The Genealogy Guys Podcast #118 - 2007 December 14

The Guys go straight to listener e-mail this week: the value of contacting genealogical societies for obit & funeral notice lookups and copies; Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps that have been made available at state sites, such as Florida (http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/UFDC/?c=sanborn), Georgia (http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/sanborn), and South Carolina (http://www.sc.edu/library/digital/collections/sanborn.html) and digital cameras used by The Guys: Pentax A20 Option Megapixel camera (see review at http://www.dpreview.com/news/0608/06082103pentaxa20.asp).

Drew recaps the instructions for accessing older podcasts. He also shares his "Genealogy Society Tip of the Week" about expending a little extra money for name/quality speakers for your society to attract visitors and new members.

George recaps the importance of making contact with and/or joining genealogical societies where your ancestors lived. They can also provide obituary and funeral notice lookups and copies from their local card or online computerized index files.

The Guys discuss the negative side of sharing information about living family members, especially when one becomes a debtor who becomes the subject of debt collectors. Some debtors are now accessing genealogical database as vehicles to persecute and ride relatives of a debtor, and that is illegal

Listener Nancy details the underhanded tactics of collectors who began contacting siblings, children, aunts, uncles, and grandparents of the debtor to harass and dun then for their relative's debt. George discovered that every state in then Union has laws governing collection agencies. Most, if not all, cannot by law contact anyone other than the debtor and his/her spouse directly. Contact with your state Attorney General's office to determine what YOUR rights are and what a collection agency can and cannot do. You will often find that the collection agent/agency is exceeding his or her authority.

George discusses his Pentax Option A20 (10 megapixel) digital camera, its features, and how he uses the Text setting and other features in his genealogical research.

Drew talks about Chris Dunham's "The Genealogy" site at http://www.genealogue.com and the Genealogue Challenge. George reminds listeners that The Genealogy Blog Finder is also one of the features of this great site.

George reviews William Dollarhide's new two-volume book set titled Census Substitutes & State Census Records. Volume I covers the Eastern States and Volume II covers the Western States. The books are available through Family Roots Publishing Company at  http://www.familyrootspublishing.com.