Morse’s efforts got off to a bad start when his first version of the software had some legal issues around the way it interfaced with the Ellis Island data. However, Morse and the officials of the Statue of Liberty – Ellis Island Foundation have been working together on those issues, along with a lot of help from Gary Mokotoff of Avotaynu, Inc.. As a result, a second version of the software is now available as a beta release. I experimented with the new version for a while this week. Like all beta software, it still has a few bugs; nonetheless, the search capabilities show a lot of promise. I suspect the bugs will be eradicated soon.

For more information about the current status of Stephen Morse’s efforts, look at the 4 September 2002, edition of Nu? What's New, a bi-weekly Internet magazine published by Avotaynu, available at www.avotaynu.com/nu8.htm#v03n17.

If you would like to experiment with the new capability of searching the Ellis Island Database in one step, go to www.avotaynu.com/ellis.html. Keep in mind that it is beta code and is changing frequently. Also, this URL is a temporary address. You can expect the Ellis Island Database in One Step site will move to a permanent address before long.

By the way, Nu? What's New is an e-mail newsletter that is a great source of interest to persons tracing their Jewish family history. Jewish genealogy expert Gary Mokotoff, owner of Avotaynu, publishes the newsletter. Back issues are available at www.avotaynu.com/nu.htm and free subscriptions are available at: www.avotaynu.com/nuwhatsnew.htm. If you are researching Jewish ancestry, I strongly recommend that you subscribe to Nu? What's New.

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