One of the things I enjoy about the new familysearch.org is the ability to source the information I have. So many times I have come across names of "Johnsons" or "Elders" or "Lewellens" who I think I am related to but they are not in my direct line. I don't necessarily know what to do with this information as it might prove useful in the future or give me a clue about a direct line ancestor further back. I write down the information but don't know how to organize it.
Familysearch.org gives me a way to sort through what I have. In all of my grandmother's genealogy she often received letters that included more information than her direct line ancestors. I can look for those ancestors now in familysearch.org and see if others have pieced the puzzle together and where that person fits. There are about a million James Elders living in Perry, Indiana. But somehow it becomes easier to sort through all the names when you can see quickly that 5 of the 8 Elder boys born to Arnold and Sallie Hayden Elder had boys named James and the years they were born. You can more readily match up cemetery tombstones with correct names. If you find a marriage record of a James you can see if it's a different James Elder but looking up the name with the wife and seeing if someone else has traced it back to a different line.
Thank you Familysearch.org for the wonderful program you have provided!
