Last weekend, as a resident of the Tampa area, I was among millions of people who watched Hurricane Charley and held my breath. Despite our fervent hopes that the storm would dissipate or turn away from our coast, the brunt of the hurricane struck with a ferocity that surprised many. In the course of my seminar business and my genealogical work and research, I've been blessed to have made many, many good friends throughout Florida, and you can imagine how anxious I've felt to learn how they all fared.

This experience is a stark reminder that we are fortunate to have modern communications tools--TV, radio, and the Internet--to warn us and keep us apprised of news and weather. Our emergency response services are the best in the world, as are our medical facilities and the emergency relief organizations. We are indeed lucky to be living in this time and in the place we live. Our ancestors were not always as fortunate as we. As with Hurricane Charley last weekend, sometimes it was just a matter of being in a certain place at a specific point in time that dictated the course of our ancestors' fates.

It is up to us to learn as much about those events in the lives of our ancestors and their families in order to really understand them. This week let's explore some ways to locate the resources that can help us place our forebears into context...

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