OneGreatFamily Guest Newsletter
May 26, 2005

Last Chance for Monthly and Quarterly Subscriptions


In This Issue:

Last Chance for Monthly and Quarterly Subscriptions

One last reminder about the subscription changes at OneGreatFamily

We wanted to send out one last reminder to our guests regarding the subscription changes at OneGreatFamily. In case you did not receive the information last week, starting May 29, 2005 OneGreatFamily will no longer offer monthly and quarterly subscriptions on a regular basis. New subscribers to OneGreatFamily will only be able to sign up for a full year.

Current OneGreatFamily subscribers will be able to continue their monthly or quarterly memberships until they cancel. Once they cancel, should they wish to re-subscribe, they will also only have the option of signing up for an annual subscription.

We’re giving you early notice of this change so that if you have been thinking about signing up for a monthly or quarterly subscription you can do so now.

Reasons for the change include:

  • We have found that it takes time for new customers to gain the full value of what OneGreatFamily has to offer to their genealogy. Many customers get a big hit right upfront, but don’t take time to experience real collaboration or to see the power of leveraging other genealogists’ efforts over time. A month or even three months is just too short a period.
  • Annual subscriptions represent the best value for your money. An annual subscription only costs $6.25 a month, compared to $14.99 for a monthly or $10.00 for a quarterly.
  • Many customers have been put off by automatic monthly renewals. Under an annual subscription, you will receive a reminder two weeks prior to automatic renewal – giving you a reminder to cancel should you wish to do so.

Our top priority is the OneGreatFamily members. We believe that by making this change it will benefit our members in their genealogy and having more success in finding others who are searching for their ancestors.

Back to top

Lisa Lights the Way

Civil Vital Records


by Lisa South, Certified Genealogist

Civil vital records are records all genealogists like to find. These records will usually answer the who, when and where questions you have about your ancestors.

The question you should ask is; would a civil vital record exist and if so where would it be located?

Occasionally you will find vital records in your documents at home and once in a while an original will show up in an unusual place such as a probate packet, but when civil vital records were officially recorded, they were done so at the state, county or town level.

Begin your research at the state level. Each state adopted statewide birth and death registration at different times. The last states to do so were Georgia and New Mexico in 1919, so vital records will not always be available for your earlier ancestors. There are good sites on the internet and good reference books (for example, Handybook for Genealogists, Published by the Everton Publishers, Inc.) that can tell you when each state began birth and death registration, how and where to order the records and what the cost will be. Marriage records began at the state level much later than birth and death.

If the birth, death or marriage took place before state registration began, your next search should be at the county court house. Birth and death records at this level are scarce. Marriage records, however, are available for early periods in most areas. There are many different types of marriage records (this will be covered in a future issue of OGF.) Again the Handy Book for Genealogist or some other good reference book could tell you what records each county kept and how to access them. The U.S. Genweb is another good source for finding out about individual county courthouse records. If you are searching for a divorce record, it will usually be in the county where the divorce was granted. Some states do have a central filing for divorce records.

Some towns did keep vital records. These are mostly in New England. Most of these records can be searched at a local branch of the LDS Family History Library through their inter-library loan system.

As with many genealogical records, much of this can be found is on-line, but to get a copy of the actual document, you will probably need to check at one of these three levels of record repositories.

Back to top

Success at OneGreatFamily

Finding a Lost Living Relative


Genealogy is a great effort to connect us with our ancestors; however, as the following story illustrates, genealogy research can also connect us with living relatives as well.

Hello,

I have been searching for information on my family and my husband's family for about five years, and I have found a lot of information. The discovery I am most proud of is finding my husband's great uncle. For you to get the gist of the story, I have to start at the beginning.

My husband's great-great grandmother, Hattie Z. Walls, died at a young age. She was 31 years old. When she died, she left behind five children whose ages ranged from three to 13 years old. At the time of her death, her husband, Frank E. Loubey, was so distraught over the situation that he gave their children to family members and friends to raise. Frank then remarried and had another child.

This child is the great uncle I found. Nobody in my husband's family knew he existed. All of Frank and Hattie's children managed to keep tabs on each other; however, when Frank remarried, he didn't keep in touch with the children from his first marriage. My husband's grandmother died when my husband was nine years old. His mother died in 1999. My husband thought he was the only remaining family member.

The knowledge that he has more family has given him a wonderful feeling. He has been excited about meeting his Uncle George for the first time. They feel like they have missed out on a lot.

I really enjoy looking and searching into family genealogy. I love the mystery behind it all.

Thanks,
Sherry Long

One Great Genealogy Site Award

YourFamily.com


YourFamily.com provides access to websites for various family names and organizations. The site also provides an excellent tutorial on how to create a family history website and tips on finding long-lost family.

Back to top

Get FREE Time on OneGreatFamily.com

Want some FREE time?

Current subscribers can earn additional free time by referring others to OneGreatFamily.com. OneGreatFamily needs your help in growing the largest single family tree in the world. You can get free subscription time on OneGreatFamily by referring others to this unique service. When anyone you refer to OneGreatFamily subscribes to our service and enters your username, you get an additional free month.

Back to top

This newsletter is provided as a FREE service to the members of OneGreatFamily.com.
You can view past editions of this newsletter by visiting our Newsletter Archive.
If you would like to receive a plain text version of this letter or unsubscribe to our newsletter service, you may do so by accessing our newsletter preferences page at http://www.OneGreatFamily.com/login.pl?cmd=emailpref.

Last Week at OneGreatFamily


303,562 people were added into the OneGreatFamily tree.

184,344 new connections between family trees were found by our automated search system.


Having Success?

OneGreatFamily wants to hear from you. Please send us your success stories and your recommendations for new features.

Submit your story
Send us your wish list
  
Copyright © 1999-2005 OneGreatFamily.com.    Link to Us | Site Index | Affiliate Program | About Us | Privacy Policy