52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy - Week 3

52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy - Week 3


52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy 2012 prompts suggested by Amy Coffin; thanks, Amy!

    •    Week 3 – Free Online Genealogy Tools: Free online genealogy tools are like gifts from above. Which ones are you most thankful for? How has it helped your family history experience?

This week’s prompt runs from Sunday, January 15 through Saturday, January 21, 2012.

I am going to talk, a bit, about RootsWeb as a free, online genealogy tool. RootsWeb was an early, entirely free genealogy website with Message Boards, Mailing Lists, Free Web Sites, many Volunteer Projects and, perhaps my favorite, WorldConnect. WorldConnect was where you could load your family tree and share with interested others. I was a new phenomena at the time it started. Eventually, RootsWeb was became a part of Ancestry.com; with good and not-so-good results. I'm still generally happy with the site and fully support it; I continue to participate extensively, partially because it continues to be free. I do not appreciate my family tree being incorporated into Ancestry.com; however, as long it is still available to the general public, free, in the current format, I continue to support it. I've used it from the beginning in the early mid-1990s/

Based on a reminder from Marian, at Marian's Roots and Rambles blog, I will 'second' her recommendation of two non-online free resources: Your Public Library and your local Family History Center.


Families are Forever!  ;-)