Family Tree Connection

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Elizabeth had been looking at an old photograph of the woman she knew only as "Great-Grandmother". I remember being embarrassed to tell her just how little I knew of her. I had a name -- Ophelia Johnston -- and a birthplace -- Piedmont, Alabama. No birth date, no maiden name ... just the date of her wedding, scrawled on the back of the photograph: June 4, 1898.

Discouragement Brings Our Research to a Halt

She and I set out to learn all we could of Ophelia's life, including whether she played the violin. We started out with the usual sources of information, county clerk's offices and public records. After six months we had little more than we had before. We were discouraged, overwhelmed with wading through useless information, and we were no closer to knowing if Ophelia ever played the violin!

Then Her Life Came Into Focus

Truly, we were about to abandon our search, when I discovered Family Tree Connection, perhaps the best kept secret in family history research! This remarkable online database provides off-beat sources of information: school yearbooks, commencement announcements, city directories, society membership lists, and employment records. Smaller resources that other services overlook -- like the school records of Ophelia Johnston, of Piedmont, Alabama!

Within an afternoon, we learned she had graduated just one year before her marriage and that she hadn't taken her husband's last name -- a remarkably modern act for a woman of the day. But, most importantly, we discovered that she did play the violin! My daughter beamed with pride when we learned this fact from the 1897 school yearbook. She was carrying on in the footsteps of Great Grandmother Ophelia!

We later found out that Ophelia performed violin professionally -- which made Elizabeth consider a career in music! Whether she follows in Ophelia's footsteps or not, one of the best things to come of our investigations is Elizabeth's new passion for family history. She is now interviewing our living relatives, and writing their oral histories -- for her children!

Are You Tired of Hitting Dead-Ends in Your Research?

Our frustration in searching mainstream sources -- those huge databases with millions of entries -- almost brought this project to an end. Have you felt that same way? Have you considered forgetting about doing research on your family because of "brick walls" and "dead-ends"?

Don't give up! Just realize that you've been searching in the wrong places, and then ... take a deep breath, and start again! This time, turn to the experts in smaller resource collections.

Family Tree Connection: The Best Kept Secret of Family Historians

This marvelous resource is completely unique -- you cannot get this information anywhere else! Their experts have compiled a database unlike anything else on the Internet to date -- rare, out-of-print materials that can bring you closer to your ancestors than you've ever been before!

Consider my best friend's story. She and her husband were looking for critical information regarding his grandfather, a gentleman from Missouri. He knew only that his father's family had spent some six years in Independence, Missouri before heading west in the late 1800s. They had only a name -- no accurate dates. The database at Family Tree Connection located a man with his name, who had belonged to a Pioneer Association in 1872. This record was the beginning of an intimate relationship -- an emotional connection -- with an ancestor who had little or no substance prior to coming to the one-of-a-kind Family Tree Connection!

Can You Invest 8 Cents a Day?

Just imagine the satisfaction of discovery. Finding obscure bits of information that bring your ancestor to life -- what would you be willing to pay for such rewards in your research?

How about 8 cents a day? A 12-month subscription to this database costs just that ... 8 cents a day!

That's a remarkable value for this unique archive. Currently a collection of over 1,493 different resources, Family Tree Connection is updated weekly, providing you with an ever-changing research tool. As it grows, your investment grows in value. Just 8 cents a day provides you with unlimited research into an ever-growing archive of smaller resources.

And, for those who subscribe, they offer special discounts on products and services that make your research more enjoyable and less expensive. Read on for all the details.

Why You Need
Family Tree Connection

The genealogy experts at Genealogy Today are the perfect people to bring you this unique database of source materials, never-before-available to the online researcher. Their mission, since 1999, has been to track new and exciting resources for family historians and genealogists -- and now they've developed this remarkable research tool, just for you.

As you know, there is big difference between tracing your roots and compiling a family history. There are many commercial services and even free sites that provide extensive databases of vital and public records, there are few resources that capture the day-to-day activities of your relatives.

Over the past several years, the folks at Genealogy Today have collected hundreds of rare documents, pamphlets and unique out-of-print books that contain genealogical tidbits about people from around the world. Now they are making this extensive library available through an online database service called Family Tree Connection, available exclusively from Genealogy Today.

Family Tree Connection is all about capturing details about the lives of your ancestors -- from their early years in school, through college and then in their adult lives. The Family Tree Connection database is a collection of the valuable information contained in these unique sources. Just consider some of these sources -- they will pique your curiosity for sure!

• Johns Hopkins University
• Fowler High School, Fowler Colorado
• International Order of Odd Fellows
• Order of the Eastern Star
• King's Notable New Yorkers
• School for Social Workers
• Farmer's Mutual Fire Insurance
• New Hampshire General Court 1887
• Nebraska State Historical Society 1885

The experts at Family Tree Connection, in a cross-match study of surnames between FTC and a large online database provider, found that 20% to 30% of the surnames available in the Family Tree Connection database were considered obscure, having fewer than 50,000 entries in their census collection.

There is so much obscure information available to you with Family Tree Connection -- your ancestors will literally breathe with life! Consider the following examples of successful research possibilities with Family Tree Connection sources:

• You may already know what year a certain ancestor graduated from their local high school; however, with Family Tree Connection, you may learn what clubs they participated in, what their interests and ambitions were, and even who some of their best friends were.

• From an obituary you may have learned that one of your ancestors was a member of a local club; however, with Family Tree Connection, you may find out that they were once elected to serve as its president or treasurer.

• From immigration records you may already know when your ancestors arrived in America; however, with Family Tree Connection, you may discover that they traveled back to their homeland years later to reunite with family and friends.

When my daughter and I learned of Great Grandmother Ophelia's violin performances in high school, and throughout her adulthood, we finally felt that connection with our past we are all looking for. She was no longer just a name, with a date of birth and death ... but a living breathing woman, with interests not unlike our own!

Family Tree Connection Archivists Are the Best!

Believe me, with Family Tree Connection you're working with a team that has a solid commitment to provide the best, most unique and the most reliable genealogical archive around.

They are specialists in genealogical document acquisition and preservation. The staff at Genealogy Today has been doing this a very long time, and they take great pride in their role as keepers of family history. Their rigorous cataloging and data entry system ensure accurate transmission of information to you, the researcher and caretaker of your family history. If you'd like more information on their archival and data entry processes, click here.

They're simply the best small source archive around. In fact, it's the only small source archive on the Internet to date. Please, you owe it to yourself and your research to make FTC a part of your genealogical research "tool kit" today.

Their Special Gifts for You

Here's the deal. Subscribe to 12 months of Family Tree Connection for just $29.95. That's one full year of continuously updated archival information, available nowhere else! For information on the special savings of 20% to 30% for 24 and 36 month subscriptions, click here.

That's not all! The subscription brings rewards above and beyond research rights. They have authorized a 5% discount in their online marketplace. This discount alone can easily pay for your subscription!

Just look at how much we saved when shopping at The Marketplace. You should see everything they have there - a wealth of merchandise for the genealogist and family historian! Elizabeth and I found 4 great products - a Tutorial CD-Rom to guide us in our wider search for family roots, two books, and a package of reunion invitations - for that special day we plan this summer. I fell in love with a cross-stitch sampler pattern kit, and she bought a beautiful silver "family tree" necklace to give to her Grandmother - which brought our purchases up over $130.00. Our subscription reduced that total by $6.50! My "early bird" Holiday shopping list alone will save me another $11.20!

The Family Tree Connection Guarantee

Family Tree Connection guarantees that the database will continually be updated. It promises to offer those smaller resource materials neglected by many other research archives - materials that can enrich your family history. The experts at Genealogy Today will provide a wide variety of source materials -- rare, unusual and widely unavailable information -- and they will continually seek new sources to add.

Don't Wait!
Add Family Tree Connection To Your Resources Today!

Remember, this resource is completely unique -- you cannot get this information anywhere else! The experts at Family Tree Connection have compiled a database unlike anything else on the internet to date -- rare, out-of-print materials that can bring you closer to your ancestors than you've ever been before! With their guarantee of continual weekly updates, you can be assured of a research tool that will meet your needs month after month.

P.S. Once you have subscribed to Family Tree Connection, don't forget to check out the great resources, interesting articles, and other valuable information at GenealogyToday.com, the creators of Family Tree Connection. Believe me, these folks are the experts you need! Don't wait another day to begin your family history adventure!

P.P.S. Remember, just knowing the significant dates in the life of an ancestor doesn't bring the closeness you are looking for -- Family Tree Connection can help you step into the lives of your ancestors!

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*This article and the accompanying photographs are for illustration purposes only and were inspired by information contained in the Family Tree Connection database. Statistics mentioned on this page are as of June 30, 2005.