Dear All,

I'd like to pick up this thread, while apologizing for delaying my  
comments.

I agree with Eastern Shore Tom's comments about the "normal" cycles  
that occur on most lists.  One "new" problem is that those cycles  
are, over time, frequently accompanied by unannounced changes in  
posters' e-addresses -- making it nearly impossible to go straight to  
someone who posted something right on your topic a few years  
earlier.  That, in turn, means you just have to wait and hope that  
person will come back to the list.  If everyone methodically checks  
their book of relevant lists (as I suspect most of the listers here  
do) this problem goes away, but not everyone does.

I belong to what I will call the "second wave" of modern genealogical  
researchers.  That is, I came to the topic with a lot of internet  
assets appearing, but a great deal of indexing, etc., not yet done.   
We all remember those days when you had to trudge through every one  
of a given township's census names in the hopes of finding yours.   
This contrasts with the "first wave" who came to the internet only  
after years of doing it the hard way; physically going to  
courthouses, libraries, archives and LDS family history centers;  
reading through vast numbers of hard records, scrolling through rolls  
of unindexed microfilms, and basically turning over a great many  
stones that the internet is rapidly sweeping aside.  Those who came  
up in the "first wave" already knew from painful experience how  
little faith could be placed in any data that wasn't fully sourced.   
Those of us in the second wave could see those demands being made and  
quickly learned their value.  Some of us (this from a retired lawyer)  
were already primed by professional experience to fully and  
accurately record and report our sources.  That refusal to accept  
undocumented assertions have led most of us to, for instance, heavily  
discount almost all of the "tree" material found on the LDS' website  
and to take much message board material with many grains of salt.

I think that those falling in the next, and perhaps current, wave of  
researchers will be inundated with all the indexed material on  
Ancestry.com, the seemingly authoritative statements found at the  
Family History site,  the vast amount of "word of mouth" material  
found on  boards, etc. and will then simply collect stuff for a year  
or so and declare their work complete.  It takes time to figure out  
how important it is to employ only documented data and I'm not sure  
the new generation will get to that stage.

I think it's important to distinguish among volunteers, contributors  
and supporters.  My "ancestral" territories are in Virginia,  
Pennsylvania, and New Jersey -- I live in California; traditional  
volunteering at the local historical society really isn't an  
available option.  I don't manage any boards, but I'm actively  
reviewing, and commenting where appropriate, on 4 regional US boards  
and 2 in Ireland.  Rather than simply consume the labor of my  
relevant local societies, I've become a life member in each.   
Unfortunately, as internet research becomes more and more central,  
the impetus to join and work within local societies may be waning.   
However, "my" Virginia Society [Northumberland County] remains  
active, cooperative and  productive.  The Library of Virginia is an  
extraordinary resource that seems to be continually improving  
itself.  Eric, I guess I can see a number of reasons for concern for  
the future, but my personal experience shows no major falling off in  
enthusiasm or quality.

Jack Fallin
Walnut Creek, CA




On Jul 14, 2008, at 9:00 PM, VA-ROOTS automatic digest system wrote:

>
> Date:    Mon, 14 Jul 2008 20:42:43 -0400
> From:    Eric Huffstutler <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Has Genealogy Become Obsolete?
>
> I hope someone can chime in and relate to my question and concern.   
> Has =
> genealogy taken a back seat or just dieing out due to various state =
> regulations about records?
>
> I say this because...
>
> 1) Various surname or area lists (like those on Ancestry or  
> Genealogy) =
> often
> only show a few posts per year and sometimes only 1 or 2 posts a year!
>
> 2) Volunteers are becoming scarce, GenWeb counties have none  
> available, =
> and
> even RAOGK listings often bounce back or get no reply.
>
> 3) The volume of email connected to genealogy research had become  
> slim.
>
> Has the #1 hobby 5-10 years ago become obsolete?
>
> Eric S. Huffstutler
> Richmond, VA
>
>

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