Make the Most of Boards and Lists
One of the easiest ways to connect with other researchers who may have information on your family is through genealogy-specific message boards and mailing lists. They serve as a prominent means of communication among family historians on the Internet and allow for a tremendous amount of research sharing. Best of all, they're free and convenient. Most even allow you to search through archived postings, and some offer e-mail notification when a new query is posted that matches your surname or region of interest.
Join a Genealogy Mailing List
You can learn a lot by joining a mailing list focused on the surname, topic, or region on which your research is focused. Subscribing is as simple as sending an e-mail to the list administrator. Once you've joined, you'll receive copies of all e-mails sent to the list by other subscribing members, and can send your own messages that will be received by everyone on the list.
A free Gmail e-mail account (
Most genealogy mailing lists offer two subscription modes:
List mode — You'll receive each message posted to the mailing list individually as it is sent (or after it is approved by the list moderator).
Digest mode — You'll receive periodic e-mails (usually daily) with several mailing list messages appended together. This can be a great method for reducing clutter in your inbox, but this mode can make it harder to follow a specific conversation.
After you subscribe, you'll usually receive a welcome e-mail within a few hours. Be sure to save this e-mail, as it will generally include important information on list rules and how to unsubscribe.
No matter what your genealogy research interest, there is probably a mailing list that applies — from individual surnames (such as CRISP) to research in specific counties or areas (such as the very active Bristol_ and_Somerset-L mailing list at RootsWeb) or topics that you might want to stay on top of (such as genealogy DNA). The vast majority of genealogy-related mailing lists (more than 30,000) are hosted through RootsWeb (
Genealogy mailing lists are similar to a community or neighborhood in that they reflect the personalities of their subscribers. Some lists are friendly with a number of off-topic “chatty” posts, while others are more strictly moderated with no off-topic discussion allowed. When you first join a mailing list it is a good idea to “lurk” for a few days to get a feel for the list and its members before posting your first message.
Delve Into Genealogy Message Boards
Genealogy message boards and forums are different from mailing lists because messages are posted online, rather than sent to your e-mail address. Some message boards are open for anyone to browse and post to, while others require you to join for full access. As with mailing lists, they are free. The downside is that you have to remember to visit the message board periodically to find new messages, but most boards will at least send you an e-mail notification when someone responds to one of your postings and some will let you know whenever a new message is posted that matches your surname or area of interest. The upside is that message board postings will not clutter up your inbox like mailing lists do, so if you're short on time, message boards may be a good option for you. Because message board posts are archived online, most show up in Internet search engines. This increases the chances that your query for information on your great-grandfather Charlie just might be found by someone with some answers.
Newsgroups, such as Yahoo! Groups (
Genealogy message boards and forums can be found in many locations online. The largest, most frequented boards are those at GenForum (
Search the Archives
Message boards also allow you to search or browse through past posts, providing an excellent tool for connecting with other researchers. The RootsWeb mailing lists are archived online as well (
If you find a message you're interested in, even if it is an old one, take the time to reply with a brief message about the individual(s) you are researching and how you think they connect. This not only leaves a trail for the individual who originally posted the message, but may also catch the attention of others researching the same family. For tips on posting your own genealogy queries on message boards and mailing lists, see the “Ask the Right Way” section later in this chapter.
