One of the worst pitfalls in genealogy is making errors.

And worse than making an error is not correcting it immediately. With today's information superhighway, errors spread faster than you can keep up with them. Let's put two errors I made about the Hanson family to rest right now. My apologies to Frances Hanson Arnold, who generously shared her Hanson family information with me.

Last week, I stated that Jesse Hanson and Elizabeth Crawford Hanson were divorced. This was not true. Frances stated in her narrative, "We do not find him on the 1840 Fayette County census but his wife, Elizabeth Crawford Hanson, is there in the home of her youngest daughter, Margaret (Peggy), and her husband, Lewis Davis, where she died in 1840. We next find Jesse in Morgan County where he weds his second wife, Mary Murphy, in 1841."

I must have pulled my information out of a hat, because Frances never said what I said. (Can I claim old age?)

Frances tells me that Jesse was a 73-year-old widower when he married Mary Murphy and later headed for Randolph County, Alabama.

The other error was in the Jones connection. Frances has Joneses on both sides of her pedigree. The Jones family on her mother's side definitely goes back to Nathan Fowler through Thomas B. Jones. She had been told that the Peggy Jones on her father's side, the Hanson side, was also related to Thomas B. Jones and was possibly his sister. However, Frances has not found any evidence as yet to support the relationship of Margaret (Peggy) Jones to Thomas Jones. Research on this theory continues.

I also want to share some e-mails I've received in response to this column. You just can't imagine what a thrill it gives me to get feedback.

First, I heard from VelDean Fincher in Peachtree City who sent me the information about the African-American genealogy CD being released by the LDS church. She also sent a research tip: "Judy, ... Familysearch.com provides free access to huge amounts of information from the vast records accumulated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You may also know that the church locally operates two Family History Centers, one in Jonesboro and one in Newnan, which are available to nonmembers as well as members of the church. These centers can also provide access to the millions of records gathered from around the world. ..."

I told VelDean I haven't been to a Family History Center yet, but it is definitely on my list of places to explore.

I received another letter from a Peachtree City resident who is a fellow supporter of Ancestry.com:

"Dear Judy: I enjoyed reading your column in The Citizen this week. Thought you would like some feedback concerning Ancestry.com.

"My family research began when my first child was born in 1971. I was filling out her baby book and my curiosity took the best of me when I started tackling the Family Tree page. My research has been going strong ever since. Using the home PC for genealogy research is new to me. So, I took the plunge in January of this year by joining Ancestry.com. I had found the link several months ago and had taken advantage of the "free" databases.

"I made the decision to pay for a year's subscription right after Christmas. Call it a late Christmas gift for myself. I also paid for the U.S. Census package. Through the Internet I downloaded a special free program to enable easy scanning of the census images. It is wonderful! I was able to locate my husband's families in the 1920 census in Colorado and New Mexico. A bonus was finding a great-great grandparent that we thought was deceased in 1920. I look forward to going through additional census records as they become available.

"Another feature of Ancestry.com is the section of state facts. There is a special 'fact' section for each U.S. state. This fact sheet provides sources for obtaining vital records, and state and federal record depositories and libraries, etc. The fact sheet also provides links to several state agencies and libraries. The New Mexico fact sheet gave me links to several libraries and the New Mexico Genealogy Society. The libraries linked me to their online library catalogs.

"My husband and I have made a couple of trips to the Mormon Genealogy Library over the last 20 years. (Their computer system was new the last time we went). We spent several hours looking through New Mexico Catholic Church records (baptisms, marriages, etc.) on microfilm. Most of these records were not indexed and it was frustrating because Spanish is not our first language.

"All of these church registers were in Spanish instead of the usual Latin. Through the sources in Ancestry.com, I discovered that most of these microfilmed records have since been indexed and have been published in book form. These books were listed on the online catalogs from several of the New Mexico libraries here is a summary of each book included in the catalog record.

"Well, I'm off to Albuquerque, N.M. next week to do some serious research. I recommend Ancestry.com! Please share this information with your readers.

"Sincerely, Deberah Davis Martinez, Peachtree City, atlbilldeb@cs.com."

Thanks, Deberah. I really enjoy receiving letters. Keep them coming. Send your letters and family information to The Citizen, Drawer 1719, Fayetteville, GA 30214; e-mail jkilgore@thecitizennews.com or jodiek444@aol.com.

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