Let's face it, there are those die hard pavement pounding, court house
stomping, library stalking people out there who do not know how to use a
computer successfully to do online search and seizure.  Then there are those
who do both and thirdly there are those who do not leave their beloved
computer to go outside.  We all have our "favorite" method.  Bottom line is
there is only so much you can do in either of those settings, and sooner or
later you either have to get ON your butt and learn to use your computer
successfully OR get OFF your butt and get to the court houses, libraries,
societies, etc., to seek out those intimate details you WON'T find ANYWHERE
online.  It's tough to say, but it is true.  I can sit at home and in a week
do thousands of pages and searches on my computer and the following week get
in my car and drive to a particular library, court house, etc. and spend
QUALITY time looking for details based on the previous weeks weeding out.

Plain and simple and I will defy anyone to challenge me one-on-one.  It
simply cannot be done.  No matter where you go someone always has that
book/microfilm/slide whatever that you need.  Now you figure I'll go look at
something else and come back to it.  Nope someone else has that.....  I
don't think I need to go through the whole scenario to prove my point.

Time management, no such thing without the computer.  As some others have
said, I can go through two complete counties line-by-line in a day (yes I am
retired) where you WILL be still on the first roll when the library closes
the doors on you.

It's common sense folks, plain common sense, use both and use both wisely.
If necessary check the document you found at the court house.  Look up that
little nugget you found in the surname forum to be sure that what they wrote
is correct.  I don't believe anyone doing (yes doing) genealogy
intentionally wants to lead you astray.  We all want to believe Grandma
Parks when she says she is 103 years old when we know she is 110!  DO NOT
BELIEVE ANYTHING YOU SEE UNLESS YOU HAVE AT LEAST TWO OTHER CONFIRMING FIRST
PERSON RECORDS TO BACK IT UP.  Period. And even then check again.

My own mother God bless her is 89 years old.  After 911 she needed a picture
ID (nope never drove, first time put her granddads Model T up a tree) so she
went to Richmond to get her birth certificate "Irma Ruth SPROUSE."  Nope no
record.  "Well it has to be there, I'm standing here in front of you!"
"Nope. You don't exist."  She calls me, I get on my Ancestry.com account
[sorry Paul] and look her up in the census.  Sure enough! " Emma Sprouse",
"Hey mom try Emma Ruth Sprouse."  Calls them up, "Yep we have an Emma Ruth
Sprouse, born 1919 Charlottesville VA Martha Jefferson Hospital......"  "Yep
that's me!" "Can you prove it" "Huh!?!" " What the h... do you mean can I
prove it?"  "Do you have proof that you are Emma Ruth Sprouse?  You said
your name was Irma Ruth Sprouse"

Well I think you get my jest here and if you want to hear hw it came out
write me and I will tell you.  [log in to unmask] remove the
"mail" in front.  Folks we have to do both.  We don't have that much time!

You can agree, disagree, whatever makes you happy, but the true fact of the
matter is the computer saves you time and the leg work saves you
errors.....sometimes!  Now can we move on.

Paul I know you meant well, but you certainly stirred the pot.  Good
discussion though.

Regards,
Steve Stevens





-----Original Message-----
From: Research and writing about Virginia genealogy and family history.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Donald W. Moore
Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2008 7:02 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VA-ROOTS] FYI; Family search online


On Jan 29, 2008, at 9:21 PM, J Armstrong wrote:

>
> Another database I would love to tap is JSTOR.  I can't tell you
> how  many
> times I've been browsing for a specific person or topic, found a
> great  article
> but couldn't get to it!
>
> Is there a way to get access through my LVA membership?
>

I would love access also. Maybe we can petition LVA about it.

>
> What you  do not like going to a library, I love the library. Talk
> about
> saving  money....
>

See my other post.


___________________
Donald W. Moore
Virginia Beach, Virginia


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