Hello Everyone,
Here is what I have created for my own research and responses. It is what I 
use as a tool, every day of research.
I use Family Tree Maker for my genealogy data. From there I create a report 
using "all names." For the report I choose these categories: Name, Date of 
Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death, Place of Death, Spouse, and Date of 
Marriage. I put the categories in that order so in the event there are just 
dates, or limited information, I have a better way of knowing what's what. 
Then I copy the report, paste it to a word processor program page. I then do 
a little editing to clean it up. I change the font to Arial which I 
personally find cleaner and easier to read.  A program like Excel is great 
because it places the categories into columns, but I no longer have that 
program.
Then I save it to disk/hard drive and also print out a copy. The printed copy 
I fan slightly and staple. When I read names in postings and e-mail that seem 
familiar I fan (makes it so easy) through my printed copy and see if the 
names are in my data. I keep it on my desk at all times. The next one I do 
will be stapled in two sections because of the increase in the number of 
pages I am experiences.
That tool has helped me countless times and has helped others as well.  It is 
easy for me to check their names in hopes of helping them with their quests. 
I am all for helping others as well as myself.
If there is similar info in my data I open the word document, copy that 
section of names and paste it into an e-mail reply. Before sending I edit for 
the (living) and modify that portion. It has a lot of info within those 
categories. My responses are more informative and still brief. If the 
person(s) then wants more info they simply e-mail me back. Sometimes when I 
am processing lots of mail I just keep that word document open and use it 
several times. It is much simpler than opening FTM  and scrolling the index 
for such responses, and is better than guessing from memory, especially mine!
I also take the printed copy with me when I go out to do research. When I am 
looking through census pages I refer to it regularly.
I have shown my printed copy to people and they were amazed at how simple it 
was and how handy it is.
I hope this helps others...... it has made a BIG DIFFERENCE in how I view 
e-mail queries, and postings by others. Please share this with others that 
may not see this. It can help them also.
I hope this is clearly stated. If not "ask away."

Happy Holidays, 
Karen in CA
~" as bird in winter seeking crumbs  so it can seek more crumbs"! ~
I am a Pottawatomie Co., OK Genie Angel 
http://www.geocities.com/heartland/flats/6878/
My gedcom: http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=Kilee
Maternal;  B.U.R.T.O.N - C.O.L.E.Y - D.U.N.L.A.P -  E.L.L.I.O.T.T -   E.M.M.S 
-  F.L.A.C.K - H.E.S.T.E.R -  H.I.C.K.E.Y -  H.U.G.H.E.S -   Sarah L.O.V.E - 
(Vernon & Vernona) M.O.R.R.E.L.L or M.E.R.R.I.L.L. - P.A.C.E - P.E.A.R.S.O.N 
- P.O.R.T.E.R - S.M.I.T.H - T.A.Y.L.O.R -  V.I.N.E.Y.A.R.D - W.A.R.D
Paternal;  A.R.M.S.T.R.O.N.G - C.L.A.R.K - C.R.E.S.S.Y - F.L.A.C.K - 
H.O.L.M.E.S - H.O.U.L.T - M.O.RS.E - N.E.L.S.O.N -  S.P.R.O.U.S.E..N -  
W.O.O.D.B.U.R.Y

==== SCROOTS Mailing List ====