Yesterday, at the April meeting of the OMII in Berne, Indiana, we talked about beginning a listserv for the organization.

This will originate out of the University of Cincinnati, will be able to carry attachments, and will be virus filtered and spam free.

Any dues-paying member of OMII whose e-mail we have will be included on the list serv.

This discussion board will continue.

The listserv, however, will be distrirbuted to all members automatically through their e-mail, and will enable us to discuss common problems we all face as genealogists - souces, sites, techniques, Further, it will enable us to learn the individual strengths of our members, who while researching other families, might happen across yours, given the common origin of the families from Berne, Switzerland, and those who fled to the Alsace, Montbeliard, Southern Germany, the Palatinate, etc.

Clearly, there are more Swiss with Anabaptist roots, than simply in the four states we have initially concentrated upon - Ohio Michigan Indiana and Illinois. We have many families in Virginia who came down from the National Road, and throughout Pennsylvania with migration patterns coming in waves in the 1600s, the middle 1700s, 1800s, and beyond.

There are many who came through the Erie Canal from the Hudson River, across NY State to Lake Erie and down to Cleveland, and there were those to followed the progression of the railroad.

The organization's primary goal has been to accumulate and post for general study the ancestors and descendents of the original Bernese Anabaptists and their permutations and combinations - on the OMII site.

The listserv will be activated within the next two weeks. If added information is needed, please contact me privately at jcsneuro@fuse.net.

Thank you