I haven't seen the survey and I agree with some of your comments and respectfully disagee on others. I know that Betty and I also disagree on this. When you pay for genealogy material, it's not the material you're really paying for. It's the effort to accumulate the info and present it in such a way that it can be easily searched for. The alternative for many of us would be to travel to many different libraries and courthouses all over the US. Some of the material on ancestry.com came from books and databases of others that they have to pay to put on their website. Yes the census info is public record if you want to travel all over the place and use the ornery microfilm machines. And the family tree info is free because of just what you said - it was provided by others for free. The family tree info at ancestry is exactly the same as the family tree info at rootsweb - they are mirror sites and paid for by ancestry.com. But as you noted, anything free may not be reliable. I don't understand why some feel so passionate about this. Have you ever bought a bottle of water? How much of the price is for the water? What about load of firewood -do you think the seller had to buy a bunch of tires. You're paying for his labor. Ever bought a box of cereal - the cost of the grain (what the farmer gets) is miniscule compared to what you pay for the box. Bill Mc -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] <[email protected]> To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Date: Wednesday, December 14, 2005 12:30 PM Subject: Re: [TNMARION] survey >Betty, I got one of these surveys yesterday and filled it out. > >The problem is, some questions are unanswerable because of the way they were >stated. Too bad. > >Some questions should not have been asked.......such as income, etc. That >is none of their business and I checked "do not choose to answer" when I >wanted to shout...."None of your #[email protected]%#$ business!!" > >It still makes me angry that one has to pay [if one chooses] for information >that was given freely by people seeking their ancestors. The problem is >that a lot of that information is hearsay, therefore not credible. >I have seen a lot of misinformation about my family line on the internet and >when I have written, phoned, and tried to correct it, I have, in essence, >told by the person responsible for posting that misinformation, to 'butt >out'. That is wrong, and the main reason so much of the information >available is a hodge-podge of truth and outright lies. > >I willingly share my family information to those who ask, but I will never >post it online to be sold. > >ginny > > >==== TNMARION Mailing List ==== >*********************************************************************** > PLEASE NOTE: This list is for queries and replies, comments, > requests for help, and other genealogical related information > that is of interest to researchers having a connection or a > possible connection to Marion County, Tennessee. There is no >soliciting or advertising of any item or service for sale allowed. >Betty McBee - list administrator-- [email protected] . > Marion County Web Site: http://www.rootsweb.com/~tnmario2/ >*********************************************************************** > >============================== >New! Family Tree Maker 2005. Build your tree and search for your ancestors at the same time. Share your tree with family and friends. Learn more: http://landing.ancestry.com/familytreemaker/2005/tour.aspx?sourceid=14599&ta rgetid=5429 > >

Thanks for your comment, Bill. I absolutely agree with you. Sandie wmcconne <[email protected]> wrote: I haven't seen the survey and I agree with some of your comments and respectfully disagee on others. I know that Betty and I also disagree on this. When you pay for genealogy material, it's not the material you're really paying for. It's the effort to accumulate the info and present it in such a way that it can be easily searched for. The alternative for many of us would be to travel to many different libraries and courthouses all over the US. Some of the material on ancestry.com came from books and databases of others that they have to pay to put on their website. Yes the census info is public record if you want to travel all over the place and use the ornery microfilm machines. And the family tree info is free because of just what you said - it was provided by others for free. The family tree info at ancestry is exactly the same as the family tree info at rootsweb - they are mirror sites and paid for by ancestry.com. But as you noted, anything free may not be reliable. I don't understand why some feel so passionate about this. Have you ever bought a bottle of water? How much of the price is for the water? What about load of firewood -do you think the seller had to buy a bunch of tires. You're paying for his labor. Ever bought a box of cereal - the cost of the grain (what the farmer gets) is miniscule compared to what you pay for the box. Bill Mc -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Date: Wednesday, December 14, 2005 12:30 PM Subject: Re: [TNMARION] survey >Betty, I got one of these surveys yesterday and filled it out. > >The problem is, some questions are unanswerable because of the way they were >stated. Too bad. > >Some questions should not have been asked.......such as income, etc. That >is none of their business and I checked "do not choose to answer" when I >wanted to shout...."None of your #[email protected]%#$ business!!" > >It still makes me angry that one has to pay [if one chooses] for information >that was given freely by people seeking their ancestors. The problem is >that a lot of that information is hearsay, therefore not credible. >I have seen a lot of misinformation about my family line on the internet and >when I have written, phoned, and tried to correct it, I have, in essence, >told by the person responsible for posting that misinformation, to 'butt >out'. That is wrong, and the main reason so much of the information >available is a hodge-podge of truth and outright lies. > >I willingly share my family information to those who ask, but I will never >post it online to be sold. > >ginny > > >==== TNMARION Mailing List ==== >*********************************************************************** > PLEASE NOTE: This list is for queries and replies, comments, > requests for help, and other genealogical related information > that is of interest to researchers having a connection or a > possible connection to Marion County, Tennessee. There is no >soliciting or advertising of any item or service for sale allowed. >Betty McBee - list administrator-- [email protected] . > Marion County Web Site: http://www.rootsweb.com/~tnmario2/ >*********************************************************************** > >============================== >New! Family Tree Maker 2005. Build your tree and search for your ancestors at the same time. Share your tree with family and friends. Learn more: http://landing.ancestry.com/familytreemaker/2005/tour.aspx?sourceid=14599&ta rgetid=5429 > > ==== TNMARION Mailing List ==== *********************************************************************** PLEASE NOTE: This list is for queries and replies, comments, requests for help, and other genealogical related information that is of interest to researchers having a connection or a possible connection to Marion County, Tennessee. There is no soliciting or advertising of any item or service for sale allowed. Betty McBee - list administrator-- [email protected] . Marion County Web Site: http://www.rootsweb.com/~tnmario2/ *********************************************************************** ============================== Find your ancestors in the Birth, Marriage and Death Records. New content added every business day. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13964/rd.ashx --------------------------------- Yahoo! Shopping Find Great Deals on Holiday Gifts at Yahoo! Shopping

I have not seen the survey either but I do pay for Ancestry.com as I am unable to travel to places all over and their Census has helped me locate most of my family. Yes even the census is not always correct but neither are death certificates that I have received because wrong information was given on them at the time of the person's death. My own grandma's death certificate lists her sister as her mom and that sister was only five years older than my mom but evidently my great-aunt filled in the wrong spot when she filled it out and probably never realized what she had done in her grief. I have been lucky enough to find people that are willing to travel all over areas for you to get photos of cemeteries and that has been great for me. I for one appreciate those angels. One woman drove 35 miles to the cemetery where my mom's mother and all her family was buried in Arizona. Took pictures and would not take a cent for anything. Because of her I found out my grandma and great-grandpa did not have stones. So I paid for them to have stones even though I know I will probably never get to that cemetery. When I find information I carefully try to document what I can myself but in the long run if it hadn't been for people putting the information on the sites I may never have found anything. You just have to be very careful and also be grateful for the angels out there that are willing to help others. I have not put anything on sites because to tell you the truth I am not really sure how to do it but I am willing to try and help anyone that may have seen me asking for information and has contacted me because we are searching the same line. Dee