GENEALOGY ON THE WEB Recommendation: "Ancestry.com" website See http://www.ancestry.com/gems.asp <a href="http://www.ancestry.com/gems.asp">Link</a> Genealogical research has come a long way. Genealogy used to mean searching through dusty old records in dimly-lit church archives or libraries. Later, it progressed to spending hours in front of a microfilm reader straining to make out the vague films, wearing out forearms operating the manual cranks, carefully copying dates and names, hoping you weren't making any mistakes. Enter the computer age. And even better, enter the Internet! There is now a whole new world of genealogical resources available to be tapped and researched, from the comfort of your own computer terminal. One of the great treasure-troves of information on the Internet is the Ancestry.com website. The company, based in Orem, Utah, launched its web site last year and now has over 100 million searchable records online, from some 665 different databases! And new databases are added every business day. Whether you're a beginner or a professional, there is material there that will be helpful for your research. Many of the databases are available for free access; some are available only to members who have paid a subscription price. The most popular free databases include the Ancestry World Tree and the Social Security Death Index. The pages include hundreds of notes and instructional articles to help both beginners and advanced genealogists; a store where books, software, and other materials can be ordered; and links to other resources and online services. You can contribute your research to the "Ancestry World Tree" and find out who else has researched your lines. You can access maps and gazeteers. There's a daily news update to help keep up with added databases and developments that can help your research. You can participate in genealogy chats, where you can ask questions and get help on your problems. You can even get an e-mail account ("your-name@ancestry.com") to help with your research! Whether you're an experienced researcher, or just an "ordinary" member who feels a desire to get started on genealogy, this is a great place to start. Check out this address: See http://www.ancestry.com/gems.asp <a href="http://www.ancestry.com/gems.asp">Link</a> You can also contact Ancestry.com at 1-800-ANCESTRY (1-800-262-3787). They are open 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Mountain Time, Monday through Saturday, closed Sundays. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 1998, LDS-Gems - distributed on the Internet via the LDS-Gems mailing list. Messages may be forwarded to individuals if this trailer is included, but may *not* be re-posted publicly without permission. LDS-Gems webpage: http://www.lds-gems.com/ To subscribe to LDS-Gems, send a message to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "subscribe lds-gems" (without quotes) in the message body; or to leave the list, say "unsubscribe lds-gems". David Kenison, Orem, Utah - dkenison@xmission.com