Ask your librarian if a library near you has a subscription to Ancestry.com

I am not a subscriber, but I do have access to Ancestry.com at two locations:

1) Jefferson County, Alabama Library System, Birmingham, AL

2) The Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints (Family History Library), Birmingham, AL

For many years, I have used the resources of the Jefferson County, Alabama, Library System and I have a link to it's online catalog. I knew the library was one of the best in the Southeast, however, some time ago The Birmingham News announced that the Birmingham Library was rated second best in the nation for genealogy research. The library is just a 15-minute drive from my home. Not only that, but the librarians are very helpful.

I also use the Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints library in Birmingham. Lots of wonderful family files on CDs where I found my husband's ancestors, and last week, when my friend and I visited the library, a wonderful couple we met that day were most helpful.The wife helped my friend with Ancestry.com online research and I talked with the husband who was preparing material for a seminar on the 'elusive' female in genealogy. He gave me a wonderful tip, something I'd never heard before, although I am searching for Pheobe Ellis who may have been Indian. Indians did not want to be identified as Indian because that meant deportation to the reservation. If they were light-skinned Indians they classified themselves as Mulatto; if dark-skined Indians, they classified themselves as Negro.

Before a paid subscription was required, I used the Social Security Death Index at Ancestry.com in my research.

While it was kept current, I used the SSDI at Genealogy.com for research, but now I find that it is not up-to-date - that's a shame, because I believe they have the best search program.

Because it has been updated thru January 2004, I now use the SSDI at RootsWeb.com

When SSDI is no longer available online, I will look for a current Family Tree Maker Social Security Death Index CD. I do have the Family Tree Maker 1937-1995 Social Security Death Index Volumes 1 & 2, CD#101 that is very convenient.

When Medicare was implemented in the early 1960s during the Johnson Administration, our ancestors who were still alive were assigned a SS# so they could collect Medicare benefits, even if they had never paid into the system. My dad (1899-1997) paid into the system and my mom (1909-2000) did not, however, both are listed on the SSDI.

Cemeteries, with their birth and death dates, are great research tools. My husband's ancestors followed the migration pattern of many of our ancestors who came to Alabama - VA, SC, GA, and his family that came Crenshaw County in 1866. I found the Crenshaw County, Alabama cemetery records online at RootsWeb.com - that was some time ago.

Researching my own family from St. Landry and Evangeline Parishes in Louisiana, I found (in the Birmingham Library)cemetery records for those parishes that were pub. in the Louisiana Genealogical Register.

Ask your librarian for help.

Rosie Morein Wells
Birmingham, AL