ELECTRONIC DATA

I also set up folders for those who provided substantive useful information and these people are considered pen pals. I am pleased to say that I have identified a number of very helpful people whom I would like to meet personally.

Much of my work has been done via the internet with information being supplied by contacts. Some contacts are very limited. Therefore, early on I became concerned about sending messages to strangers and not remembering months later that I had done so. When doing a search I might encounter a "new" potential source of information in a different situation. I believed it would be very inconsiderate to send a similar message at a later time to somebody who had already replied, particularly if they were helpful. The same person sometimes is working on another family that I am also interested in so I might resend, but acknowledge prior contact. I created an Excel spread sheet that records the involved surname, the name of the contact with their e-mail address, and a characterization of the response. The initial system/process has been modified so that today I have a composite listing of "nearly all" the people who were sent an e-mail communication along with a reference to their e-mail address and the family(s) of interest. Unfortunately, many of the early e-mail addresses have been found to be no longer functional, but nevertheless, the list helps me keep a useful record of my contacts.

I also have created numerous folders for people who I have contacted many times and have exchanged substantive information. These are my "pen pals." Folder identification is by a combination of FamilyName/email address. This is another use for the email listing.

I created an Excel sheet that shows the different surnames, and for each entry, the family names in this country and before America and the potential date range for their journey to America, based upon a dates associated with known events. It is interesting to note that to date I have not identified a single person with the date/boat of crossing. I have identified all but 3 sets of my ancestors 5 generations back (to about 1800). A few go back to before 1700. For Carol's ancestors, there are 8 sets of ancestors missing by the 5th generation. A number of her ancestors families are identified back into the 1500s.

In addition, I have downloaded a number of GEDs, one for a family line. These are kept only in electronic format, as a separate database viewable by my PAF system. A portion of these GEDs then is incorporated into what I believe is my family. The most noteworthy example is the GED for the Standley surname. I copied if from Richard Henry Standley back to the 1200s with all its interesting names. Obviously, I have not verified the accuracy of such a large file.

I scanned selected pictures of individuals and families and Amy Holman placed them on a CD for "permanent" storage. In addition, I have received many pictures from Pat Ames re the Carter family. These are currently stored under her emial name.