Before I'd try any of the subscription services that you mentioned, I'd try the TOTALLY FREE WEBSITE [1]www.familysearch.org which is run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS/Mormons). Here is the link to the page which details the 5 sets of Colorado records they have, and which may interest you very much: [2]https://familysearch.org/search/collection/list#page=1&countryId=30 Bella On 01/24/14, donald.berndt@wmich.edu wrote: Hopefully someone may give me some insight into the many look-up organizations available, such as âÂÂArchives.comâÂÂ, âÂÂpeoplesmartâÂÂ, âÂÂMyHertageâÂÂ, etc. They seem to offer a week of âÂÂfreeâÂÂuse and then you pay a membership, a price isnâÂÂt necessarily given. Has anyone had good luck with these companies⦠is it worth the membership fee? Which one may be the best offer, or none of them? IâÂÂm trying to find the marriages and divorces of Carolyn Towns, and Carolyn Ritz (same person)from Colorado, probably Denver, or near by. Thanks for any input. Shirley , in MI Sent from Windows Mail ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Visit our Allegheny County, PA Website: [3]http://www.pagenweb.org/~allegheny/index.htm ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [4]PAALLEGH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message References 1. http://www.familysearch.org/ 2. https://familysearch.org/search/collection/list#page=1&countryId=30 3. http://www.pagenweb.org/ 4. mailto:PAALLEGH-request@rootsweb.com

This is an oft-asked question. We each have our opinions and mine is that if you are serious researcher, you're going to have to spend some money (OR go sit at the library to use subscription services) along with using free services. Most of the sites complement each other; some duplicate but not many. OK, I'm getting on my soapbox now: It is very expensive for a company to: 1. buy the rights to records 2. pay for the travel for employees to go to the place where they are housed 3. pay for them to stay there - housing and food while there 4. pay the employees to film the records 5. pay for the equipment that films them 6. in most cases, pay employees to index the records 7. pay to host the records 8. pay employees to maintain the collections 9. pay employees to do customer service and many more. THAT's why so many are subscription services. The few that are "free" are either being paid for with ads, donations that will eventually run out or by tax-exempt businesses, so in a way, we are all paying for that last service whether we are genealogists or not. I subscribe yearly to Ancestry and GenealogyBank and Civil War Research. The rest of the subscription places, I do a month at a time, get all I can find and cancel. BEFORE you subscribe to ANYTHING, please look at what they have to make sure it's what you need. For instance, GenealogyBank has newspapers for Philadelphia, a major area of my research, but not for Pittsburgh, the other major area. Here is the partial list of the sites I use regularly. If you need help finding something, ask us here :) I'm sure you will all be adding to my list...I had to stop before it got too long :) Ancestry http://home.ancestry.com/ RootsWeb http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ FamilySearch https://familysearch.org/ Archives http://www.archives.com Fold3 http://www.fold3.com/ GenealogyBank http://www.genealogybank.com/gbnk/ NewspaperArchive http://newspaperarchive.com/ Heritage Quest (through your local library) The USGenWeb Project http://usgenweb.org/states/index.shtml American Civil War Research Database http://www.civilwardata.com/ Sorted By Name http://sortedbyname.com/index.html DAR research database http://services.dar.org/public/dar_research/search/ SAR graves index http://patriot.sar.org/fmi/iwp/cgi?-db=Grave%20Registry&-loadframes Google Books http://books.google.com/bkshp Online Books http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/ Nicknames http://www.ctstatelibrary.org/node/2329 Social Security Death Index Master File http://ssdmf.info/ Digital Public Library of America http://dp.la/ Specific to Allegheny County, PA and other places in PA: Historic Pittsburgh http://digital.library.pitt.edu/pittsburgh/ Maps and photos http://earlcullison.com/thumbnails.php?album=53 Norm's Cemetery info http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~njm1/tombs.htm PA death indexes http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=1085804&mode=2

Thank you, Clare. I agree, agree, agree, sometimes you have to pay for what you get (or want or need!) And thanks for your list of sites. Nancy Long On Fri, Jan 24, 2014 at 3:22 PM, Clare <BurghRoots@comcast.net> wrote: > This is an oft-asked question. We each have our opinions and mine is > that if you are serious researcher, you're going to have to spend some > money (OR go sit at the library to use subscription services) along with > using free services. Most of the sites complement each other; some > duplicate but not many. > > OK, I'm getting on my soapbox now: > > It is very expensive for a company to: > 1. buy the rights to records > 2. pay for the travel for employees to go to the place where they are > housed > 3. pay for them to stay there - housing and food while there > 4. pay the employees to film the records > 5. pay for the equipment that films them > 6. in most cases, pay employees to index the records > 7. pay to host the records > 8. pay employees to maintain the collections > 9. pay employees to do customer service > and many more. THAT's why so many are subscription services. The few > that are "free" are either being paid for with ads, donations that will > eventually run out or by tax-exempt businesses, so in a way, we are all > paying for that last service whether we are genealogists or not. > > I subscribe yearly to Ancestry and GenealogyBank and Civil War Research. > The rest of the subscription places, I do a month at a time, get all I > can find and cancel. BEFORE you subscribe to ANYTHING, please look at > what they have to make sure it's what you need. For instance, > GenealogyBank has newspapers for Philadelphia, a major area of my > research, but not for Pittsburgh, the other major area. > > Here is the partial list of the sites I use regularly. If you need help > finding something, ask us here :) I'm sure you will all be adding to my > list...I had to stop before it got too long :) > > Ancestry http://home.ancestry.com/ > RootsWeb http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ > FamilySearch https://familysearch.org/ > Archives http://www.archives.com > Fold3 http://www.fold3.com/ > GenealogyBank http://www.genealogybank.com/gbnk/ > NewspaperArchive http://newspaperarchive.com/ > Heritage Quest (through your local library) > The USGenWeb Project http://usgenweb.org/states/index.shtml > American Civil War Research Database http://www.civilwardata.com/ > Sorted By Name http://sortedbyname.com/index.html > DAR research database http://services.dar.org/public/dar_research/search/ > SAR graves index > http://patriot.sar.org/fmi/iwp/cgi?-db=Grave%20Registry&-loadframes > Google Books http://books.google.com/bkshp > Online Books http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/ > Nicknames http://www.ctstatelibrary.org/node/2329 > Social Security Death Index Master File http://ssdmf.info/ > Digital Public Library of America http://dp.la/ > > Specific to Allegheny County, PA and other places in PA: > Historic Pittsburgh http://digital.library.pitt.edu/pittsburgh/ > Maps and photos http://earlcullison.com/thumbnails.php?album=53 > Norm's Cemetery info > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~njm1/tombs.htm > PA death indexes > > http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=1085804&mode=2 > > > > ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ > > Visit our Allegheny County, PA Website: > http://www.pagenweb.org/~allegheny/index.htm > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > PAALLEGH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >