From roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com Sun Sep 10 10:54:53 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 k8AGsrjb032631; Sun, 10 Sep 2006 10:54:53 -0600 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 k8AGsn7x020115 for ; Sun, 10 Sep 2006 10:54:49 -0600 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 k8AEDcFI010758 for ; Sun, 10 Sep 2006 10:13:38 -0400 Received: (from roots-in@localhost) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.8/Submit) id k8AEDcCg010757 for roots-approved@rootsweb.com; Sun, 10 Sep 2006 10:13:38 -0400 Received: from lists5.rootsweb.com (lists5.rootsweb.com [66.43.27.41]) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.10) with SMTP id k8ADPeFI010609 for ; Sun, 10 Sep 2006 09:25:40 -0400 Received: (from slist@localhost) by lists5.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) id k8AG6fCg027132 for roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com; Sun, 10 Sep 2006 10:06:41 -0600 X-Envelope-From: viking@rvi.net Sun Sep 10 10:06:41 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 k8AG6fjb027123 for ; Sun, 10 Sep 2006 10:06:41 -0600 Received: from mailfilter4.uci.net (mailfilter4.uci.net [216.104.72.83]) by mail.rootsweb.com (8.13.4/8.13.4) with SMTP id k8AG6BYn018767 for ; Sun, 10 Sep 2006 10:06:11 -0600 Received: (qmail 12748 invoked from network); 10 Sep 2006 16:05:59 -0000 Received: from 6ip100.adninternet.com (HELO NEWHAL) (63.224.193.100) by mailfilter4.uci.net with SMTP; 10 Sep 2006 16:05:59 -0000 From: "Kirsten Bowman" To: "Patricia Sears" , Subject: RE: [ROOTS-L] Why won't my cousins talk to me? :) Date: Sun, 10 Sep 2006 09:05:49 -0700 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.6604 (9.0.2911.0) In-Reply-To: <003501c6d429$b75645f0$3eed8a48@KSCGNB02> X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2962 Importance: Normal 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 Patricia: Your post sounds as though you may be asking for or collecting information on living people. These days, a letter from an unknown individual asking for any family information would set off alarms. Another possibility: People are very busy; if they don't share your interest in genealogy they just don't want to be bothered. Without knowing more about your approach it's difficult to suggest any alternatives, but I think it's rather unlikely you'd get much response from "cold calls" such as your post indicates. Kirsten -----Original Message----- From: roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com [mailto:roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com]On Behalf Of Patricia Sears Sent: Saturday, September 09, 2006 9:05 AM To: ROOTS-M@rootsweb.com Subject: [ROOTS-L] Why won't my cousins talk to me? :) Hello list, Probably like many of you, I have good information on my English, Scottish and Canadian family lines up to around 1901-1911 because of availability of b/m/d indices and census data. But after that, it becomes more difficult as government records are private. I've gleaned a lot of info from marriage/birth/death notices in local papers. Due to some unusual surnames in my family, I have been able to trace probable living relatives on the web on sites like www.411.ca. However, when I send letters of inquiry, introducing myself and my genealogy interests, and inviting them to trade family history information, I either get no response, or a few tidbits (i.e. "I have a son Tommy and two grandsons Tommy Jr. and Jimmy.") with no other important details. This is starting to become very frustrating. Any suggestions? Patricia Ottawa, Canada