OmahaMom, > Be part of the solution, rather > than just griping about potential problems. There are records we're working > on in an effort to make them accessible that haven't been available. Should > everything be donated: travel time, search time, copies, everything? Should > those away from the home town gain everything, and nothing be put back in to > keep the wellsprings functioning? > Karen > Mary Mills said it better than I could. She is an unpaid volunteer, AND supports several Genealogical Societies with her dues. This is where they get the money to obtain information, and rent space. I only asked questions on if the information obtained from the funeral home was paid for and if the families were notified before this information became public. One person replied saying that their funeral homes " aren't supposed to share the records with anyone - not even family." Another person replied; "to get information like that from the state you have to state that you are a direct descendent of the person involved and sign an affidavit stating so." This is how it is at the locations that I try and verify my information. I tried an experiment to see if I needed to contact funeral homes to find the ancestors of a friend of mine who hadn't started his genealogy. We got on ancestry.com, used the SSDI and located all four of his grandparents. I agree we were lucky, but it proves there are alternate sources in the public domain. I agree that we need more volunteers putting the information into digital format that can be searched, the job would be more difficult to find that one elusive person. I am glad a nominal fee is charged for providing this information from the Genealogical Societies! The only volunteers I know have never received money except for replacement of the materials they used. (Their time and gas is offered free.) My retired aunt has volunteered to transcribe people and dates from back issues of her local newspapers. Not just the obituaries, but all articles. This must be the most work for genealogical information there is. Thank you for everyone who does this. She has already finished the local cemeteries. Without the WEB I would be worse off! I have found E-mail addresses for several of my relatives. And a few with E-mail addresses from people who still insist that we must be related, if we only dig just a little harder. Several of my relatives are ACTIVE genealogists. They published over four books with Group Sheets. And this does not count my aunt's Group Sheets. Almost all of this research was done without computers. My biggest problem has been in verifying this information. Which is where the NE list server comes in. My WEB site has been up for over three years, and now has about 6,000 names. Obviously this includes cousins upto three times removed. Several of the dates are in the early 1600's. > I am wondering if you are a researcher and if not, why are you on the roots > list serve? > > M. Cardella > Our Genealogical Society had it's first meeting after our summer break just last Saturday. I'm on this list server because my great grandfather John Calvin WATKINS died while working on the railroad around Smithfield, Gosper Co., NE. All three of his children were born at Smithfield. Currently, I have just changed genealogy programs by purchasing the (10) CD Deluxe FTM program. So I have been using my 6,000 name GEDCOM file to find possible matches. Craig Watkins