More on Organizing Contacts in Outlook
I have another way of organizing contacts in Outlook. When you enter a new contact in Outlook and update older ones, there is the possibility of assigning that contact to a “category.” Look in the lower right corner of the Contact window. Press the button and a pre-established list of categories will open. New categories can be established and that way all persons tied to Granger, Fairbairn, or whatever can be put in a category together. This capability also allows each contact to be entered into more than one category, so if someone was in the Granger line and the Fairbairn line, they could be in each category. If someone is using Outlook 2003, you can then look at all of our contacts “by category” and so a single e-mail could be prepared to all of the Granger contacts.

This method allows all names of contacts to be simply their name, not a personal descriptor that will go out on their e-mail address.
 
Larry S. Couch

The Untold Story of the Mayflower
I recently purchased the DVD, “Desperate Crossing: The Untold Story of the Mayflower,” shown and released by The History Channel. It is fascinating and, I think, going to be a real brick wall breaker for my father’s family. Even if you don’t have English or Dutch ancestors, it is a must have for your library. Thank you and all of the Ancestry.com staff for the wonderful resources of the website.

Judith Lippincott
Sacramento, CA

Describing the Past for the Future
I live in a rural county and do a lot of research for people who cannot come to our area. They frequently want to know what the area is like. We describe the (lack of) roads, the flat land, etc.
 
I recently decided to develop the same thing for my children and grandchildren. Our roots are heavy in Pennsylvania. When one drives through there it is lovely to see the tiny communities tucked in between the mountains. I am going to start taking photos of the areas our roots grew in from scenic outlooks to show this. Since we were there pre-Revolutionary War, I have started reading articles describing the hardships at that time.
 
My grandmother was born in Nebraska in 1903. Most of the housing there was sod houses. She and her two oldest brothers were born there. I have done some Web searching and located photos of several types of sod houses and printed them off.
 
Families are so much more than names and dates. This is making ours come alive.
 
Sincerely,
Gloria Hall

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