Dear Kay: AMEN!! How many of these newbies have ever even heard of the Handy Book for Genealogists? How many even bother to spend less than $5 on a good Rand McNally road atlas, in order to find out in what county a given town or village may be found. We planned summer vacations around the areas where we wanted to explore the records, we (my wife, who is also a genealogist, and I) planned our "assult" on the courthouses. She went to Land Records and Court records, I went to Vital Records (BMD, depending on which state), Wills and Administrations, and, if time permitted, School Census. We also made four trips to England, spending a total of about 15 weeks over that time, to do as much of the same there as we did here, given differences in record sources and disposal. We used our time and money to travel (three times) to Salt Lake City, Ft. Wayne (at least four times), DC for LC and NARA and DAR and NGS, Richmond, Raleigh, Frankfort, Lansing, and Annapolis (and others) for State Libraries and Archives and visited countless local libraries and historical societies. We bought dozens of books, some of the kind that helps to learn how to do this job properly, others of collected records and transcriptions. Now I am trying to save the money to buy the collected NEHGS journals and the MA Vital Records (by county) on CD. This is the way it gets done RIGHT -- with sources cited, etc. Then we share it with others and later find it turning up on somebody's commercial CD for enriching their pocketbook. UGH. This story needs to be told on every maillist at least once a year. Thank you for putting it on the Fairfield list. Allan E. Green

Listers, There is a maillist, probably several, devoted to subjects like this. I think it is perfectly acceptable for people to trace their family history in a casual manner, if that is what suits their interests and needs. There may even be subscribers to the Fairfield, Connecticut maillist who prefer that. Please don't try to make second class citizens out of some of our subscribers. Lee ----- Original Message ----- From: <ALLAGREEN@aol.com> To: <CTFAIRFI-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, June 04, 2001 12:36 AM Subject: Re: [CTFAIRFI] Genealogy Attitudes > Dear Kay: > > AMEN!! How many of these newbies have ever even heard of the Handy Book for > Genealogists? How many even bother to spend less than $5 on a good Rand > McNally road atlas, in order to find out in what county a given town or > village may be found. We planned summer vacations around the areas where we > wanted to explore the records, we (my wife, who is also a genealogist, and I) > planned our "assult" on the courthouses. She went to Land Records and Court > records, I went to Vital Records (BMD, depending on which state), Wills and > Administrations, and, if time permitted, School Census. We also made four > trips to England, spending a total of about 15 weeks over that time, to do as > much of the same there as we did here, given differences in record sources > and disposal. > > We used our time and money to travel (three times) to Salt Lake City, Ft. > Wayne (at least four times), DC for LC and NARA and DAR and NGS, Richmond, > Raleigh, Frankfort, Lansing, and Annapolis (and others) for State Libraries > and Archives and visited countless local libraries and historical societies. > We bought dozens of books, some of the kind that helps to learn how to do > this job properly, others of collected records and transcriptions. Now I am > trying to save the money to buy the collected NEHGS journals and the MA Vital > Records (by county) on CD. This is the way it gets done RIGHT -- with > sources cited, etc. > > Then we share it with others and later find it turning up on somebody's > commercial CD for enriching their pocketbook. UGH. > > This story needs to be told on every maillist at least once a year. Thank > you for putting it on the Fairfield list. > > Allan E. Green > > > > ============================== > Shop Ancestry - Everything you need to Discover, Preserve & Celebrate > your heritage! > http://shop.myfamily.com/ancestrycatalog > >