FYI This explanation of the new Ancestry search thingy appeared on the Elliott list from the list administrator and does the best job explaining it that I've seen. I didn't write it - am just passing it along. Herma "Ancestry is *not* charging for access to trees or selling trees: access will remain free from both the RootsWeb and Ancestry side as it has always been. What Ancestry is offering for an extra charge is access to a special search engine to search the trees for you.  Folks can still search the trees manually or browse the trees for free the same way they always have. Think of it as a research assistant: you can hire someone to help you look for your ancestors, or you can research yourself for free.  Hiring a human research assistant doesn't sell them the data being researched, or change the rules so that only they are allowed to look. That's essentially what it is, except that it's computerized, not human." Find the official information here: http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/about.aspx