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 To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.16/1250 - Release Date: 1/29/2008 10:20 PM To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html