> Dear Holly:     > The WRG is the acronym for the Whitney Research Group, a group of over 300     > people at the moment that are trying to help each other (at no cost) with     > finding our common ancestors with the Whitney surname.   We have been     > existence for over five years in the electronic world of cyberspace, although     > a few of us have managed to meet and share material and experiences while     > travelling.  I was happy to be one of the first three people that helped to     > start the group back sometime in 1994 or 95 -- I can't remember now when --     > and it has grown tremendously.     > These are some of the nicest people around.   They are from all over the US     > and Canada and we even have some other members in England and France and     > Australia.   Everyone is always kind and no one gets upset or "flames" anyone     > else, as sometimes happens on other maillists.   We just try to find ways to     > help each other extend and connect our Whitney lines for the benefit of all.       > We have many members who are quite new to the study of genealogy and need     > lots of help and guidance, and we have many others who have been doing it for     > twenty years and more.   Some are extremely well skilled in high level     > academic type investigation and are able to provide sources for almost every     > fact that they have recorded.   Others are not so careful, but still have good     > information and help for the rest of us.     > We have created a collective web site that is open to the public and can be     > accessed by anyone.   Any information there is free for the taking, and for     > the most part is pretty high quality, provable stuff.   However, nothing is     > guaranteed -- it is up to the reader to decide whether the basis for the     > information is properly documented and sourced.   We have: Whitney extracts     > from the Vital Records of over 275 MA towns, about 25 in ME, and lots of     > other VT, NH and CT data as well.   There are at least four databases     > available on-line, including three for the descendants of John and Elinor     > Whitney who came to Watertown, MA, in 1635  Those three share much     > information, but each has something that the others don't, and so all are     > offered.   There is also another database for the descendants of Henry     > Whitney, who arrived in Long Island ca 1640 and later moved to Norwalk, CT.       > Another of our people is working on the descendants of a Whitney family that     > came into the southern part of the US, specifically Virginia, in the 1730's,     > having come from Bermuda where they had been since the early 1600's.  There     > are archives of all the messages posted on our maillist, and many, many other     > resources as well.   The URL that will allow you to go to this website is:     > http://www.whitneygen.org/     > and I invite you to explore it.   At first it might be a bit overwhelming,     > there is a lot there, and the best thing is the Search engine that will allow     > you to put in any name you are interested in (like John Lemuel Whitney), and     > get back a list of all the places on any of the information collections on     > the whole website (as well as some others on other web sites) that you can     > "click on" to look at to see if there is information there that helps you.       > (Remember, I advised searching for Lemuel Whitney, not just John Whitney,     > because the name Lemuel will come up about 1/100th of the amount of times     > just the name John will appear.)     > All you need to do to join the WRG is subscribe to the maillist, and there is     > a place on the website to do that, too.   Again, let me assure you that there     > is no cost to join, and all the help is free.     > I hope you join in with us.   We can help you enrich your past by trying to     > extend your Whitney lines back to where they connect with others of us, and     > when we do, you will enrich the rest of us by showing us another line of     > descent that is a part of our family.     > I hope this wasn't too long, and that I have explained things well and not     > just confused you.   I do hope you will join us, and if I can answer any other     > questions or help you in any other way, please write to me again.     > Happy Hunting!     > Allan E. Green