Trace Your Family Tree Free For 7 Days!

We all take many things for granted: the sun coming up in the morning, the water coming out of the faucet in the morning when we go to make our much needed coffee, our genealogy records being available…wait, what?

Yes…we do sometimes take that for granted, as well. I have donated quite a bit of my time to the USGenWeb and I have heard some strange questions…one that really threw me was the following: “What do you mean you don’t have that marriage document? You’re the coordinator for the County right? Aren’t you supposed to have all of the records available for that County in order to coordinate it?”

I could hardly respond to that woman.  Those volunteering on-line to post information and aid researchers in their journeys to ancestral towns are there to help.  In most cases they really wish they had the document you’re looking for and will do what the can to help you find it.  However, many times they simply do not have a copy of great-great grandpa Joe’s draft card.

Please remember this when emailing volunteers.  They want to help you, they really do.  But if they don’t have it, they just don’t have it.  But if you’re nice to them, a few weeks later when they run across GGGrandpa Joe’s name in a biographical history they’ll remember you..and send you that information!

My grandma always said, “You catch more flies with honey!”  That applies to genealogy volunteers, too!