GREAT GRATITUDE in 2007

Daily Herald - GREAT GRATITUDE WINNERS

On Jan. 10, Footnote.com was launched. Its goal is to digitize original documents and upload unique content showing relationships. As valuable to historians as to genealogists, most of its content comes from the United States National Archives. Revolutionary and Civil War pensions are included.

FBI records for 1908-1922 are on the site. If you have Italian, Mexican, German or Jewish ancestry, you may find your people in FBI records. Other documents on this site include the Southern Claims Commission, Utah Territorial Case Files, some naturalization papers, military records, newspapers and some emigration/naturalization records which are later than those in the "Immigrant Servants" Web site described above.

Site developers invite users to add their documents to Footnote.com rather than keep them hidden away in shoeboxes. These same developers think they have created the greatest site since FamilySearch.org, and as you can see by my giving them the Great Gratitude Award, I may agree with them.

Another new Web site, WorldVitalRecords.com, which was launched in October 2006, just three months before Footnote.com, also receives a Great Gratitude Award. This site carries small-town newspapers, the Everton Collection, international parish registers and much more for a great monthly or yearly price. WorldVitalRecords partners with the Godfrey Memorial Library and other organizations. It also provides members with FamilyLink and We'reRelated on Facebook, services that connect families and friends.

Ancestry.com and New England Historic Genealogical Society at www.newenglandancestors.org have joined forces to provide a combined membership fee of only $155.40, an amazing price. Go to www.newenglandancestors.org/nehgs_ancestry_release_102207.pdf to discover more. This price gets a Great Gratitude Award.