Joy, With Ancestry one sees the original census entry; that is the value and saves an enormous amount of time. The person entering the fray these days can achieve as much in a week that it would have taken you years to achieve previously. All relevant records will be accessible to the same extent sometime in the future: indexes are just the start of and only half of the equation. Current downside is that the indexes are error prone and need to be audited. There is sadly also an emotional deficit to this in that discovering a lot of forebears in a small time frame does leave one with no sense of belonging to them; your "collection of names". I have only recently started to feel like this after tracking down a lot of my father's family very rapidly; over one weekend in fact. Must admit I did ask myself if I gave a damn that my x times great-grandfather was a stone mason in Swansea. Only I can answer that and I can't! Still my endeavours have sharpened up my comprehension of Welsh history, locations and the language. Rhodri -----Original Message----- From: richardjames [mailto:richardjames@wales-genealogy.co.uk] Sent: 02 October 2005 16:20 To: CARMARTHENSHIRE-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [Cmn-L] testing Possibly, the same with CMN-L & CMN-FHS, Pauline and I get lots of questions/requests off list as well. Regards Richard ----- Original Message ----- From: <Joycozens@aol.com> To: <CARMARTHENSHIRE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, October 02, 2005 4:54 PM Subject: Re: [Cmn-L] testing > > Dear Richard > > Maybe the reason why the Dyfed Mailing List does not appear to get as many > enquiries as the Carmarthenshire ones is that most research enquirers > find > their way to the Lookup Exchange which is accessed via the link on > Gareth's Help > Page > > _http://home.clara.net/tirbach/hicks.html_ > (http://home.clara.net/tirbach/hicks.html) > There, under the various Hundreds, you will find the name of people > prepared > to do lookups in the Hundreds in which they specialise. Using various > indexes they are in one to one contact with the enquirer and do not come > through > the Mailing List. Pembrokeshire does not have the vast range of indexes > that > you and Pauline have worked on over the past 20 years or so but the > volunteers do provide as much information as they can backed by local > knowledge. > However, of late, more and more enquiries seem to come on the the Mailing > List > and I do not know what percentage are dealt with direct. > I believe that Pat Powell is one of the volunteers - a very > knowledgeable, > busy and involved lady! > As regards Ancestry being able to provide all the answers I think it will > be > a sad day when researchers no longer look at the original documents. > Admittedly it will save wear and tear on a valuable source but often the > contents > there can tell us so much more than a mere index. As a researcher for > over 35 > years I find it sad that people can look at a census index, order and > order > a copy of the entry online without any of the thrill of finding a person > after hours of trawling that did give you some feeling of the area in > which they > lived and the people who would have been their friends and neighbours. > Just > amassing a collection of dates and places is not my idea of family > history > but then I'm one of the old fashioned kind! > Bye for now > Joy > Bye for now > Joy > > > > ==== CARMARTHENSHIRE Mailing List ==== > Wales Genealogy CD's for Wales research > http://www.Wales-Genealogy.co.uk > > ==== CARMARTHENSHIRE Mailing List ==== Wales Genealogy CD's for Wales research http://www.Wales-Genealogy.co.uk -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.344 / Virus Database: 267.11.9/116 - Release Date: 30/09/2005 -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.344 / Virus Database: 267.11.9/116 - Release Date: 30/09/2005 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> if this message has not been received by the intended recipient; please delete it from your system and inform: mailmaster@rhod.net thank you. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>