A friend sent this to me with the comment that with all these genealogy websites coming online, we may just dethrone porn as the #1 activity on the internet! ;-) I thought I'd pass this on for those of you who might have Ellis Island ancestors or who might help those that do! Now, how patient are you? <vbg> ********************** Genealogy.com and Discover(R) Card Sponsor New Web Site to Make Ellis Island Immigration Data Available Online Web Site Will Complement American Family Immigration History Center(TM) To Be Located at Ellis Island NEW YORK, Nov. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. today announced that Genealogy.com and Discover(R) Card are sponsoring the development of a first-of-its-kind new Web site geared to help individuals learn more about their ancestors who immigrated to the United States through Ellis Island. This Web site, which will go live in 2001, will complement the eagerly-awaited family history research facility to be located at Ellis Island: The American Family Immigration History Center(TM). In October 1998 the Foundation, working in cooperation with the National Park Service, unveiled the plans for the Immigration History Center, which represents a huge milestone for family history enthusiasts and the estimated 40 percent of today's U.S. population whose ancestors came through Ellis Island. Today, Foundation president and CEO Stephen Briganti announced the $22.5 million project had been expanded to also provide access to data, relating to immigrants who came through Ellis Island, to millions of people across the country and around the world via the Internet. Visitors to both the new Web site and the Immigration History Center will be able to easily access information about their immigrant ancestors via a state-of-the-art interactive database. This database will include information on more than 17 million people who entered the United States through Ellis Island from 1892-1924, the peak years of U.S. immigration. Visitors will be able to access 11 fields of information such as the name of the ship; the names, ages, and occupations of the passengers; the town or village and country they were leaving; their destination in the U.S.; and more. Previously there was no index to the fields of information in the manifests. To create the new interactive database, volunteers of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints (LDS) are taking information directly from the ships' passenger manifests currently on microfilm at the National Archives and Records Administration, then manually decoding and indexing it. This database will be made easily accessible and searchable, both online and at Ellis Island. In addition, visitors will be able to obtain a reproduction of the original ship's manifest and a photo of the ship of passage. Individuals will also have the opportunity to create a Living Family Archive at Ellis Island by opening a family file and scanning in family photos, documents, and records to store them for posterity at the island. "We are so very pleased to have Genealogy.com and Discover Card join the Foundation in making these valuable and personal records from Ellis Island readily available to millions of individuals worldwide," said Mr. Briganti. "Their sponsorships will help us link the present with the past, aiding the millions of people in search of their families' roots in America." Genealogy.com, one of the leading resources for online family history and the exclusive genealogy sponsor for the project, will be providing gifts in-kind relating to technological and promotional efforts, as well as a financial contribution to the overall project. "We're proud to demonstrate our commitment to the online pursuit of genealogy by joining the Ellis Island Foundation to make these valuable and exclusive records available to anyone with Internet access," said Rob Armstrong, CEO of Genealogy.com. "This fits well with our business strategy of making the pursuit of genealogy more accessible and interesting to everyone. This new Ellis Island Web site will be a valuable starting point for family history enthusiasts everywhere." Discover Card is joining the project as the exclusive sponsor in the financial services category. "The development of The American Family Immigration History Center(TM) is an important undertaking that will soon become a hub for families searching their genealogical past," said David Nelms, president of Discover Financial Services, Inc. "We are proud to be a sponsor of this project and excited to be able to help families from all walks of life." Discover Card will be developing programs that encourage their Cardmembers to research their ancestry by using the Internet site or by visiting the Center. The Immigration History Center, which is being designed by Edwin Schlossberg Incorporated (ESI), is scheduled to open in 2001. For further information on The American Family Immigration History Center(TM) or the upcoming Web site contact: The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. P. O. Box ELLIS New York, NY 10163 212-883-1986 E-Mail: pr@ellisisland.org Or visit the Foundation's website at: http://www.ellisisland.org/ The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit organization founded in 1982 to raise funds for and oversee the historic restorations of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, working in partnership with the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. In addition, the Foundation has created a $20 million endowment to maintain the monuments and created the Ellis Island Immigration Museum and The American Immigrant Wall of Honor(R). Genealogy.com, formerly the Broderbund genealogy unit of Mattel Interactive, a division of Mattel, Inc. (NYSE: MAT), is based in Fremont, California and has 90 employees. A decade-long leader in the genealogy technology space, Genealogy.com's family history information and resources are available on the corporate Web site at www.genealogy.com, with subscription services available at www.genealogylibrary.com. All of its award-winning products and services are offered online and through direct sales; its software programs are also distributed at retail by the Broderbund Software Unit of Mattel Interactive. Partners backing Genealogy.com with financial investments include Mattel, Inc., Hearst Interactive Media, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Weston Presidio Capital. Another partner, A&E Television Networks, will utilize its popular Biography(R) series on the A&E Network, as well as programming on The History Channel(R), to encourage millions of people with an interest in family history to pursue their own genealogy. Discover Financial Services, Inc., a business unit of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co., operates the Discover Card brands with more than 47 million Cardmembers and the Discover/Novus(R) Network. The Network is the largest independent credit card network in the United States with more than 3.5 million merchant and cash access locations. SOURCE Genealogy.com CO: Genealogy.com; Discover Card; Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc.; Mattel, Inc. ST: New York; California IN: PUB MLM SU: PDT 11/11/1999 08:30 EST http://www.prnewswire.com Jeannine/Pittsburgh <A HREF="http://www.angelfire.com/fl2/johnsonroots/index.html">JOHNSON Roots: Pages of Time</A> http://www.angelfire.com/fl2/johnsonroots/index.html -- Mary Kathryn Kozy mkozy@attglobal.net My Home Page: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~marykozy/ South King Co. Gene. Soc. page: http://www.rootsweb.com/~waskcgs/ Dougherty Co., GA USGenWeb: http://www.rootsweb.com/~gadoughe/ Monroe Co., GA USGenWeb: http://www.rootsweb.com/~gamonroe/ Lawrence Co., IL USGenWeb: http://www.rootsweb.com/~illawren/