by Dick Hutchinson - Member of the Launceston Branch
and British Interest Group.

In a few short years the Internet and e-mail has become an essential tools of Family historians.

Unfortunately many newcomers to genealogy have the misguided idea that the Web is going to solve their problems and supply all the answers.
While it can and does provide some solutions it should be looked at as an adjunct to other traditional forms of research, not a replacement.

The Internet now has a vast number of pages devoted to family history but it is necessary to separate the wheat from the chaff.

There are sites consisting of pages of personal family histories that are only of interest to the author of the page and their immediate family.

Then there are the commercial sites that provide information but at a cost.

There are sites devoted to State, County and Regional Societies that can point one in the right direction.

The most useful and informative sites are the official sites that include Public Records Offices, State and National Libraries and other semi official bodies such as the LDS church.

Mailing Lists are of enormous value. These are groups researching in a particular area or even researching a "name".

These "lists" are free and once subscribed to enable the posting of e-mail messages to that particular group and hopefully receive answers to your queries.
The subscriber also receives a copy of all the e-mails sent by others to that group. This enables a subscriber in Tasmania to interact with other members with a common interest in Britain, America and other parts of Australia.

To join one of these groups log on to

http://lists.rootsweb.com

search for the group that interests you, then send an e-mail to the appropriate address.
For example in order to subscribe to the group covering my main area of interest, I sent the simple message "subscribe" to UK-NORTHEAST-L-request@rootsweb.com.

As there are 19,000 separate lists there should be at least one of interest to everybody.

Other Articles:
Advantages of Joining a Family History Society.
A Goal For Family History Historians.
British Census Records.
Finding Relatives.
Finding your Ancestors In New Zealand.
Genealogy - The Roots and a Portion of Stem.
Lower Court Records.
Newspaper Research.
What is Genealogy?
Identifying Family Photographs.
Old Launceston Landmarks.

 

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