I am ready for Spring! It's been a long, cold winter here in Michigan and I'm anxious for my bulbs to pop out of the ground heralding the long-awaited warmer weather. One of the items on my to-do list is to visit some local cemeteries where my ancestors are buried. Some of these cemeteries are large and easy to find—they're in the middle of Detroit. But some are in rural areas in the outskirts of the Detroit metropolitan area and are more difficult to find. There are a number of ways to discover the exact location of these cemeteries.

In this issue's lead article, Beau Sharbrough talks about using a Global Positioning System (GPS) and a laptop to assist in finding the hard-to-locate cemeteries. I also have a GPS, but mine is a Garmin StreetPilot III and it stands on its own—it has maps downloaded onto its memory card and routes and waypoints can be saved to the GPS' internal memory. The display is in color and the unit sits on the car's dashboard so I can see where I'm going while I'm driving. It even talks to me when it's time to turn, which is a little unnerving late at night. I can find the cemetery using whatever means I can, and then plot it as a waypoint in the software on my desktop. Then when I'm ready to go, I can download whatever maps, routes, and waypoints I need. It's a wonderful system and is less cumbersome than having to use a laptop while I'm driving. But it's not cheap. If you're looking for a GPS system and have limited finances, Beau's solution is the way to go.

If you don't need to go cemetery hopping, we've got other interesting articles for you this Spring. Amy Johnson Crow, CG, explores the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System on the Internet, giving us in-depth information on how to find the soldier or sailor we're looking for. Michael Carroll discusses how the records of the Diocese of Wilmington (Delaware) are seeing the light of day for the first time in many years, and in the process, the records are being transcribed and placed on the Internet. At the same time, they're putting up records relating to Irish families from County Galway, Ireland. It's a fascinating project and will hopefully trigger ideas in other entrepreneurial minds.

Just in case you've got cabin fever and want to spend some bucks, Diana and Gary Smith take a detailed look at the recently released genealogy program RootsMagic, another product from FormalSoft. There are plenty of other reviews, too.

Finally, our columnists wrap up this issue's offerings. In the Innovators column, Birdie Holsclaw, FUGA, is highlighted; in Cybrarian, Drew Smith discusses software to do Web searches on your desktop; and in Bits & Bytes, Candace Doriott ponders over thoughts of advancing technology for genealogy. Happy tulips!

Return to the April-June 2003 Genealogical Computing Table of Contents.