First, I'd like to thank all the List Members who have supported BLANCHARD-L over the 2 1/2 years that we have been in operation. 1999 already looks like a great year for genealogy and I wish you success in your searches. The GenConnect Boards that were recently set up for BLANCHARD-L provide sites for sharing information on Queries, Deeds, Wills, Bible Records, Pension Records, Obituaries and Biographies as they relate to the BLANCHARD (and all name variants) Surname. Our new association with GenConnect at RootsWeb also offers us some very useful and powerful capabilities and I will try to describe one of them. _______________ SURNAME HELPER "Surname Helper indexes queries/obits/etc posted to the GenConnect system. This gives the user the opportunity to search GenConnect along with other sites at the same time. Surname Helper will query the GenConnect system on a weekly basis for each site. GenConnect will respond with all of the queries/obits/etc posted for that site and Surname Helper will store the surnames and URL for each item. Since the index for the entire site is refreshed each week, any items deleted from the GenConnect system will then be deleted from the Surname Helper system." _______________ Here are three methods for using Surname Helper. Site surname search page for all BLANCHARD GenConnect Boards: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/surhelp-bin/srchsite.pl?site=88BLANCHAR Use this site to search all surnames that have been included in the "Surnames:" line for messages posted to any of our 7 Boards at GenConnect. Enter a surname, choose any limitations or restrictions you want to impose on the search and "Submit". The Surname Search Results will be returned and you can link from a message line to the full text of the message. **This is a good example of the need to include appropriate 'surnames' with your posts to the Boards.** Be sure to add all the surnames mentioned in the post. Do not include those that are only 'related" to the people in the post; the 'searcher' will be disappointed to find nothing about these names! Site index page http://cgi.rootsweb.com/surhelp-bin/surindx.pl?site=88BLANCHAR This site also works with the GenConnect Boards and is similar to the 'search page' but here you select the first initial of a surname that you are seaching, from the A - Z Index. All surnames that begin with that letter are returned in table form as: Surname - Post Type - Date . Click on the 'Surname' block for a message that you want to retrieve. Site: search for a surname http://cgi.rootsweb.com/surhelp/srchall.html If you enter a surname and select 'all sites, 'all posts' and 'all geographica areas', this site will return all instances where that surname is found on | any | locations that have been registered and indexed with Surname Helper. These include GenConnect Boards, USGenWeb County Pages, WorldGenWeb Pages, Personal Web Pages, Genealogical Societies, etc., etc.!! Remember, Mail Lists at RootsWeb are newcomers to GenConnect and Surname Helper. Many other organizations have been using these for quite some time. Today, the surname BLANCHARD returned 275 'hits'. Try it, I think you will be amazed. More about this in another Admin. post to the List. I am a novice as far as GenConnect & Surname Helper are concerned but will try to pass along to you what I am able to learn. If some of you have had experience with these services, please correct any of my interpretations and add your own so that we all can make the best use of these genealogical tools. Fletch