My interest in genealogy began about two years ago and I got wrapped up in joining everything I could find and found that all I got for the most part was broke. I do like Ancestry.com and have found a lot there. I, however, do not recommend the newspaper option. It is not very effective. If you are searching for a John Smith it will take you to pages with John and with Smith but not the name together so for me it is useless. I do like the census. To join just the basic at Ancestry it is 39.95, The census is extra as are a lot of the other options. I only have the basic and the census and that serves me well. I would like to thank the others who have suggested Heritage Quest. I will certainly check my local library for that. A cousin had told me about that a while back and I forgot all about it. Happy Hunting Pat Collins (Ruffner, Tilton, Scott, Morris, etc)