Appreciates genealogy archiving

Dear Editor:

I was so pleased to open Curtis Thomasson's weekly column to find you have now archived his previous articles. Thank you so much. As a serious researcher I have relied on your newspaper to help expand my knowledge of my ancestors and their lives in Covington County in the 19th and 20th century. I am attempting to rebuild a family history that lets the reader actually capture the day-to-day lives of their ancestors. I felt like I had lost a close friend and an essential link in my efforts to reconstruct the history of my great parents.

Your on-line publication has also offered me the opportunity to find new family and friends in your local area. This had added an essence of reality to my search for information on my ancestral families. Unfortunately the current generations had lost the knowledge of so much of our past family history. With our mobile society today it is impossible to visit all localities to research possible links. Your newspaper has offered so many this opportunity. Not only can we keep abreast of the current community activities in your locale but we can continue to search for our heritage. You and Curtis Thomasson are to be congratulated for the outstanding example the newspaper performs in perpetuating our regional history. Keep up the good work!

Sincerely,

Minta Urquhart Forester

Grateful for return of archives

Dear Editor:

Thank you, thank you, thank you for restoring the prior genealogy columns that have appeared in the Star to accessible archived files. I thought I had lost a valuable asset – or source – in my quest to find out more about my ancestors.

The Andalusia Star and staff are to be commended for putting a first-class paper full of local interest items on-line so those of us who have connections with Covington Co. but are not in the area can keep up with "the happenings" there.

I would also like to take the opportunity to thank both the Star and Curtis Thomasson for the weekly genealogy column on Covington Co. families – and its inclusion in the on-line edition of the paper. You both are providing the public with a much-appreciated service and are an absolute boon to a large number of people trying to find their "roots" in Covington County and "put meat on the bones" of our ancestors when we do find them. The return of the archived columns will continue the provision of this valuable service to the public.

Ted Urquhart

Mary Esther, FL