The only good thing I see about FTM > and Ancestry is that maybe someone will purchase the CDs and happen to be > connected to you and then contact you to share and update the information. > Maybe that is a dreamers attitude. Mary > Guess I do not think you are dreaming. I brought down one of my brick walls because a distant cousin posted the family on Kindred Konnections (a web site, similar to Ancestry). I only knew my Norwegian GrGrGrandmother as Bertha Thompson. There was no way I could trace her (you need a farm name to search in Norway). When I contacted that submitter, I was put in touch with not only other relatives, but a relative who has ALL the rest of the family BUT our branch, and after twenty years, she had about given up of there being any descentants from MY side! Because my relative posted the info on the KK site, I am now in contact with my genealogist cousin (who is in the process of writing a book on the family, and WE *were* going into the book as "NO descentants"), as well as two other family members, doing genealogy. Bertha Thompson's husbands family is on a Family Tree Maker CD (which I purchased), and has taken that side back over 200 years. I am currently in the process of verifing that information, but it is a lot easier to verify than it is starting from scratch. That is also Norwegian, and I had no farm name. I have discovered that whom I thought was my immigrant ancestor actually came over with her whole family, including her parents. And that 3 of her brothers fought in the Civil War. Knowing my ancestor was Bertha Thompson, I MAY have, some day, connected John Thompson to her (but really? Thompson?). But I may have gone to my grave not knowing that Bertha Thompson was originally Britha Trulsdatter Mael (and her brother was Johann Trulson Meal). Or that some of her brothers were Thompsons, some kept Trulson, and some even are Meals. Yes, one should verify what they get, from ANY source, other than the original source. But it is much easier to verify than it is to start from scratch (especially when you know so little). Much that I have received, I have already verified, and I have well over a 1,000 names to add to my family tree. And newly found relatives, which are quickly becoming friends, as well as relatives. Because of this family being posted I have recently received information that takes some lines back to about 100 BC. This has truly been the most exciting thing that has happened to me in over 30 years of doing genealogy! Sharon Buethner PS I also have very recently received copies of photographs, visual descriptions (Bertha Thompson's father had deep red hair, etc.), Civil War photos, an actual photo copy of the first page of a church book that the Trulson/Thompson's joined in 1851, and copies of census records, birth and death certificates, etc.