In a message dated 12/16/2002 7:51:46 PM Central Standard Time, Dazyy5@aol.com writes: > Reggina, you put a curse on us when you mentioned the snow in Reno in one of > > your previous e-mails. I hope all is settled in your neck of the woods by > now, but we are under seige. We had horrible wind storms here on Thursday > - > 89 miles per hour at my house and on the nearby mountain top, they measured > > one gust at 134 mph. There are still 5,000 homes in our area without power > > and it is snowing like there's no end. We've had a mixture of rain and > snow > for the past two days - 2-l/2 inches of snow yesterday, more today, and in > between, we got one and a half inches of rain... so when the temps drop > below > freezing tonight, all of Reno will be one large skating rink. The good > part > is the news/weather guy just said we'll probably have more snow on > Christmas. > > > Fran > > > Fran, I heard about all your bad weather on the news and wondered about you. Hope you were not without electricity or heat. Of course.... here I am in Dallas with 70 degree weather.... <g> And.... now.... just an FYI for everyone. It appears that Heritage Quest is making some deals with state library systems and some historical associations. AND... as we all know, Heritage Quest also had the actual census images available on line. For example, the Heritage Quest census records are now available through what is called Tex-Share. Tex-Share is a co-op system that provides on-line databases with the cost shared by libraries all over the state. That means that if your public library is a part of Tex-Share you will have access to the scanned images of census records free through your library. You have to sign on through your local library site using your library card number or whatever numbering system your library has devised. The college where I work is part of Tex-Share. So... I go to the college library web page - access on-line databases - type in my employee id number and a password which is matched against the campus database and I can view the Heritage Quest census online from home. This is happening in quite a few states. I also understand that if you join the Kentucky Historical Society (I believe I am remembering that correctly) then your membership number will also allow you to access Heritage Quest through the society's web site. So.............. start checking with your local library and see if this is happening in your state as well. Or... check your area societies... Or.... join the Kentucky Historical Society... or..... anyway... this might be a great way for you to get to census records. Take care and have a great day - Emma

In response to Emma's post about the census images being made available through the Tex-Share co-op and Heritage Quest: Has anyone compared these with the census images on Ancestry.com? I have an Ancestry subscription, but find that searching the census records is very frustrating. The indexes are often faulty, and the images are slow to load and manipulate. I would happily spring for a better alternative! -- Elizabeth Harris ncgen@mindspring.com NCGenWeb project: http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncgenweb/ Winston-Salem NC area genealogy: http://www.fmoran.com/