWINE List Administrator