From roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com Sun Feb 12 08:33:55 2006 Received: from mail.rootsweb.com (mail.rootsweb.com [192.168.65.34]) by admin.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) with ESMTP id k1CFXtjb005318; Sun, 12 Feb 2006 08:33:55 -0700 Received: from roots-l.rootsweb.com (roots-l.rootsweb.com [66.43.16.22]) by mail.rootsweb.com (8.13.4/8.13.4) with ESMTP id k1CFXsAZ031109 for ; Sun, 12 Feb 2006 08:33:54 -0700 Received: from roots-l.rootsweb.com (roots-l [127.0.0.1]) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id k1CD5BFI030972 for ; Sun, 12 Feb 2006 08:05:11 -0500 Received: (from roots-in@localhost) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.8/Submit) id k1CD5BrT030971 for roots-approved@rootsweb.com; Sun, 12 Feb 2006 08:05:11 -0500 Received: from admin.rootsweb.com (lists5.rootsweb.com [66.43.27.41]) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.10) with SMTP id k1CCumFI030875 for ; Sun, 12 Feb 2006 07:56:48 -0500 Received: (from slist@localhost) by admin.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) id k1CFPLWb001087 for roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com; Sun, 12 Feb 2006 08:25:21 -0700 X-Envelope-From: mscheffl@twcny.rr.com Sun Feb 12 08:25:21 2006 Received: from mail.rootsweb.com (mail.rootsweb.com [192.168.65.34]) by admin.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) with ESMTP id k1CFPLjb001078 for ; Sun, 12 Feb 2006 08:25:21 -0700 Received: from ms-smtp-03.nyroc.rr.com (ms-smtp-03.nyroc.rr.com [24.24.2.57]) by mail.rootsweb.com (8.13.4/8.13.4) with ESMTP id k1CFPKbZ020877 for ; Sun, 12 Feb 2006 08:25:21 -0700 Received: from 1070n (cpe-24-92-248-107.twcny.res.rr.com [24.92.248.107]) by ms-smtp-03.nyroc.rr.com (8.13.4/8.13.4) with SMTP id k1CFPItO002558 for ; Sun, 12 Feb 2006 10:25:20 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <01b201c62fe8$8717a630$6801a8c0@1070n> From: "MScheffler" To: Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2006 10:25:16 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2180 X-MIMEOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2180 X-Virus-Scanned: Symantec AntiVirus Scan Engine X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.52 on 192.168.65.34 X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.52 on 192.168.65.34 Sender: roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com Subject: [ROOTS-L] Direct Line Research I remember reading a recent posting where the person was upset and suggested people stick to researching only their direct lines. While accuracy is all important no matter who one is researching -- their direct line or a friend's line or people in a particular location -- once one gets beyond their recent living relatives, choosing to only research one's direct line is not the most fruitful approach. Generally direct line only research is not the best way to conduct successful research because the missing clues can come from the in-laws, several sibling marriages, looking at the neighbors of the family in question, migration patterns, etc. Yes it would be convenient to simply go from one generation to the next without lots of extra work, but finding that type of documentation for more than a few generations is rare. I would like to suggest that some of you who get a good article outlining a group of families or buy a book that has your own family, to take a few hours to type into your database some of the ancestors, siblings, cousins, etc. and then place your database on WorldConnect, limiting the downloads should you prefer to do it this way. As your database grows, REPLACE your earlier one on WC rather than making a duplicate. The more we can all share good standard research, the more likely we can help others who have perhaps fewer resources and fewer skills. One does not have to reprove everything they share this way, but they should be careful to give the source for this type of fact event, so the person thinking it may belong to their family can go back and verify what they want to use for proving their own direct line. Some of us have access to more resources than others, but I and some other people who have been at this hobby for several years, make it a practice to routinely type the contents of genealogy books into one of their databases and place them online. It would be plagiarism to scan someone's book and put it on line in that format, but one can with a clear conscience take names and dates from published books and add them to their own databases. Yes, one may get occasional questions about people you don't know anymore about than what you have offered. But you can simply write back and say how you arrived at the material. Most people are grateful to find anything at all. If someone is upset because you did not "finish" each family then so be it. Then there inevitably comes the day when one receives an email telling you they can supply the bit of information you thought you would never find. Margaret Scheffler