As a young man I can remember my mother pouring over census
records printouts which she got from a long distance pen pal with whom she corroborated
her genealogical studies. Sometimes I would be dragged down to the library to
accompany her in her search through public records on microfilm. I can remember
when I first learned about email and how it worked; this is because it was when
my mother first started using email to connect with many more of those long
distance corroborators. Then came the clunky software “Ancestral File” which
was a database full of previously indexed records which came from microfilm and
the likes from all over the world. I remember participating in an Eagle Scout
service project in which we spent hours taking down names and dates on
tombstones and then entering these vital bits of information into an online
database. I have watched my mother in every phase of her genealogical revolution
and the work to be done becomes easier and easier as technology advances. FamilySearch.org
provides a wonderful service which is a culmination of these genealogical and
technological advancements. It is hard to think of a way that one could say
these advancements have a negative side. Perhaps only because of the lost
opportunities to create memories spending hours in the dark corners of the
library or in a cemetery looking for your ancestral links.
