Hi, Thought I'd add my two cents to this topic. The internet has helped me to find addresses and the location of original sources. It has helped me to progress faster in my research. I have even found original documents, through scanning, on the internet such as the 1800 census of Ware, Massachusetts and a book on the History of Palmer, Massachusetts that was scanned. I planned on ordering the microfilm of this book into my local FHC as one of my ancestors was the original settler of Palmer, Massachusetts. So there have been good things. There is even a scanned 1850 census of the stated of Indiana on CD. The biggest plus is that I have found some great people via the internet. It does have it's good points. I would encourage everyone to log onto to the site that was listed and click on getting started. Read part 1 as it does have some very good suggestions for starting genealogy. My husband and I teach a Family History Class and we encourage those in the class to begin their search by asking close family members what information they have. Yes, I know sometimes, certain family members aren't very reliable in their genealogy but sometime mis-information can lead to the correct information. I am not geographically located to go to the areas that my ancestors lived in but have gotten good response from writing letters. I most certainly wouldn't want to take my trips to the FHL. That's where I have all my fun at. Maybe someday all records will be scanned so we can just go on the internet and search but I hope that's a long way down the road, I like a little dust and the smell of old books. Marla