This, from the BYU website: http://lib.byu.edu/fhc/index.php "All of the books in the Family History Archives at BYU (including the medieval collections) have been moved to Family History Books at FamilySearch. Over 36,000 digital books are now available at Family History Books. You can click on the link below to go to Family History Books." http://books.familysearch.org/

Ardell J. (Parkman) Lynds

Maine Genealogical Society is saddened to announce the death of Ardell J. (Parkman) Lynds, a well-known Maine genealogist and recently, a director of our Society.

READFIELD - Ardell J. (Parkman) Lynds died Dec. 6, 2010, at Hospice House, Auburn, with her husband and sons by her side. Ardell was born Jan. 8, 1942, at Scott Webb Memorial Hospital, Hartland, the only child of Henry A. Parkman and Phyllis P. (Pease) Parkman. She attended elementary school in St. Albans, Skowhegan, Norridgewock, Aptos, Calif.; and graduated from Watsonville High School in 1960. She also attended secretarial school in San Jose, Calif., Monterey Peninsular College, and Hartnell College, Salinas, Calif. Upon returning to Maine after residing in California from 1962 to 2000, she really enjoyed reconnecting with childhood friends and family from Skowhegan and Norridgewock. After spending time with family, Ardell's greatest joy was researching family roots, as she was an extremely successful and passionate genealogist. Some of her greatest accomplishments were tracing her family heritage and others back to their Mayflower voyage. She also wrote and published three books and transcribed the vital records of St. Albans. She was a proud member of several genealogical organizations, including Daughters of the American Revolution, of which she was an officer; Mayflower Society, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Maine Genealogical Society, Colonial Dames of the XVII Century and Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War. She also owned and operated Your Cousin's Genealogical Shoppe, San Martin, Calif. Ardell was a lady of extreme character and virtue, whose family values and moral code would be next to impossible to surpass. As indicated by the organizations she belonged to, Ardell loved her country, and was a devout patriot. Ardell was a lover of animals, having named and cared for numerous pets including dogs, cats, pygmy goats, roosters, chickens, horses and a pig on Lynds' Little Acres Ranchette, San Martin, Calif. This would explain why one of her favorite TV shows and books was "All Creatures Great and Small" by James Herriot. She had also been a school volunteer and treasurer of Boy Scout Troop 20. She is survived by her husband, Arvil Lynds of Readfield; and her children, Ronnie Lynds of Gilroy, Calif., Stephen Lynds of Yosemite National Park, Calif., and Michael Lynds of Gardiner. There will be viewing hours 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 10, at Smart & Edwards Funeral Home, 183 Madison Ave., Skowhegan, where a funeral service will be held 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 11. Immediately after there will be a luncheon reception at Tewksbury Hall behind Federated Church on the island in Skowhegan. Donations may be made in Ardell's memory to National Kidney Foundation , Serving New England, 85 Astor Ave., Suite 2, Norwood, MA 02062-5040; Arthritis Foundation , Northern New England Office, 6 Chenell Drive, Suite 260, Concord, NH 03301; or The Hospice House of Androscoggin Home Care & Hospice, 236 Stetson Road, Auburn, ME 04210. Arrangements are under the care and direction of Smart & Edwards Funeral Home, 183 Madison Ave., Skowhegan.

Published in Bangor Daily News on December 9, 2010

Chandler Family Association Newsletter Honored

The Chandler Family Association Newsletter received the First Place, Family Newsletter award at the recent National Genealogical Society meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah. The coveted award was presented April 28 in front of a large crowd of enthusiastic genealogists. Accepting the award on behalf of the Association was Charles Chandler, a resident of West Jordan, Utah, and CFA member. Editor of the award-winning newsletter is Claudia Chandler Brocato of Brandon, Mississippi, who was appointed editor of the publication in 2006. Brocato also serves as webmaster for the CFA website, which scored 84% in a recent marketing effectiveness evaluation of 2.3 million websites.

In announcing the award, C. M. Chandler, president of the Chandler Family Association, stated "We are very pleased and honored that our newsletter was judged the best family newsletter in this year's competition. Our members look forward to receiving their newsletter as each issue is packed with a variety of informative articles and documented genealogies contributed by our members. Each issue generally includes articles by members of our Executive Board, who are involved in various research projects throughout the year. The newsletter provides an excellent vehicle for updating our more than 400 members worldwide about the progress of these efforts. While our peer review board double-checks all genealogical articles for accuracy, Mrs. Brocato has full charge of the final product. We are extremely pleased with the professional appearance she has given our newsletter. This prestigious award from NGS, America's leading genealogical association, is a reaffirmation of our members' appreciation of the work Mrs. Brocato performs for our Association."

The NGS Family Newsletter competition is held annually to recognize the hard work, long hours, and creativity by editors of family newsletters, most of whom are unpaid volunteers. Newsletters entered in the competition are judged by a three-member panel and must meet certain preset criteria, such as material interest, variety and originality, writing quality, readability, and overall attractiveness of presentation. The 2010 competition is the first time the Chandler Family Association has submitted an entry, which adds to the pride the CFA membership has at large for its publication.

To view one of the award-winning issues, visit the group's website at http://www.thecfa.org/. The website also carries full details about the Chandler Family Association, membership details, and information about the group's upcoming Annual Meeting, open to all who are interested in Chandler genealogy, September 17-18 in Hampton, Virginia.

Family History Library Classes Now Available on Internet

Free Classes Make Genealogy Expertise Accessible Anywhere

SALT LAKE CITY—It is rare that Marcia Covington can make the trip from her home in State College, Pennsylvania, to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. Now, however, people like Covington can take classes from the world-famous library without ever leaving home.

The FamilySearch Family History Library is now making its popular classes available at FamilySearch.org, where anyone anywhere in the world can access them for free at a time that is convenient for them. The classes have been offered on-site in Salt Lake City for years. Until now, attendance has been limited to those patrons who are fortunate to live in the surrounding community or happen to be visiting the library as part of a research trip. Making the classes available online allows access to many more patrons.

“Most people do family history whenever they can fit it in their busy lives, on evenings, holidays, weekends, and so forth. Whether you are a beginner or experienced researcher, you can choose subjects of interest to you from the available classes and watch them anytime and anywhere,” said FamilySearch Community Services Manager Diane Loosle.

The online classes are a great complement to the free personal research assistance the Family History Library offers to its patrons in Utah and through its family history centers worldwide. According to Loosle, the free online classes are one part of the growing number of tools FamilySearch is building for its online patrons. That is great news to people like Covington.

“Very few people have the opportunity to come to Salt Lake City, but these classes give me the same access at home as I can get in Utah,” Covington said. “Our distances here are pretty long, and for some people it is a 40-minute drive to the nearest family history center. These classes make it possible to get training in your home whenever you want, and it is so nice that it is free.”

There are currently 23 Family History Library classes available online, with subjects ranging from European research to United States military records. The most popular offerings are the Beginning Research Series for Ireland and England and a class on descendancy research.

The classes vary in length from 6 to 58 minutes, with most lasting about 25 minutes. The format of the class varies, depending on the content being presented. One type of class shows a video that alternates between the teacher and the PowerPoint slides. Another kind of class integrates video of the presenter, the accompanying PowerPoint slides, and links to supplemental materials all in one screen.

Several of the classes are interactive, such as a course on reading German handwriting. In these classes, the teacher is represented with still photographs and audio narration, and the student can actively participate in learning activities, such as matching English and German characters or transcribing selected words from a document. As a student types, the correct text appears in green and incorrect answers appear in red, providing immediate feedback.

FamilySearch is continually adding new online offerings; classes on how to read English handwritten records are currently in development. All of the classes can be accessed on www.familysearch.org by clicking on Free Online Classes on the home page.

Paul Nauta
FamilySearch Public Affairs Manager

LD 1781 Update

Helen Shaw advises that the amendment has not been posted to the LD 1781 website and the bill is not on the house agenda for tomorrow, March 22nd. It appears the agendas are posted a day in advance.

If anyone else wants to follow this, the link is:
http://www.maine.gov/legis/house/hcalfr.htm.

Open Vital Records

Below are two links to research papers discussing the link of open vital records to identity theft. We recommend all genealogists review these as they formulate their own position on the heavily discussed proposed LD 1781.

Massachusetts Genealogical Council's White Paper - Framing a Discussion on Vital Records Access

The Case for Open Public Records - A Position Paper Prepared for the Association of Professional Genealogists

To learn more about LD 1781 and to follow it's progress, visit the State of Maine Legislature Bill Status Search Page and enter in the bill number.

LD 1781 - Genealogists Take Note:

Received from Helen Shaw:

A bill recently passed out of the Health and Human Services Committee of the Maine legislature which would close vital records and divorce records in Maine for 100 years after the event. The bill is LD 1781 An Act To Allow Electronic Filing of Vital Records and Closing of Records To Guard against Fraud and Make Other Changes to the Vital Records Laws.

A public hearing was held on the bill on March 3rd, but the genealogy community in Maine was not aware of the bill or of the public hearing so no one was at the hearing to protest. Since then, Pam Eagleson and I have been working to amend the bill so that genealogists are included in the bill as persons with "a direct and legitimate interest in the matter recorded."

While input on problems with the bill was sought by the legal analyst preparing an amendment to the bill, that input was not included in the amendment which was made available to us March 18 (after it had been voted on by the HHS Committee). That amendment made the bill even worse.

At this time, the only option is to have the bill amended on the house floor or killed there. The proposed amendments can be viewed at: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~megs/LD1781_proposed_%20amendments.pdf

I do not know when this might come to the house floor for a vote. I have a call in to my state senator for his advice. It may be that we will need/want to address the party caucuses early next week.

You may post any of the above except what is in brackets. Please also let folks know we still need them to contact their legislators about LD 1781 and the proposed amendments.

Thank you for your help and support.
Helen Shaw, CG^sm

1930 US Census Available Free of Charge on the Internet Archive

The following article is from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter and is copyright by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with the permission of the author. Information about the newsletter is available at http://www.eogn.com.

Here is a pleasant surprise: the Internet Archive is placing the 1930 U.S. Census online and is making it available at no charge. This is a "work in progress;" but, the census records from many states are available now, and the remaining states will be added in the near future.

The records are offered in exactly the same format as the microfilms created by the U.S. Government. In fact, the online images appear to be copies of the microfilms. The images are being offered "as is." That is, there is no index available, only the images. If you already know where your ancestor lived and (hopefully) the enumeration district, you can view the images one at a time until you find the information you seek.

You can find enumeration districts on FamilySearch at http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=subjectdetails&subject=870702&subject_disp=Census+districts+-+United+States&columns=*,0,0. Once you know the enumeration district, return to the Internet Archive at http://www.archive.org/details/1930_census to conduct your search.

If your ancestors lived in a small town, you can probably find them without determining an enumeration district in advance. However, for those who resided in cities, the enumeration district is a valuable piece of information that allows you to zoom in on the correct neighborhood quickly although you will still need to look at a lot of images to find what you seek.

While it is nice to see a free version of the census available, I doubt if this will have much impact on the commercial companies that also offer census images online for a fee. The commercial companies have indexed most of their records, and finding someone in an index first is much, much easier than manually looking at hundreds of images in search of the right family.

While I appreciate the free, unindexed images, I'll still gladly pay a few dollars a month to have an index available. I suspect most others will do the same, especially after trying to find someone in the free records.

Of course, now is an excellent time for your genealogy society or historical society to index the records for your area and place your own index online, with each entry pointing to an original record on the Internet Archive.

To find the 1930 U.S. Census records on the Internet Archive, start at: http://www.archive.org/details/1930_census to conduct your search.

Maine Bill Closes Birth, Marriage Records - Portland News Story - WMTW Portland

Maine Bill Closes Birth, Marriage Records - Portland News Story - WMTW Portland

New Genealogy Group to meet in Greenville

Roxanne Moore Saucier reported in her Family Ties column in Monday's Bangor Daily News that a new genealogical group will meet at 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 20, in the carriage house by the Moosehead Historical Society on Pritham Avenue in Greenville.

Candy Russell will share some resources that are available through the historical society.

To quote Roxanne, "Here's hoping Saturday's meeting will draw lots of interest so that more can be done to preserve the heritage of the Greenville area."

To read her complete column, visit: http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/136843.html.

Get Ready for the New “Who Do You Think You Are?” Television Series

Stock up on the popcorn and get ready for the new NBC hit show “Who Do You Think You Are?” The family history-focused series will lead seven celebrities on a heart-warming journey back in time as they discover more about the ancestors who came before them. Lisa Kudrow, who executive produced the show will be featured in the episodes, along with Sarah Jessica Parker, Spike Lee, Matthew Broderick, Susan Sarandon, Emmitt Smith, and Brooke Shields. Ancestry.com is a partner with NBC on the show

The idea for “Who Do You Think You Are?” originated from a show that has been phenomenally successful in the UK for several years. Since the show aired in 2004, the UK has seen a surge of interest in family history, and we hope and expect the same reaction from “Who Do You Think You Are?” in the United States.

Typically, celebrities play the role of someone else, however in this show they play no one but themselves. Because of this, “Who Do You Think You Are?” really shows the human side of these individuals, who experience a myriad of emotions as they learn their family history. Viewers can’t help but feel inspired and intrigued as they watch the episodes. Naturally, the show will lead viewers to begin thinking about and asking questions around their own family history.

What is wonderful about the show is that, with the celebrity appeal, the genuine emotion they experience, and the family storytelling nature of the show, “Who Do You Think You Are?” is perfectly poised to appeal to the masses – not just professional genealogists or family history experts.

Tune into NBC Fridays 8/7c beginning March 5. For more information about the show, go to: http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/.

The potential is great! You and your friends have an important role in making “Who Do You Think You Are?” the next biggest family history phenomenon since Roots! Please help spread the news!

Lou Szucs, Vice-President of Community Relations
Ancestry.com

Update: Maine Vital Records Fees

Most genealogists have heard about the recent increase in fees for obtaining a certified copy of a vital record (birth / marriage / death). The Maine State Office of Vital Records is now receiving $60.00 per copy.

LD 1648 (proposed legislative bill) has been submitted this session as an emergency bill that would require these fees to be changed back to what they were in September of 2009. It is felt by some that the new fees are inappropriate.

If you support this bill, you should contact your State Senators and Representatives to let them know your thoughts.

Also a reminder, these fees are only for copies being obtained from the State Office of Vital Records. We encourage genealogists to check with the town where these events occurred as the recent fee increase is only at the State level. The locally obtained copy may have a substantially lower cost.

The Lewis Hine Project

We received an email introducing MGS to The Lewis Hine Project, by historian and author Joseph Manning.

Lewis Hine was an investigative photographer, employed by the National Child Labor Committee 1908-19234. Hine's documentation of child workers includes more than 5,100 photographs which are now part of the Library of Congress' American Memory Project, which can be accessed at http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pp/nclchtml/nclcback.html.

Mr. Manning, asking himself "Didn't history happen to ordinary people, too?", began The Lewis Hines Project to research and document the lives of the children appearing in Hine's photographs, "whose only public persona, for as long as a hundred years, has been a simple snapshot." More information about The Lewis Hine Project is online at: http://www.morningsonmaplestreet.com/aboutlewishine2.html.

Mr. Manning's story of Pheobe Thomas, a child worker in a sardine cannery at Eastport, Maine, whom Lewis Hine photographed in 1911, begins at http://www.morningsonmaplestreet.com/phoebethomas1.html.

As part of Phoebe's story, Mr. Manning included Stephen Robbins' 1976 interview with Minerva (Sharman) Gray, who describes her work in a Robbinston, Maine, sardine cannery and the working conditions in the 1910s. Stephen Robbins' interview with Minerva begins on page 7 (http://www.sevensteeples.com/phoebethomas7.html).

Town of Washington, Maine, photos?

The Town of Washington (formerly Putnam), Maine, will be celebrating its bicentennial in 2011.

If any has any photos, documents, articles, etc., about the town or any of its inhabitants they would be willing to donate, share, scan, loan, etc., Cindy Beane would love to hear from you. Her email address is megsateennow@aol.com.

You can visit the town on their website at http://washingtonme.govoffice.com.

Think DAR for Free Online Research

The Daughters of the American Revolution has added its Genealogical Research System to its website, providing free access to the public.

This addition offers a combination of several databases created in recent years to organize the large quantity of information that the DAR has collected since its inception in 1890. This system of databases will continue to expand as new information is added.
The Ancestor Database is not a comprehensive list of all individuals who served in the Revolutionary War - new patriots are added as they are proven through DAR membership applications.

The Member Database is limited in order to protect the privacy of the Society's members, but it is possible to search for basic information on a member's ancestor record.

The Descendants Database is an every-name index of the names found on the lineage page of DAR applications and supplementals (this database is currently still under construction).

This is a wonderful resource and it is free! To learn more about the various databases and to launch your search, visit www.dar.org/library/online_research.cfm.

190,000 Welsh Wills Online

The following article is from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter and is copyright by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with the permission of the author. Information about the newsletter is available at http://www.eogn.com.

The BBC recently published an article about the end of a five-year project to make 190,000 wills available online has been completed. The project is complete and the wills are available now. About 800,000 pages of documents have been placed on the National Library of Wales' website.

The National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth said the wills dated from the 14th Century until 1858, when civil probate was introduced, and 1,000 of them were written in Welsh.

It said the project was "good news for family historians, social historians…and the inquisitive".

You can read more at the BBC web site at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/mid_/8316533.stm and on the National Library of Wales web site at http://www.llgc.org.uk/index.php?id=1514&no_cache=1&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=2640&tx_ttnews[backPid]=2&cHash=adbaf61688.

The wills are available http://cat.llgc.org.uk/cgi-bin/gw/chameleon?skin=profeb&lng=en.

My thanks to Michael Kinsey for telling me about this resource.

Mary B. Young

Last week we lost a good and dear friend. It is my understanding that she was the 1st President of the Greater Portland Chapter of MGS.

Mary B. Young, 94, of South Portland, died Friday, Oct. 30, 2009, at the Gosnell Memorial Hospice House. Mary was born in South Portland, the daughter of Sidney J. and Mae (Willis) Young, where she was educated and a graduate of South Portland High School. She was also a graduate of Wellesley College in Massachusetts and Simmons College as a graduate of Library and Information. She was a member of the Maine Genealogical Society, Maine Society of Mayflower Descendants, Maine Old Cemetery Association, Appalachian Mountain Club and the American Notaries. Mary worked as a librarian in the Portland Public Libraries until her retirement. She is survived by her sister Laura A. Matz of Westbrook; a niece Martha V. Wright of Cumberland, and a nephew S. John Young of Ayer, Mass.

A graveside service was held November 4, 2009, at Forest City Cemetery, South Portland. Memorial contributions may be made to: The Portland Public Library, 5 Monument Square, Portland ME 04101

SOURCE: Portland Press Herald, Nov. 1, 2009.

Joseph Crook Anderson II, FASG, Honored

Joseph Crook Anderson II was honored for his contributions to MGS at the Annual Conference held in Bangor, Maine, on September 26, 2009, being presented with the inaugural Clayton Rand Adams Memorial Award.

MGS was honored to have Clayton's widow, Nancy, and his daughter, Sarah, join us for the introduction of this award and the announcement of its first recipient.

MGS President Dale Mower stated -
In considering this award, it seems indeed fitting that the first recipient is Joe Anderson.

Joe and Clayton had a deep respect for each other, which was particularly apparent at conferences and during Executive Committee meetings.

As for credentials, Joe is a Certified Genealogist and a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists - a true honor as there are only 50 lifetime members. Election to that society is based on a candidate's published genealogical scholarship.

Joe serves as editor of The American Genealogist, joining that publication in 1999.

Where MGS is concerned, the names Joe Anderson and Maine Genealogical Society are synonymous. The list of Joe's contributions to MGS are lengthy.

Joe serves as editor of the Society's scholarly journal, The Maine Genealogist. Beginning as a co-editor in February 1991 when the journal transitioned from The Maine Seine to its current format, Joe became its editor with Lois Thurston in February 1994, and has been its sole editor since August 1998.

As chair of the Publications Committee, Joe also oversees all of the special publications projects. He has transcribed early town records. He has been instrumental in the success of the Maine Families in 1790 series. He joined that project in 1992 as Associate Editor of Volume 3, working with the projects founder Ruth Gray. He was Co-Editor with Lois Thurston of Volume 4, and has been the series sole editor from Volume 5 on. He oversees all the special publications projects -reviewing, editing and working closely with the authors of all the Maine Families in 1790 sketches that are submitted for publication.

We are also fortunate that we can occasionally entice Joe to leave his home in Texas to come up to Maine to give lectures.

But probably the most significant contribution that Joe makes to the society is the inspiration and encouragement he gives to fellow researchers. He knows how to gently push trying to bring out the best analysis and research. I know that whenever I've encountered a problem, I can rely on being able to bounce it off Joe.

I would also like to mention that all of the contribution that Joe provides to MGS he does out of his love of the state and his generosity. His efforts for the Society are non-compensated and purely voluntary. And he does all of this in addition to his full-time job and family time - and I know that he is very devoted to his family.

Aside from his genealogical achievements I have to say that I always look forward to catching up with Joe at a conference. Joe can be summed up as being just an all-around nice guy.

Joe Anderson is pretty much the heart and soul of MGS.

THE CLAYTON RAND ADAMS MEMORIAL AWARD
Presented to
JOSEPH CROOK ANDERSON II, FASG

In recognition of his ongoing role as author, compiler
and editor of The Maine Genealogist, The Maine Families in 1790
project and transcriptions of early town records
from across the State of Maine.

The Maine Genealogical Society honors his extraordinary
contributions and selfless dedication to the Society
and to advancing the field of genealogy in the State of Maine.

September 26, 2009

Follow-Up: Why You Need a Second (and Better) E-Mail Address

The following article is from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter and is copyright by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with the permission of the author. Information about the newsletter is available at http://www.eogn.com.

On February 6 of this year, I posted an article telling why you don't want to use the e-mail service from your Internet provider. Instead, you should be using an e-mail service provided by an independent e-mail provider (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, Fastmail, etc.).

I described a recent nightmare for 234,000 former Verizon customers in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont who suddenly found their Internet service was being changed to a smaller company, FairPoint Communications. The former Verizon customers all had assigned e-mail addresses ending in "@verizon.net" and were suddenly told that their e-mail addresses had been changed.

Now the problem is getting worse.

The changes in February were made with little or no advance notice. In some cases, the former Verizon customers were told of the switch AFTER the changes had already been made. Such an abrupt change causes great turmoil for business and personal users. As one example, a former Verizon customer was selling many items on eBay, and notices of the completion of sales and shipping notifications were all being sent to his former Verizon e-mail address that was now defunct. His e-mail address was changed with no advance notice, and he soon found he had no method of receiving new orders. There were thousands of other, similar stories.

Those who had hundreds or thousands of old email messages saved on Verizon's mail servers found those messages were all deleted with no advance notice. Business messages, family photographs, and more all disappeared instantly.

Even worse, the limited number of mail servers at tiny FairPoint Communications croaked under the newly-imposed load. Mail servers crashed, thousands of new e-mail messages were lost, and 234,000 people were unable to even check their e-mail for days at a time.

FairPoint Communications was so unprepared for the huge increase in workload that the company reportedly faked a switchover demonstration that was shown to an outside auditor, Liberty. If true, this constitutes fraud, and company executives might be prosecuted and even serve jail time. (I doubt that will happen; FairPoint has plenty of lawyers who probably can keep the executives out of jail. However, the charge of fraud is serious.)

Whether or not the test was faked, the network has proved so unready that FairPoint reportedly is close to bankruptcy and may have its licenses to operate revoked in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Of course, that will create even more turmoil for FairPoint's customers, who are now using e-mail addresses ending in "@myfairpoint.net." Those who had their e-mail service abruptly changed last February are now facing another abrupt change or may even lose all e-mail service.

Anyone who took my advice in February to obtain e-mail service from an independent provider will be unaffected.

You can read my earlier article at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2009/02/why-you-need-a-second-and-better-email-address-by-dick-eastman/comments/page/2/ and a new article that describes Fairpoint's latest woes and legal problems at http://www.reformer.com/localnews/ci_13196920.

I will repeat the advice I offered last February 6:

Why be held hostage by your Internet provider? It's YOUR e-mail! You have a right to receive e-mail messages and to not be "jerked around" by corporate buy-outs. I'd suggest that you take control of your e-mail now. Obtain your own e-mail address [from an independent e-mail provider] today, and start migrating your mail.

Finally, if you are immersed in the Verizon/Fairpoint problems right now, why fight it? Pick up a Gmail account now and switch to that. You already have to notify all your correspondents anyway; why not get an e-mail address that works and won't change for a while?

I will add one new comment. It is theoretically possible for an e-mail provider to also go out of business or to sell out to a competitor. However, the odds of that are significantly lower than having an Internet provider do the same. The independent e-mail providers are generally better prepared to handle the workload of new e-mail customers. Nothing is ever absolute, but I'd rather trust Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, Fastmail, etc. than your present (or future) Internet provider.

Curtis Memorial Library offers Ancestry

Word has been received from Rebecca Francis, Coordinator of Technical Services, that the Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick has just started a subscription to Ancestry Library Edition. This is in response to a request from the Pejepscot Genealogy Society at the beginning of 2008. The library is excited to announce that they finally found the money for it.

Ancestry Library Edition has just about everything that the regular Ancestry.com has, except that you can't post to message boards or upload information about your family tree. It can only be accessed from inside the library, but it's available on any of their public PCs and on any laptop that is using their wireless connection.

A great resource for the area and we extend a big thank you to the Curtis Memorial Library.