ISSN #1055-1891
Volume 15, Issue #2 June 2002
Dear Cousins:
Your editor is a member of the National Genealogical
Society, and with my subscription I receive quarterly magazines full of the
most interesting information for researchers. They include query letters, data
on how you can research your "roots" regardless of color or race or
culture. They have a fantastic library of family histories donated by persons
who have finished their work and want to share it with others of the same
surnames. There are articles which show you how to streamline your efforts so
as not to waste too much time... there is information on how to approach your
research into other countries... restrictions on when it is legal to take
information from a published family history and when you cannot. You need to
know that if the material you have copied is in the public record. If so, no
one person can clam that information is solely theirs. And how would any of us
be able to put together a family history without depending on others? One good
example of taking from a published work is how many of our members who descend
from the JAMES RAWLINS who came to New Hampshire in the mid-1600's found most
of their information in John R. ROLLINS book published in 1874.
So carry on sharing. It's what genealogists do best. And
have a happy summer.