Genealogy Today: Internet handy genealogy tool Wednesday, January 18, 2006 CONNIE LENZEN for The Columbian The inventory of an ancestor's estate included tongs, bellows and anvils. As part of the probate process, the person responsible for the deceased ancestor's estate was to make "a true and perfect inventory of all and singular the goods chattels and credits of the said deceased (person)." These inventories provide us with a window into our ancestor's life. We can see what they had in their house, their barn, their shops, and their fields. Historians use inventories to reconstruct entire communities. The Plymouth Colony Archive Project, online at http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/users/deetz/Plymouth/probates.html, contains a great number of estate inventories that have been used to reconstruct the daily life of Plymouth Colony. The tongs, bellows, and anvils are tools of the trade for a blacksmith. Every occupation has tools of the trade. A shoemaker would use a pair of pinchers and nippers. A farmer might use a plow and a harrow. Genealogists have tools of the trade. One of the tools of the trade is the Internet. Learning to use the Internet is much like learning to use any other kind of tool. You may read the rest of this article at http://www.columbian.com/lifeHome/lifeHomeNews/01182006news113360.cfm