I have been doing genealogy since 1979 when i lived in Suffolk Co LI and would take trips on the LIRR to NY Public Library. Even on Summer vacations, i would make 1 day to stop in the Library of Congress in D.C. or other big libraries across the US. I would handwrite or type my requests, wait a few weeks for a reply, then mail a check for copies and postage and hope it was the clue or data i had been requiring for documentation. It took a long time to get one clue or reply, yet it was the only way. Those were the days too of having a magazine subscription to Everton's Genealogical Helper as the Mormons Library had the most data of anyone then. They were great too in helping or sending you data, yet it was time consuming. Then in the mid-'90's a home computer and Microsoft Windows became the hot item in our homes and genealogy became a great online hobby. Rootsweb.com was my first favorite FREE genealogical online site, as well as Cyndi'sList.com, and a few others. Ancestry.com had its beginnings early on as well, yet like any 'hog monguls' in our society, they saw a way to make big $$. They started collecting all that was online even taking over data on Rootsweb and others, then charging a pricey Membership fee for us to see a lot of our own data, no less what our cousins had worked hard to find over the years. Yes they had all our data and family trees that some of us innocently had put online at sites we trusted. Trust and respect seemed to go out the window however after the Clinton era. Not much we can do now as our privacy has become public, even down to people paying $ to have Google Earth to see what i was doing in my backyard this a.m.! Scary....as for sure "Big Brother" did come true more than even the book said. I still research online for FREE whenever and wherever i can. I pay when i feel it is necessary, like obtaining copies and vital records, and such. I too can see some online genealogical sites having to charge a small fee as it costs to have online, but the membership fee Ancestry wants is for their own profit and not to help us. Happy Trails to you......