My Old Kentucky Home...

Believe it or not, nearly fifteen years ago, genealogy wasn't as easy as it is now on the internet.  There was no Ancestry.com, Rootsweb.com was in it's infancy, and there was definitely no GenWeb.  I know this because I was there when GenWeb was born.

*cue the cane and the hearing trumpet*  Back in my day...no, I'm not going to say that.  Wait!  I am!!

There were a few mailing lists out there, mainly ones for states only.  I was subscribed to the Kentucky mailing list and we began to talk.  There had to be a better way to compile genealogy information.  There had to be a central place with information on specific counties.  There would have to be people who were willing to gather, compile or oversee that information.  What came out of that conversation was the Kentucky Comprehensive Genealogy Database Project in the spring of 1996.  The people involved each volunteered to host counties and develop websites for all the information.

By this time, other states were seeing what we were doing in Kentucky and copied us.  The projects began joining and evolved.  What became known as KYGenWeb evolved into USGenWeb.  Shortly after, it became WorldGenWeb as other countries saw the progress we'd made.

Today, there are pages for every county in the United States as well as provinces, shires, etc world-wide.  Some are more detailed than others, but each is great in it's own way.

I hosted Rockcastle, Madison, Estill and Jackson Counties in Kentucky.  I also hosted a few others, but as time became dear, I had to whittle them down to just Estill County.  One of the things I'm most proud of is that we initiated the Estill County Homecoming.  It was an opportunity for online researchers to gather in Irvine, KY.  They could meet with locals and learn where old homesites and cemeteries were.  They were able to go to the Courthouse and get copies of documents.

Am I tooting my own horn?  Just a bit, but there are so many others that gave their time and information to make this  project become what it has.  To every one of you, I give my thanks.