SOMETHING NEW AND EXCITING FOR TRANSYLVANIA COUNTY GENEALOGY IN 2000! To get the new millennium started off with a bang, all researchers of Transylvania County families are cordially invited to join a unique new on line genealogy group founded just this week. The new Transylvania County genealogical group is named TransylvanCoGenList@onelist.com but this is not your typical e-mail list. There are many excellent lists and message boards already in place, but this new concept offers much, much more. The first and foremost objective of this new group is TEAMWORK within a community of researchers. Together and through open sharing of research problems and solutions in a warm, encouraging, friendly atmosphere, so much more progress can be realized by all of us. After all, most of us are either cousins of some degree or cousins-in-law, so why not get together as a family, albeit a huge and extended one, and work on genealogy together ! Beyond sharing knowledge through the day-to-day queries and answers, we hope our members will share with one another the more personal side of family history. Most of us have discovered rich short stories, anecdotes, and captivating tales of our ancestors. We invite members to share those with the group as well! The more we learn about all of the people in the communities in which our ancestors lived, the better we will understand the lives of our own ancestors. And we just might discover some new lines of cousins to boot -- even an ancestor or two! We want this to be a genealogical community in which EVERY MEMBER feels free to share, to ask questions, to offer ideas, to participate. Unlike so many lists in which a handful of people do the talking and a hundred or so folks stand quietly and anonymously in the shadows watching and listening, we want EVERYONE to participate, both newcomers and oldcomers alike. Everyone has something valuable to contribute, even if only thoughts and ideas. And many of the oldcomers have valuable research techniques and skills to share that could lead to brick walls being broken down. We look forward to many, many Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness. Upon joining, all new members are asked to introduce themselves to the group, share surnames, ancestry, research areas, even research problems. A few dozen long-lost cousins might be waiting with open arms. After all, we genealogists love nothing better (except for finding a lost ancestor) than finding lost cousins who are researching the same families and ancestors. It pays to advertise! To encourage communication of benefit all members, all replies and responses (unless controversial or problematic) are to be posted openly to the e-mail list. As a further benefit, an easy to use archival system is in place allowing members to review and retrieve earlier postings and discussions. By preserving what we do today, we can help researchers of tomorrow. To provide a healthy, productive, nurturing community, a set of fair and equitable rules for community conduct and behavior have been established and will be provided to all new members upon joining. The group is operated by three monitors who possess a combined total of almost three quarters of a century of research into Transylvania County families. The list managers always stand ready to help members in any way possible. We warmly invite you to join us in this exciting new project. Please spread the word and let’s unite all researchers of Transylvania County families! Join us on this rich journey into the past, OUR past! To start your FREE membership today, go to: <htt://www.TransylvanCoGenList@onelist.com> and follow the instructions. If you encounter any problems joining, please e-mail me and I will gladly help. Looking forward to welcoming you to YOUR new community! Yours, Wylene Alston, List Owner and Community Co-Manager