Hi Cheryl, I certainly understand your frustration, I can't tell you how many places I posted my relative to in hopes of finding someone. I was just stubborn and probably somewhat of a pest until I found a will probated in MD for my grandfather Thomas. Then I reposted that information to the PRA list and got lucky in finding my cousins. While finding a Family Group in the PRA to belong is helpful and the cousins that share a common ancestor makes everyone's tree grow like it is on hormones or something. It is also important for anyone tracking ancestors to continue working on the person they are stuck on. If you find them on some census, some year in someplace, follow-up in the same area for any probate records. While you are there, look for the marriage and go back to the census for the other surname. Many times I found missing family members and grandparents because they were living with the married inlaws. Keep posting to the lists !!! POST a family query; POST what record you have for the person; POST a marriage ; POST EVERYTHING and keep searching and posting everything and I promise you, you will eventually find your cousins. I agree with you, with the PRA opening the various family files we will be reach more people, share more information and at a much shorter time span. And with the DNA testing, if some of you haven't found your cousins, the DNA could at least point a finger to a group of cousins. Thanks for posting Cheryl and Bob. By the way, Cheryl I haven't forgot about your Ross Pennington. Oh, do you remember the cemetery plot of Pennington at Green Mount you sent me? It might help others to post the information to the mailing lists as well. We aren't able to send attachments to the mailing lists but at least you could post the information for the others. That is what we are all about - sharing! Hang in there - you guys ! Rene'e Davis, CFO ARD, Family Groups PRA - Group 9 Pennington Research Association, Inc. www.penningtonresearch.org ----- Original Message ----- From: "Spaulding" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2004 7:36 AM Subject: Re: [Pennington-L] OK, I'm confused about PRA family groups. > I certainly have shared Bob's angst and frustration with the PRA > groups. My line, which is Baltimore based is well documented but does not > go back far enough yet to connect to any of the PRA groups. It is all well > and good Barb to suggest that membership in PRA and in a group isn't > mandatory, but the reality is that, up until now, the focus of PRA has > understandably been on the groups where the vast majority of active > research is taking place. Those of us who have no group have been left out > in the cold and told to keep researching so that we can find a connection > to a PRA group. That's not much help, or very encouraging, frankly. > > I am happy to have joined PRA, but I frankly have found it anticlimatic for > the present. I am waiting with great expectation to the coming change in > PRA which I believe will alter it to the better. The opening up of ALL the > records of all these lines to everyone through the new web access planned, > I believe, for February is a major shift in PRA. It is welcome and it was > needed. When that happens, I suspect membership in PRA will become > something far more useful to all of us and being able to connect to a > particular "group" will be easier to accomplish. > > So hang in there Bob, things are about to change. Membership will be > required to access this new web based information, I believe, and that > makes sense. > > Cheryl > > At 12:56 AM 01/03/2004 -0500, you wrote: > >Dear Bob, > >You are far from the first person to become confused by the PRA groups. > >They were started as a way to distinguish between the different lines and > >when two lines were found to connect via a mutual ancestor, > >then the two lines were merged as one. I am a former member of PRA and > >during my years with PRA, I believed myself linked to Groups 12, 7, and > >later to Group 32. But these are merely tools, not mandatory in any way. > > > >As to the groups being mostly back to an ancestor who was found here on > >American soil, we are all trying to get back across that big ocean, but > >seldom with any success. So it looks like you may already be a step > >ahead in that your ancestors came over more recently than many of our > >ancestors. If you are a member of PRA, you may be able to start a group, > >if one does not appear to exist for your line. However, membership in > >either a Group or in PRA itself is not required to access a great deal of > >data through these lists. Most of us love to share with others. > > > >As to the lists, Pennington-L is an independent group owned and run by > >Steve Privett, and PRA-L is a list run by PRA, of course. I'd suggest > >remaining on the list and sending out an occasional query as you just > >did. I know there are a few folks who are over in Great Britain, who are > >researching as we are, for our Pennington ancestors. Possibly some of > >these list members may be helful to you. Otherwise, since there is > >probably a good paper trail, I'd go ahead and send off for as much as I > >could afford from British offices and agencies. > > > >Have you done much research with the U.S. sources? If you have been > >researching for awhile, you probably have looked at many sources of data > >on your family, but there may be more you might have missed. Let us know > >what you have tried so far. Have you checked the 1930 Census? Marriage > >records? Church records? Let us know. Many of us would like to help if > >we can. Please be careful with the data found on the internet. > >I have seen more that was proven false than was proven accurate. Try to > >find some primary sources, to supplement compilations and family history > >books, etc. These take time and effort but are worth it. > > > >Good luck, > >Barb T > > > > > >==== PENNINGTON Mailing List ==== > >Please do not post virus warnings on this list. > >Practice safe e-mail habits and only open attachments you're expecting > >For addition virus info see http://www.symantec.com/us.index.html or > >http://www.mcafee.com/ > > > > > >-- > >This message has been scanned for viruses and > >dangerous content by The CCIS.net MailScanner, and is > >believed to be clean. > > > ==== PENNINGTON Mailing List ==== > The threaded archives can be found at > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/pennington > >