Hi,

This talk and web site are about how I find things of genealogical interest on the internet. My background is in computers and software development.  I started using the internet while in the U.S. Navy, before it was opened for public access. Then everything was hard to find, hard to get, and only pertained either to the military or educational research. But it was fun. 

I started doing genealogy when the Navy sent me overseas and my mom would write about family happenings.  Some of the family she talked about were people I swear I did not know and would not recognize. So I wrote back asking questions. In the replies Robert Webb became Uncle Bob and Herbert Riggins became Grandpa. These people with titles actually had names!! I started keeping notes and records and charts of whom belonged with whom. Pretty soon I was doing genealogy. Just so I could understand my mothers letters and why those people were important.

 Birthdays, family reunions, traditions, school graduations, jobs and funerals and other events all define who we are. The basic questions that need to be answered in doing genealogical research are all about an event.

Doing genealogy puts you in the detective's seat.  Doing genealogy research on the internet gives you access to resources you may get no other way, saves you time on your field trips and helps you locate the sources of information faster. Notice I did not say that it would help you GET the information, just find where it is.  While there are many projects to get the information onto the internet in reliable ways, it is manpower and resource intensive. However, once you locate where the information is, through the internet you may be able locate someone that will help you get it.

In these pages I hope to point you to places to help you find answers to these questions for your events, and find someone to help you get it.

Happy hunting... Kent 

Thursday, February 24, 2000