The Genealogy Mine is developing web- and PC-based software that helps put genealogical source material on the web, organize it, and make it available to PC-based genealogy programs. The ultimate aim is to make it easier for researchers to cite reliable sources -- by making the process virtually automatic.

To help test the system's database and software design, the site has been seeded with real genealogical data, mainly involving Tennessee and Missouri branches of the Estes, Morrison, Prock, Rinck, Wil(l)banks, and Winston families. Researchers from those lines -- or, for that matter, anyone else with something valuable to say -- are encouraged to provide feedback to SomethingToSay@GenealogyMine.com.

To explore the system, click on any link in the red box at the upper right of this page. Navigate by using the "clickbar" that appears at the top of each page after you have drilled down a couple of levels.

The bulk of the useful material at this time is under surnames. In particular, the best examples of tight links between online data and "publishable" research results are to be found under the Prock surname, where census records, death certificates, Civil War pension papers, and the like, are used to support genealogical claims made in "fact sheets" about specific individuals.

In addition, the test system currently incorporates the following features, many of which you can try out for yourself:

1. Example of county-oriented online records. Many genealogical and historical societies transcribe county records and make them available to researchers as photocopied books. Under Places, drill down to Howell County, Missouri to see how a society's transcription of courthouse records -- marriages, in this case -- can be made available on the web.
2. Example of surname-oriented online records. Under the Wil(l)banks surname are examples of how surname-level research can be organized.This can include biographical sketches and narrative material, but most importantly consists of extracts from county records and other sources. In particular, drill down through the Wil(l)banks line to Howell County, Missouri to see how cemetery, census, and marriage information -- and even letters -- for a given surname can be collected and presented.
3. Example of a family newsletter placed online. Under the Wil(l)banks surname, drill down to Wil(l)banks Trees, where a sample issue has been transcribed.
4. Example of a family history book placed online. Under the Estes surname, see Descendants of Thomas Estes, by Leo R. Estes. This is one example of how a printed family history can be placed on the web in an online edition.
5. A flexible authoring system.  The authoring system is available to those who have been assigned a username and password. It is a database-driven system that allows researchers and organizations to enter genealogical data in a flexible, yet structured, manner. The entered data goes into a database to ensure maximum usefulness.
6. Generation of high-speed static content. Database-driven web sites can be very flexible, but they also consume considerable resources. This limits the number of people that can access the site at one time. For this reason The Genealogy Mine incorporates a mechanism that allows database-driven content to be published to the web site in the form of fast, static pages. All the pages that a user sees on the "regular" site are generated from what's in the database, but do not require accessing the database on each viewing.

Note: The site has only been tested with Internet Explorer 4.0+ at a resolution of 1024x768. The screens may not display or operate correctly with other browsers, other versions of the same browser, or at other resolutions. This will be addressed as development progresses.