This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/5UB.2ACI/2779 Message Board Post: Researching ancestors who lived in our Tri-State mountain areas of Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee just got easier. Carol Ann "C.A.T." Tindell, an 10-year veteran of on-line genealogical research, an 8-year veteran of the USGenWeb Project, and genealogy web site designer, now retired living in Fannin Co, GA, has recently unveiled her latest web site: Southern Mountain Ancestor Research Center - SMARC, for short:... http://www.ancestraldesigns.com/smarc/ For the past several years due to copyright and other issues, on-line genealogical information began to split and migrate across countless personal, project, surname and 'by subscription only' web sites. Trying to learn what resources existed and where to locate them became an on-line navigational nightmare. Even the sites that people could easily find did not always point to all on-line information or include a list of off-line resources and tell how to find them. We think that SMARC has solved these problems.... SMARC, a FREE web site, takes the headaches out of on-line research by categorizing ALL types of resources [on-line and off-line] spanning 32+ counties in the mountain areas of GA, NC and TN, with even more GA mountain counties and parts of SC being added later in 2004. C.A.T. says "Family historians don't really care where on the internet genealogy information is located. They just want to know what is available and be able to quickly find it again and again. If it's a reliable resouce, it's on SMARC.... just point and click !!" SMARC points to resources that are free on-line, on-line by paid subscription, available for purchase on-line, available for purchase off-line, and free off-line resources and where to find them. This vast amount of information is categorized by subject [census, marriages, cemeteries, etc.] just the way we do research..not by county. This makes it easier to track an ancestor's wanderings back and forth across county and state lines and to visually see what categorized resources are on-line vs. off-line. C.A.T. says, "We want our SMARC visitors to know what resources are available, to have a choice as to type of resources they use that match their genealogy budget, and to make genealogy in our Tri-State area much easier. After all, studying one's family tree is supposed to be fun and exciting." SMARC is also a PERMANENT and FREE repository for this area's transcribed genealogical raw data as well as out-of-print books not slated for re-printing. SMARC is part of C.A.T.'s owned domain, www.ancestraldesigns.com, which publishes all of her genealogy web sites. SMARC is privately funded and can assure that individual submitter's copyrights stay with the submitter, that it will not burn it onto CDs and sell it, nor will it suddenly move it to a 'must pay to see it' password, secured site. SMARC is committed to providing 'free access' of all of its transcribed public records. SMARC is also committed to promoting sound genealogical practices in line with the standards set forth by The National Genelogical Society. It also stresses the importance of NOT publishing on-line identifying information about living persons. SMARC includes helpful genealogy educational information, as well as tips, tools, and how-to's. It is designed for seasoned researchers as well as newbies. ********************************************************** for SMARC logos to include on your website with a link back to SMARC, please visit SMARC and click on the 'link to us' button in the upper right hand corner. ********************************************************** To see all of C.A.T.'s other FREE genealogy web sites, visit www.ancestraldesigns.com submitted by Ms. Carol Ann "C.A.T." Tindell [email protected]