Dear WRG and Rosemary: Apropos the thread (copied below my commentary), I'm very glad to hear from you on this. That said, I think that before we get any further with going into this matter, we need to explore very carefully the copyright problem. It is my understanding that public records cannot be copyrighted but their means of presentation can. I would imagine that the CD sets from Picton Press might well have some published thoughts on the matter of copying or transmitting the images, even though we would not be "re-publishing" for profit from the data we find in their presentation. I would have to recognize that, should we transcribe the information on the images and post it on our website (That's full transcription, not just extracting the Whitneys) then it could adversely affect their opportunity to sell more CD's. I would hate to do that, because it ultimately would discourage them and others from making things like this available -- and we need them to be available. Yet I hate to give up on the idea of being able to explore the families that are allied with the Whitneys by marriage! Perhaps it might be better to gather a collection of volunteers to each buy one town, extract the Whitneys and post them, and then be willing to serve as a lookup helper for individual inquiries about allied families in that particular town. Let's continue discussing this. Apropos the latter suggestion, I'd be willing to buy one of the towns, even though I don't personally have any of the Maine lines in my own heritage. Allan > Dear WRG and Allan > > I am one of those people who have 3 of the CD's and 1 on the way. I have > the town of Hartland 1759-1947, which holds my direct ancestor Edward > Whitney 1810-1897 (unconnected at this time). I also have the Town of > Oakland 1862-1891 and the Town of Fairfield 1741-1912 (2 cd's) and the > Town of Palmyra is on its way from Picton Press. > > Rosemary > > Dear WRG: > > Robert is correct -- I misunderstood completely the scope and cost element. > > I had assumed (and we all know what that makes me<G>) that the total would > be > several hundred dollars. To do the Whitney extracts for the whole state > will > indeed probably take a few people visiting a large-scale source like the > State > Library or NEHGS. > > However, I am interested in being able to trace the families of people > associated with Whitneys by marriage! So, if anyone buys a CD for a > particular > town, I would be interested in trying to transcribe the entire set of > records to > electronic form so that at the very least Search and Find functions would be > > able to zero in on particular family names. Or, maybe if I got it that far, > Tim > or someone else who is far more computer knowledgable than I could figure > out > an electronic index. I'll wait to hear from someone who does buy one of the > CD's that I am sure will be for one of the towns with multiple Whitneys and > see > what might be involved in arrangeing to transcribe the images of the whole > record. > > In the meantime, Happy Hunting! > > Allan E. Green >

I'd also be happy to buy one mid-range priced town, extract any Whitneys and be available to anyone to look up the surnames that anyone in the group wants. I have a question ~ do you or Robert know whether these CD's include towns that were originally in Maine but are now part of Canada? I know we have Whitney's and their in-laws who lived in those areas. Lanie -------Original Message------- From: [email protected] Date: 01/18/06 03:25:44 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [WHITNEY-L] Maine Towns and Cities CD's Dear WRG and Rosemary: Apropos the thread (copied below my commentary), I'm very glad to hear from you on this. That said, I think that before we get any further with going into this matter, we need to explore very carefully the copyright problem. It is my understanding that public records cannot be copyrighted but their means of presentation can. I would imagine that the CD sets from Picton Press might well have some published thoughts on the matter of copying or transmitting the images, even though we would not be "re-publishing" for profit from the data we find in their presentation. I would have to recognize that, should we transcribe the information on the images and post it on our website (That's full transcription, not just extracting the Whitneys) then it could adversely affect their opportunity to sell more CD's. I would hate to do that, because it ultimately would discourage them and others from making things like this available -- and we need them to be available. Yet I hate to give up on the idea of being able to explore the families that are allied with the Whitneys by marriage! Perhaps it might be better to gather a collection of volunteers to each buy one town, extract the Whitneys and post them, and then be willing to serve as a lookup helper for individual inquiries about allied families in that particular town. Let's continue discussing this. Apropos the latter suggestion, I'd be willing to buy one of the towns even though I don't personally have any of the Maine lines in my own heritage. Allan > Dear WRG and Allan > > I am one of those people who have 3 of the CD's and 1 on the way. I have > the town of Hartland 1759-1947, which holds my direct ancestor Edward > Whitney 1810-1897 (unconnected at this time). I also have the Town of > Oakland 1862-1891 and the Town of Fairfield 1741-1912 (2 cd's) and the > Town of Palmyra is on its way from Picton Press. > > Rosemary > > Dear WRG: > > Robert is correct -- I misunderstood completely the scope and cost element > > I had assumed (and we all know what that makes me<G>) that the total would > be > several hundred dollars. To do the Whitney extracts for the whole state > will > indeed probably take a few people visiting a large-scale source like the > State > Library or NEHGS. > > However, I am interested in being able to trace the families of people > associated with Whitneys by marriage! So, if anyone buys a CD for a > particular > town, I would be interested in trying to transcribe the entire set of > records to > electronic form so that at the very least Search and Find functions would be > > able to zero in on particular family names. Or, maybe if I got it that far, > Tim > or someone else who is far more computer knowledgable than I could figure > out > an electronic index. I'll wait to hear from someone who does buy one of the > CD's that I am sure will be for one of the towns with multiple Whitneys and > see > what might be involved in arrangeing to transcribe the images of the whole > record. > > In the meantime, Happy Hunting! > > Allan E. Green >