All I've been working on this month has been the GenWebs that I coordinate. I have 2 in Alabama and 2 in Kentucky. I've tried to retire from this work before. It just didn't work. DeKalb and Etowah counties in Alabama are where my family came from, really many are still there. So while looking for something I emailed the State Coordinator about something that was wrong with one of the sites. He asked if I wanted them and I said no. So, that is how I got to coordinate those. The Kentucky sites are new for me. Clay and Perry Counties in Kentucky are where my son-in-laws family is. Really, I meant to only be there for one. <sigh>
I've been cleaning up Clay County. It has documents on it that were submitted in 1996, which is when the GenWeb was born. Over a quarter of a century ago. In '96 I did not even own a computer. There are documents that have gone missing over the years. I spent some quality time on the WayBack Machine trying to get a copy of them. I was successful in about half the searches that I did. It breaks my heart to even have one lost. My only hope is having the submitter find that it is gone and re-submitting it. Most were submitted in the late 90's and early 2000's. Anyway, Clay has a lot of data, which surprised me. It was just hard to find it. To me, the cleaner and simpler the page, the easier to find the data you need. I am almost done reorganizing the site.
I thought Perry County was in good shape. But I've started clicking around it and there are so many dead links. So I know what I will be doing for a while.
The GenWebs are the one place that you can submit documents and information about your family, or just data you have collected over the years. It's a great place to get your family out there for others to find. You need to bookmark the counties you are interested in and check them often. It is free. In the beginning of my online experience with my genealogy, I could not afford the big sites. I was able to find so much on my families, and made so many contacts on these sites. Just a basic knowledge of html and a lot of love for the work.
If you have the ability, please look into becoming a coordinator. Let's not let this wonderful idea die.
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