These are the mailing lists that our county and state hosts use to announce what new data has been added to their websites. The announcements are much more detailed than our Facebook postings, though you are welcome to Visit Us on Facebook

Mailing List Need-to-Know
(i.e. "Rules")

• What our lists are:
  • FREE.
  • Private mailing lists which our Genealogy Trails site hosts use to announce their website updates. Mailing lists are organized by region, NOT individual counties or families. If you want only to hear about data in your county of interest in one state, you're probably not going to like receiving updates for all the counties in 5 or 6 states. (Though you know, people did travel quite a bit more than we give them credit for back then --- who knows, you might just pick up a little detail you might otherwise have missed out on)
  • Depending on the area you join, you may get a lot emails because we make a lot of updates! End of the month and end of the quarter is our busiest update time. Some days though, you may not get any emails at all.
  • Yes, you can post your family queries on our lists.
  • Yes, you can ask for research help on our lists, but you'll be asking from the other researchers, not our hosts, because Genealogy Trails does NOT DO PERSONAL RESEARCH. But there are researchers on the list who may offer to help you.
  • You can contact our hosts through these lists... we're all subscribed to our region's lists. (But don't contact us to ask for research help)
  • If you post an email to a mailing list, it will go to EVERYBODY on the list. So be careful :-)

• What our lists aren't:
  • They're not "Genealogy Trails" - our data is NOT contained within these mailing lists. Our data is on our websites. You do not have to be subscribed to our mailing lists in order to visit our websites.
  • These are not public mailing lists, they're private. Individuals have to apply to join and have to join to read the posts. We screen all subscription requests to try and block spammers from joining (they're crafty suckers and we work hard to keep them out). In addition, all posts are moderated in order to block spam emails.
  • These lists are not Surname lists where you hear only about one surname --- they don't deal with only one county in one state. You're going to get emails from these lists, maybe a little, maybe a lot.
  • No, you can't use our private mailing lists to advertise your business or organization's website, whether they're genealogy-related or not. And especially if you're trying to make money off of it.
  • If you have a family website you want to mention on the list, write us first with the url to let us know and we'll take a look.

Before you subscribe:

• If you currently use a Challenge/Reply type of spam software such as 0spam, dropspam or Earthlink's service which makes an individual respond to an email before you receive it, don't subscribe. These programs are INCOMPATIBLE with mailing lists.
• Make sure your virus protection software is up to date.
• You can subscribe to any or all of our lists - there is no limit.
• Our lists are for genealogy only. No jokes, no cute little sayings, no pictures of your cat doing something amusing. If you start your email with "I know this is off-topic..." you're probably best off not sending it. And most important - NO POLITICS, genealogy-related or otherwise. You get one warning and then you'll be unsubscribed.
• Be nice. If you like arguing, if you know what the word "snarky" means because you've been called it on a mailing list before when you've replied to an email, if you feel like you need to jump all over an individual for asking what you think is a "dumb" question, don't subscribe to our lists.

If you're ready to subscribe, Look at the table below.

1. Find the mailing list region you're interested in joining in Column 1. 2. The states that list covers are listed in column 2. 3. To subscribe to the mailing list of your interest, you'll click the links in column 3. NOTE: The email address you are CURRENTLY USING will be the one that is subscribed! If your email program cannot open the links, go here for the email addresses you can copy and paste into your email program 4. Use the links in column 4 to POST an email to the list you have already subscribed to. (Wait for your approval notice to come through before trying) 5. Use the links in column 5 to send an email to us to unsubscribe from the lists you are currently subscribed to. You'll need to send the email from the SAME email address you first used to subscribe to the list. NOTE: Do NOT send unsubscribe requests to the mailing list itself.

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You do NOT need to belong to any of our mailing lists to visit our county pages.
Just visit http://genealogytrails.com/ select a state and then a county to visit our actual websites.

IF you're having trouble with the "click here" links

• African American related Genealogy, send an email to Af-AmericanGenealogy-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
• Illinois Mailing List: Send an email to illinoistrails-subscribe@yahoogroups.com 
• Pacific states of California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii: send an email to pacific_states-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
• Western states of Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, send an email to western_states-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
• Southwest states of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Nevada, Arizona, send an email to southwest_states-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
• Southern states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, send an email to southern_states-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
• Midwest states of Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Kansas, send email to midwest_states-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
• Upper Midwest states of N. Dakota, S. Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, send email to upper_midwest_states-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
• Southeast states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, send email to southeast_states-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
• Northeast states of Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, send email to northeast_states-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
• Northeast Coastal states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Maine, Washington D.C. - send an email to northeastcoast-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

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DO NOT send unsubscribe messages to the mailing list. This interrupts the flow of the list topics.
If you need help with the instructions, email Kim.
If you're still unsure of what this list does, please contact Kim for further assistance.
We'll be happy to help you.

Welcome! We hope you enjoy the lists!

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