================================================================ Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter A Weekly Summary of Events and Topics of Interest to Online Genealogists Vol. 1 No. 31 - August 12, 1996 ================================================================ Copyright (C) by 1996 Richard Eastman (roots@cis.compuserve.com). All rights reserved. Do not upload to other online services, bulletin boards or newsgroups. See the details at the end of this newsletter. If you do contact any of the companies or societies mentioned in this newsletter, please tell them that you read about their services in this newsletter. ================================================================ IN THIS ISSUE: - Federation of Genealogical Societies Annual Convention This Week - Update: Halbert's Genealogy "Books" - Broderbund's Family Archive Viewer - Virginia Genealogies: Family History #1, pre-1600 to 1900 on CD-ROM - More on Family Gathering for Macintosh - More on National Archives' Future Plans - www.rootscomputing.com - Internet Access For Less Than $1.00/Hour - Internet Explorer To Ship August 13 - Windows 95 Version 3 - Home Pages Highlighted ================================================================ - Federation of Genealogical Societies Annual Convention This Week The Federation of Genealogical Societies' annual convention is happening this week in Rochester, NY. Watch next week's newsletter for a report of events - but don't be surprised if next week's issue of the newsletter is delayed a bit. If you are at the convention, drop by the CompuServe booth and say "Hello." ================================================================ - Update: Halbert's Genealogy "Books" Halbert's of Bath, Ohio is a company that has been infamous in genealogy circles for years. They publish thousands of books with the titles of " Immigrants And Worldwide Descendants" and "The World Book of ." These books are computer-generated "boilerplate" booklets. The advertisements for these "books" allude to genealogy without actually using the word. Their advertisements state "I have exciting news for you and all .! Extensive work has been done throughout the world on a project relating to the distinguished name." Sadly, past Halberts "books" turned out to be several chapters of basic materials on how to do your own genealogy followed by several pages of names and addresses extracted from telephone books. These "books" sell for $38.38, including shipping charges. I wrote in the June 10, 1996 edition of this newsletter about such an ad that I received that week from Halberts. It was for the "World Book of Eastmans." I already had a copy of their "book" on Eastman printed in 1989 and I wrote about it on CompuServe at the time. I have followed Halberts' activities since then. I know that since 1989 Halbert's has had several legal battles with the U.S. Postal authorities. There had been some legal proceedings in 1988 and then again in 1995. In November of 1995, Halbert's, Inc. agreed to the provisions of a cease and desist order issued by the United States Postal Service (USPS) concerning these books. Quoting from a press release issued by the National Genealogical Society: At that time Halbert's was ordered to cease and desist from falsely representing ". . . that (1) a solicitation for a surname-related product was sent by a relative of the solicitee; (2) a relative of a solicitee was involved in preparing a surname-related publication; or that (3) a relative of a solicitee endorses a surname-related product." The Postal Service contended that the company's solicitations, which advertised books such as The World Book of [surname] and The [surname] Since the Civil War, violated the 1988 consent agreement, because they appeared to be letters from relatives of the addressees urging them to purchase a recently completed book on their family. Halbert's was ordered to begin displaying prominently the following disclaimer on any advertising for surname-related publications: "No direct genealogical connection to your family or ancestry is implied or intended." Halbert's was ordered to cease and desist from "...representing, directly or indirectly, that advertising has been approved by the United States Postal Service." The 1989 advertisement I received from Halbert's had been signed by Doris Eastman, i.a. I had to look up the term "i.a." in a legal dictionary, it means "in absentia." Halberts later conceded that they were using fictitious signatures in their advertisements. Obviously there was no Doris Eastman, the "i.a." was a coverup for a fictitious name. The 1996 ad I received was signed by Sharon Taylor. There was no "i.a." after her name so I guess they have complied with that provision in the cease and desist order. The 1996 ad did have the following disclaimer on the order form itself (right below a representation of an incorrect coat of arms): "No direct genealogical connection to your family or to your ancestry is implied or intended." Again, they apparently have complied with the cease and desist order although the disclaimer only appeared in small print on the order form which gets returned. There was no such disclaimer in all the hoopla in the main ad. I also did not see any reference to the U.S. Postal Service in the 1996 ad. I decided to order the 1996 edition of "The World Book of Eastmans" from Halberts and to compare it with the 1989 edition to see if they conformed to the court orders. I also decided to write about the 1996 "book" in this newsletter. The "World Book of Eastmans" arrived this past week, eight weeks after it was ordered. I had the 1989 edition on my desk when I opened the new package from Halberts. The new book is still bound with cheap paper covers; it looks like it was assembled in someone's basement. Several of the pages were not well aligned when the glue was added. The original advertisement had stated "Each Heirloom Edition Eastman Directory is virtually handmade to order....." Well, I agree that it is handmade. I'm fascinated by Halberts' choice of words in their advertising; the words are always technically correct although they often paint a picture that is different from reality. This cheap cover is not what I would describe as an "Heirloom Edition." Upon opening the book the first page says "This Certifies that THE WORLD BOOK OF EASTMANS has been printed exclusively for" and then has three blank lines, followed by "This ___ Day of _____ AD 19 ___." That strikes me as very humorous: If the book is printed "exclusively" for one person, then why does that person need to fill in the details in pen and ink? The 1989 edition was quite similar. Under the "fill in the blanks" section the following disclaimer appears: "PUBLISHED BY HALBERT'S FAMILY HERITAGE. Copyright MCMXCVI by Halbert's Family Heritage. No part may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. This publication is not connected to any particular Eastman family and represents a compilation of public information." It then continues with several more lines of standard legal disclaimers. This is a change from the 1989 edition which simply said "Copyright 1989 by Halbert's Family Heritage." Thumbing through the pages of the 1996 edition, I was impressed that Halberts has obviously upgraded their computer equipment. This new edition has a lot of color graphics in it. There are color drawings of the Mayflower, Charles II of England, William Penn, Patrick Henry, the Statue of Liberty and much more. Of course, none of these are related to the Eastman family. The printed material in the new book is still about the same as the 1989 edition. There are about 95 pages of generic information on how to conduct your own genealogy search. It gives basic information on migration patterns to the New World and has numerous blank family group sheets, pedigree charts and family history questionnaires that the reader is expected to fill in. All in all, I'd say that the information was useful to anyone who doesn't know how to do a genealogy search. But many other books in your local bookstore will give more information at less than half the price. Also, these 95 pages of "how to do your own" were not well described in the original advertisement. I then found Chapter Five, which is called "The Eastman Registry." The first four pages listed individuals named Eastman found in several genealogy reference books and passenger lists. The books mentioned included many of the better known reference books written by Banks, Coldham and other respected genealogists. Strangely, it did not mention the "Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England" by James Savage, which is the best known reference for New England families and which contains extensive information about the first few generations of the Eastman family. It also did not mention the two major books published on the family name. Halberts did reference Virkus' "Immigrant Ancestors: List of 2,500 Immigrants," a book well-known for its many inaccuracies. All this was followed by more than four pages of "Family Associations, Surname Registers And Reunion Committees." I didn't see any that were for the Eastman name. Finally, we get to the heart of the book: 53 pages of Eastmans along with their addresses, printed in what looks like 7 point type. I had to go buy a magnifying glass in order to read this list. In short, it looks like listings from one of the CD-ROM disks or one of the online telephone directories. It has names and addresses only; there are no phone numbers in this book. This chapter looks the same as the 1989 edition. I found my own listing in the book, which is apparently how they had my name for the advertisement. I have been at this address for 16 years. I looked for several of my relatives and found my brother, who has been in the same house for more than 25 years. My uncle Charles was also listed, but he has been dead for three years. In fact, the address shown in the Halberts book is for the house that my uncle sold 8 or 9 years ago when he moved into a retirement community. I checked the online Phone*File on CompuServe, and it doesn't list my uncle. Therefore I have to believe that the Halberts listing is from some obsolete database. I checked a few other listings and found similar results: these listings in Halberts' "World Book of Eastmans" seem to be terribly out of date. So I asked myself: "Is this book worth $38.38?" The obvious answer is "Not to me." This book has almost nothing about the Eastman family genealogy and simply contains thousands of what appear to be obsolete addresses. However, I can see that the book might have some use to some people. Anyone planning a reunion for people with the same surname might find this useful. Also, anyone looking for long-lost cousins might find the Halberts books to be beneficial. The book will appeal primarily to people who do not use computers. Anyone who owns and uses a computer can obtain better and more up- to-date information online at much less cost. Even CD-ROMs are better than the contents of this book. While not as up-to-date as the online listings, the CD-ROM telephone directories are still more current than the Halberts book. In short: Caveat Emptor (let the buyer beware). Halbert's apparently remains in business for two reasons: (1.) they carefully have skirted around the various legal findings against them, and (2.) their ads insinuate that the books are genealogy products. I have talked with several people who have purchased these books over the past few years. All of them thought that they were getting genealogy books. One of my relatives (I don't think I should mention which one) received the advertisement from Halbert's in 1989. He purchased the book thinking it would be a genealogy book. He planned to give it to me as a Christmas present. Of course, when he received the book he was very disappointed. He also was so embarrassed that he did not ask for his money back, a major error in my opinion. He simply kept the book and paid for it. He never even mentioned it to me until some years later. I wonder how many others keep these books and pay for them even though the product doesn't meet expectations? A few final comments: Halbert's Family Heritage lists their address as 3687 Ira Road, Bath, Ohio 44210. Bath is a small town in the suburbs of Akron. But residents of Bath who are members of the Genealogy Forum on CompuServe report that the address of 3687 Ira Road appears to be a mail drop. There is no company there named Halberts. The cease and desist order instituted by the U.S. Postal Department lists Halberts as a subsidiary of the Numa Corporation of Akron, Ohio. I checked the online Yellow Pages and found a listing for Numa Co. Ltd., 1653 Merriman Road, Akron, Ohio 44313-5210. Telephone 330-867-5210. Numa apparently has been expanding internationally in the past few years. Many members of the Genealogy Forum on CompuServe who live outside of North America report similar advertisements and books in England, Ireland and a number of countries on the European continent. ================================================================ - Broderbund's Family Archive Viewer As I mentioned in previous newsletters, Broderbund is releasing a number of CD-ROM disks for genealogists. These "Family Archives" disks are in a format that works with their Family Tree Maker genealogy program. However, not everyone has that program. For those who use a different genealogy program, Broderbund has now released "Family Archive Viewer," a program designed to read any of the Broderbund "Family Archives" CD-ROMs. Thanks to the folks at Automated Research, Inc., I was able to obtain Family Archive Viewer this week. The version that I received was on a CD-ROM disk. You install it about like any other Windows program. Once installed, you no longer need the CD-ROM as you will be using the CD-ROM drive to load the Family Archives disks. Installation was as simple as any program I have used: click on SETUP and then answer the questions that appear on your screen. Family Archive Viewer requires about eight and a half megabytes on your hard drive. The program has an electronic registration feature: you enter the registration information on your computer, which then dials out by modem and registers your copy of Family Archive Viewer with Broderbund. I was a bit surprised to find that Family Archive Viewer is, in fact, a demo copy of Family Tree Maker. You use this demo version to read the Family Archive CD-ROM disks in exactly the same manner as you do in Family Tree Maker. The demo program has all of the same features and functionality as the complete version of Family Tree Maker, except that its database is limited to 20 individuals maximum. In addition, each Scrapbook can only contain three items. These restrictions do not affect the viewing of the Family Archives CD-ROM disks, so you can use the demo program to view the data in exactly the same manner as you would with the regular Family Tree Maker program. The use of a demo makes sense to me. Broderbund gets a lot of free advertising for their regular program, and they don't have to support two different programs. Since the Family Archive Viewer is 99% the same as Family Tree Maker, they save a lot of programming effort and support expense. The only drawback that I can see is that eight and one-half megabytes of disk space is a lot when all you want is a little program to view CD-ROM data. The Family Archive Viewer is available from Broderbund and their dealers. I obtained mine from Automated Research, Inc. The price is $19.95. For more information, you can contact Automated Research, Inc. at: 74721.2212@compuserve.com ================================================================ - Virginia Genealogies: Family History #1, pre-1600 to 1900 on CD-ROM I used the new Family Archive Viewer to look at a CD-ROM disk that Automated Research, Inc. sent me: "Virginia Genealogies: Family History #1, pre-1600 to 1900." This is the electronic version of a set of books printed by Genealogical Publishing Co. The CD-ROM version is described as containing "all five volumes of 'Genealogies of Virginia Families' -- a collection of family history articles compiled from eighty-four years of 'The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography'........... These articles reference approximately 65,000 individuals from all parts of Virginia. Most of the articles trace the lines of descent through seven or eight generations, covering three or four centuries. 'Genealogies of Virginia Families' was provided by Genealogical Publishing Company of Baltimore, Maryland." The Virginia Genealogies CD-ROM contains actual images of the original printed books, not text. The index is a surname index that points to the page where that surname occurs. It is quite similar to the New England Historical and Genealogical Register (also produced by Broderbund) that I reviewed here a few weeks ago. It appears to be an excellent method of making genealogy reference books available to everyone at a lower price than the same thing on paper. The CD-ROM requires either Family Tree Maker for Windows or the Family Archive Viewer mentioned earlier. Both are Windows programs. There is no Macintosh version. The users' manual that came with this disk is a small booklet that slips inside the CD-ROM jewel case. It simply tells how to launch the program. It also has several pages that discuss copyrights and documenting your research, and it also has a list of commonly- asked questions. When the program is started, an Introduction is shown on the screen that provides the equivalent of a user's manual. It seemed very complete. I was pleased to find a long description about the proper method of documenting references to articles contained on this CD-ROM. Several paragraphs are devoted to the proper method of making bibliography references to these reprints on CD-ROM. The Introduction also has full instructions on how to search the CD-ROM quickly for information. The information on the CD-ROM is identical to the printed books. The 'Genealogies of Virginia Families' has long been a standard reference for anyone with Virginia ancestry. This is another example of high-quality genealogy information available on CD-ROM disks. The Family Archive Viewer program is easy to use. It looks like an open book on the screen. Tabs are shown along the right side of the screen and are labeled: Introduction, Contents, Index and Pages. It is possible to page through the books one page at a time, but most users will search by surnames. I first clicked on the Index tab and entered my own last name. Two entries were shown. I highlighted one of them and clicked on the icon in the lower left corner, and a picture of that page appeared on the screen a couple of seconds later. The index shows names only. There is no method of searching by towns or by any other words in the text. Since the data is in the form of images, there is no capability for an every-word index. By clicking on the icons, it is easy to zoom in and out on the picture. At the largest magnification a few letters filled the screen. I could then zoom out to view the entire page on the screen. I was able to print the pages on a laser printer, and they looked excellent, much better than the photocopies I have made in the past. Each printed page has the volume number displayed across the bottom of the page, and most of the images have page numbers on them. As a result, each printed page has a citation automatically printed. I did feel that the method of printing was a bit non-intuitive as it is slightly different from most Windows programs. When a desired page is displayed on the screen, you cannot simply select PRINT. Instead, you select EDIT on the pull-down menus and then click on SELECT IMAGE. A small printer icon appears in the upper left corner of the screen, indicating that this image has been selected for printing. You can select multiple images before starting to print. When ready, select FILE and then PRINT in the same manner as most Windows programs. All the pages previously selected will now be printed. One nice feature was the ability to copy the image of the page to the Windows clipboard. I was able to then insert the image into any other Windows program that accepts images. I used Microsoft Word as a test and found that it worked well. Not only could I cite the "Virginia Magazine of History and Biography," I could even insert an actual image of the original page into the document I was writing. All in all, this was a nice CD-ROM disk to use. A huge amount of information is contained in one-half ounce of plastic. I received mine from Automated Research, Inc. You can reach them at 74721.2212@compuserve.com. Their price is $39.95. The disk is also available from Broderbund's other dealers. ================================================================ - More on Family Gathering for Macintosh I mentioned in last week's newsletter that a press release I read about the new Family Gathering for Macintosh did not mention that the software was produced by CommSoft, Inc. Apparently the press release that arrived in my "electronic clipping service" had the last few paragraphs missing. I later read the same press release in CompuServe's Newsgrid service, it was the same wording as the first one except that the Newsgrid version had two more paragraphs. Just to set the record straight, here's the tail end of the press release that I hadn't seen last week: Family Gathering for Macintosh was developed by the co-creator of Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing and Chessmaster, two of the most successful software products of all time, along with COMMSOFT, Inc., the leading computer genealogy software company, in conjunction with the country's foremost genealogy experts. Family Gathering for the Macintosh has an expected street price of $49.95. Format, System Requirements Macintosh/Power Macintosh: System 7.0.1 or higher, 68040/25 MHz or PowerMac 601/60, 8 MB RAM, 40 MB free hard disk space, double-speed CD-ROM drive. Optional: Modem (9600 baud minimum; 14.4k baud or greater recommended). About Palladium Interactive - Headquartered in Larkspur, Calif., Palladium Interactive was founded in 1994 by former executives of Broderbund, Mindscape, Activision and other technology companies to explore new opportunities in the development and distribution of interactive multimedia. Palladium Interactive was the first company to publish all its original titles as "CD-ROMs with the Internet inside," combining the best aspects of CD-ROM with the growing influence of the World Wide Web. Palladium Interactive is backed by U.S. Venture Partners and Canaan Partners. For more information on Palladium Interactive and its products check out the company's website at http://www.palladiumnet.com." ================================================================ - More on National Archives' Future Plans A few weeks ago I wrote about the plans of the National Archivist of the United States. At that time he had published a proposal to enhance electronic access to records while simultaneously reducing physical access. His proposal has several controversial sections. The proposal is now a final plan. There is a new last page with priorities for the coming year. One of those priorities is: "We will continue our construction of a nationwide, integrated on-line information delivery system that educates citizens about NARA and its facilities, services, and holdings; makes available digital copies of high-interest documents; and contains an on-line ordering capability." The full plan is available at: http:// www.nara.gov ================================================================ - www.rootscomputing.com I would like to announce a new Web site: www.rootscomputing.com This is a new genealogy home page that I created. It will be used primarily for this newsletter and to promote the book I wrote last year. It will also show what genealogy services are available on CompuServe. Rootscomputing.com also has quite a few genealogy "how to" files that have not been on the World Wide Web before. The latest edition of this newsletter is available at: http://www.rootscomputing.com ================================================================ - Internet Access For Less Than $1.00/Hour Prodigy Services Company announced several weeks ago that they would form a new division to offer Internet access for one dollar per hour of online time. This week they released some of the details, including the new name for this division. Access Net Direct is about to begin a market trial in the New York metropolitan region. The Access Net Direct market trial features a pricing model that offers customers a "pay-as-you-go" pricing plan charged at $1 per hour, with no monthly minimum or subscription fee. In addition, every subscriber automatically receives for free the first hour of usage per month, as well as bonus blocks of five free hours for every 15 billable hours spent on Access Net Direct each month. If I can figure that out properly, I can use 21 hours in one month but only pay for 15 hours (1 free hour plus 15 paid hours plus 5 bonus hours for the 15 paid hours). 21 hours for $15 equals 71 cents per hour. Not bad. Access Net Direct also has opened a Web site at www.and.net to provide product information and allow for online sign-up for the new service. Access Net Direct comes bundled with Netscape Navigator 2.0. In addition, NCD Software Corporation is providing connectivity software for FTP and Telnet, as well as the stack & dialer for the Windows 3.1 version. Since the network runs standard TCP/IP, users can plug in different Internet software of their choice. Access Net Direct says that a Macintosh version will be available later. I can't understand why there should be any delay as the network reportedly is standard TCP/IP. I would think that Macintosh TCP/IP software would operate properly. There are already a number of Web browsers, Telnet and FTP programs available today for the Macintosh. Perhaps there is more to this than what was contained in the press release. If this market test is successful, the big online services such as CompuServe and AOL will obviously have to do something similar. They have the infrastructure to handle the increased load as all the new subscribers sign up for dollar-an-hour access. However, I believe that this will drive some of the smaller "mom and pop" Internet Service Providers out of business. Keep in mind that not only is it cheap, but it also will probably be available all over North America. If CompuServe matches it, then local access will be available in major cities worldwide. AOL covers North America and a number of European and UK cities. You would be able to access the Internet by dialing a local number while on business trips or vacation. Anyone with a laptop could keep in touch when traveling without making a long distance call. Local Internet Service Providers cannot match that. Prodigy's Access Net Direct is accepting orders now in the metropolitan New York area. It is only for Windows 95 and Windows 3.1 users. Look at www.and.net or call 1-800-221-9318. ================================================================ - Internet Explorer To Ship August 13 I have written in the past about Microsoft Internet Explorer, the challenger to Netscape. Microsoft has had version 3.0 in beta test for the past few weeks and now says that the official release will be available on August 13. As previously announced, this new version adds Java, ActiveX, extended HTML, multimedia, Internet telephone and numerous other goodies. However, Microsoft has one more ace up their sleeve that is a surprise: a new search feature is built into the browser. This new feature, called AutoSearch, will allow users to enter queries directly into the Address window at the top of the browser, instead of having to navigate to an Internet search engine, such as Lycos or AltaVista. With AutoSearch, a user will be able to trigger a query by typing into the browser's Address window either "find," "go," or "?," and then the keyword to search for. Internet Explorer will then return a list of Web sites locatedby the search's results. AutoSearch piggybacks on top of an existing Net search engine, Yahoo. Microsoft officials declined to describe the terms of its deal with Yahoo, but officials left open the possibility that other search engines could show up as part of AutoSearch. This new feature is a nice addition that will appeal to many people. Online Web searching will be easier and a little bit faster than it is now. I suspect that Netscape will announce the same capability within a few weeks. The downside is that it will make the various online search engines less popular as the functionality is already built into the browser. Since most of these search engines are supported by advertising, any reduction in popularity can translate into lost advertising and lower profits. In the first three months of 1996 the top three Web money-makers derived virtually all of their revenue from advertising: Infoseek ($3.1 million), Lycos ($2.6 million) and Yahoo! ($2.2 million). The top three advertisers were: IBM ($1.5 million), Microsoft ($1 million) and Netscape ($929,900). Again, those are three-month figures. The most popular Web site of all is Netscape's home page. The top five search engines on the Net pay $5 million annually each for positions on Netscape's popular Net Search site. If Microsoft's Web browser captures even half of the market, Netscape's advertising revenues will suffer. The new Internet Explorer is a free program and will be available online. For more information, look at: http://www.microsoft.com/ie/offers ================================================================ - Windows 95 Version 3 Microsoft expects to deliver the second major upgrade to its Windows 95 operating system to PC vendors this month so that they can begin loading it on new computers. The second OEM Service Release for Windows 95 will ship to hardware vendors by the third week of August, company officials said. It will come with version 3.0 of Internet Explorer and will implement a previously announced plan to feature installation software for America Online and CompuServe directly on the Windows 95 desktop. In addition to broadening the online access options for Windows 95 users, the upgrade will deliver more hardware device drivers, bug fixes, and FAT32 (file allocation table), an addition to the system software that manages disk space better on hard drives larger than 2GB. Most buyers of new computers probably won't see the operating system in new computers until late fall, when PCs fresh off the manufacturing line make their way through distribution, but users will be able to download most of the upgrade from Microsoft's Web site. The FAT32 file system, however, will be available only on new machines, a Microsoft spokesperson said. ================================================================ - Home Pages Highlighted Here are some new (to me) World Wide Web home pages: Roots Computing (see the announcement earlier in this newsletter): http://www.rootscomputing.com South & West Wales Genealogical Index and also the Carmarthenshire Family History Society: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pjames/ The Havlicek Cooperative: a gathering place for Havlicek surname with associated links: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/havlicek Kelly clan in Ireland: http://www.iol.ie/~okelly/okelly.htm Index to thousands of local and regional newspapers across the United States: http://www.n-net.com All of the above links and hundreds more Web pages are listed in the CompuServe Genealogy Forum's home page at: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/roots ================================================================ If you would like to submit news, information or press releases for possible inclusion in future newsletters, send them to the addresses listed below. Please include e-mail addresses so that newsletter readers know who to contact for more information. The author does reserve the right to accept or reject any articles submitted. ================================================================ DISCLAIMER: This newsletter is being written and sent via e-mail at no charge. I expect to write one new issue on a more or less weekly basis. However, life sometimes interferes and the need to earn a living may create an occasional delay. ================================================================ COPYRIGHTS: The information contained herein is copyright 1996 by Richard W. Eastman except for information attributed to other sources within the text. This newsletter is for the personal use of the individuals on the mailing list. Please do not forward this newsletter to other online services, bulletin board systems or newsgroups. However, since subscriptions are free, anyone may directly obtain their own copy. The subscription information in the next paragraph may be freely copied and distributed in order to encourage others to obtain their own subscriptions. Please copy the subscription information paragraph verbatim. ================================================================ Subscription information: To receive a free subscription to Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter via e-mail, send a message to one of the following addresses: CompuServe: 76701,263 Internet: 76701.263@compuserve.com roots@cis.compuserve.com The message text should be only one word: SUBSCRIBE The rest of the message will be ignored. To unsubscribe, follow the above instructions above but use a message text of: UNSUBSCRIBE In addition, the latest copy of this newsletter and an archive of all previous editions will be kept in the "Eastman's Newsletters" Library on the Genealogy Forum on CompuServe (GO ROOTS). ================================================================ About the author: Dick Eastman is the forum manager of the Genealogy Forum on CompuServe as well as the Genealogy Forum on WOW! and is the author of "YOUR ROOTS: Total Genealogy Planning On Your Computer" published by Ziff-Davis Press. He may be reached at the above addresses or at: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/roots If you know anyone who would benefit from a free introductory subscription to CompuServe, please have them call 1-800-848-8199 and ask for representative #149. From outside the United States, call 001-614-529-1340. CompuServe will send out a welcome kit to help them get started including an initial usage credit against connect time charges.