I'd just like to say that without the online services of Ancestry.com, I'd  
never have been able to trace my family back as far as I did. I live 1100 miles 
 from my roots and family. It began as a long process writing living members 
and  praying for a reply (or calling them Long Distance) to try and  jog their 
memories. I didn't even know My G-Grandfather's  name.    Thanks to the 
census reports at ancestry (which  most of are numbered) I managed to get back to 
1819 and find over 1500  people in my family. I have since tried Heritage Quest 
and LDS, but have found  they do not have anywhere near the amount of info on 
my family. Using Ancestry,  I also found both my GGG-Grandfathers civil war 
records and some burial/cemetery  records. And I must admit, I was astounded at 
what you can find just by  "Google-ing" your surname!!! Many newspapers now 
put their obits online and  they come up in google searches.
  I have hit a brick wall at 1819, but I haven't given up. I will NOW  be 
making a return trip home to Martinsville, to search court records and such  
there. BUT ... I am going in well armed and well informed!!
All the online services work,. If you don't want to pay for  one, then don't, 
but at the same time don't degrade it. Just because it doesn't  work for you, 
doesn't mean someone else isn't truly thankful to have that  available to 
them.
 
Rose Compton



**************Start the year off right.  Easy ways to stay in shape.     
http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489

To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at
http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html