Bob,
I know just how you feel. I got online in last Feb. and started this "family
thing". I had always heard that LDS was the best source but have not found it
to be true as far as online with my family lines. I had also heard of
rootsweb. and found that it mostly takes you to
Ancestry.com. I was getting
discouraged as I was not finding anyone I was looking for either. I did
decided to pay for
Ancestry.com (though I think it is overpriced) and still
did not find what I was looking for. I noticed that on the family entries
there were related persons so I decided to take a different approach and try
to get to the people I wanted through relatives who were listed. I also
started spending time going through message boards. I found this to be the
best source. I have met some very nice, helpful people and have gotten more
info from them than in any official sources. I still have not found my
husband's mother who had not raised him and died when he was about 14 years
old. What little old info he has says that she was buried between Alexandria
and Anderson in Madison County, IN. I have however found lots of other
distant relatives and decided to just roaming through what I did find and
enjoy and learn from that. A class in genealogy that I took last summer
suggested checking Cyndi's List for sources you might not think of. The
county sites I have located through USGEN have yielded good solid info but
most are limited. One thing I think I should do is post what info I have even
if it is limited and incomplete. I think I will have better luck if others
who are searching random like I have been could see my names and hopefully
respond.
Good luck with your search,
Julie