Once you get some of your own data published on the Web, you'll be amazed at how it will bring you in contact with people researching some of the same surnames. There have been several ways to create an online database, but often it meant buying expensive programs and having to do some tricky editing with your data to make it work. I came across a fantastic, simple tool that I must share with you.  It's called GedPage, written  by Rob Jacobs, and is one of the better shareware programs I've found. (Shareware - you can download it, use it, test it- all for free. If you want to keep using it, pay the author, in this case $10.)

First, you create a GEDCOM file from your genealogy software. All current genealogy software programs can do that simply and quickly. The GEDCOM file is, simply put, your data with all the fancy reports, fonts, charts, etc. removed -- just the facts in specific fields, in specific order.

When you launch GedPage, it will ask you to indicate the GEDCOM file it should use. GedPage then takes a minute to digest your GEDCOM file and produces a self-contained folder of hundreds of family group sheets, all nicely linked and indexed and ready to be uploaded to your Internet web page – you do have an internet web page don't you?  (Looks like I have a topic for another column or two.)

The first folder I created consisted of over 300 group sheets, plus index and took up less than one megabyte of disk space. Here- take a look:
http://www.magicnet.net/~paulench/surnames/ surnames.htm

The home page for GedPage software is:
http://www.frontiernet.net/~rjacob/gedpage.htm

written for Treasure Chest News, [May. 1999], the newsletter of the Central FL Genealogical Society.  Used with permission.