Dear Cousins, I'd like to say that it is great that PRA is now opening up the JFMF to members. I'd like to see the entire file open to all members even if they are associated with one particular group. This may be being done, but I'm not sure. My main point, tho, is to advise all who read the JFMF, that it is an accumulation of files that have been submitted to PRA, for various reasons, over the years. To my knowledge, little of it is adequately documented and much is simply not proven at all. I am concerned that folks will mistake the care that PRA has taken to protect the files as evidence the material is proven. Most is not. So it is great go-with data. The JFMF is in the same category as the LDS compilation of submitted personal research files, altho LDS does have a separate compilation of material that has been abstracted from actual documentation in courthouses, etc. Family Tree Maker also publishes a file that is simply a compilation of submitted gedcoms as go-with material. Sadly, in those cases, some have taken the material as fact when much is not. I don't want to see a wave of Pennington gedcoms on the internet that use the JFMF as evidence or even as proof. It can be quoted as a source, but not as proof, unless the submitter included the credible documentation in the list of sources, i.e. birth and death certificates (primary sources if the informant was close to the decedent), census files (considered primary but still full of errors), gravestones (credible if the carving was done close to the time of death), Mortuary records (primary if not abstracted, secondary if abstracted or otherwise retyped or rewritten), etc. Again, my compliments to PRA for opening up the JFMF. It can be a valuable tool in Pennington research. I'd like to add that my group when I was a member, Group 32, was full of inaccuracies when I last read it. At that time, most of 32 was submitted by 3 people, including me. There are errors, and an update was badly needed with adequate documentation to be provided. My portion was compiled when I had barely started my research about 13 years ago. I have learned much more in my subsequent research that corrects some of my data. I refused to give my permission for PRA to publish my portion of Group 32's material, mainly because of the early errors I made. Good luck to all in your research, Barb T