Paul,

Why do you keep harping on Ancestries fees?  I pay about $155 US for a years
subscription.  That breaks down to less than $13 a month.   If I drove to my
local library once a week and spent the same 8 hours a day, it would cost me
$20 in gas, $32 in parking fees, 9 hours of my time, and still would not get
done what I do at home in less time.

Quit making Ancestry out to be robbers.  Just for the record Paul, what do
you charge your clients?  My fees are $35/hour plus expenses if I do the
work, and $25/ hour to teach you how to do the work yourself, plus expenses.
In some cases I will do workshops for groups at cost depending on where it
is.   That is a lot more than an Ancestry membership my friend.

Regards,
Steve Stevens





-----Original Message-----
From: Research and writing about Virginia genealogy and family history.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Paul Drake
Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2008 10:11 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VA-ROOTS] Family researches online


Despite the myriad duplications, your numbers are important, Tom, just as
would be similar, though greater, lists of the records available at the
giant libraries and LDS.  As are those MANY other sites, Ancestry is
important, and in some cases provides access to records that otherwise would
be difficult for many to personally access.

However the problem is not what is there, it is what about the countless
millions of sources that are not there, and how can anyone ever know what is
missing??  Plus, those fees are beyond the purse of VERY many of those of us
who enjoy this hobby.

I think a summary of our several ideas posted here is important.  So, if you
can afford it, have a pay-for program that has the censuses available. If
you can not afford it, attack the problems the old fashioned way; that is,
make connections with those societies that are to be found there and with
the researchers who live in the area, have access to, and understand the
records that are available at that ancestral "where".  Short of hiring a
accomplished professional, it is only those local people can guide you
through the peculiar record problems that always are present (and there are
tens of thousands of those), and then exhaust what is there that relates to
your search.

Enough of the subject for me.  It has been fun.

Paul



---Original Message-----
From: Research and writing about Virginia genealogy and family history.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Excalibur131
....Subject: Re: [VA-ROOTS] Family researches online

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