This week I have traveled to Indiana, Montana, Minnesota, California, Idaho and Oregon via the Internet. My travels began with an e-mail from a distant cousin who found my John Hatt Family Tree on Ancestry.com.

The tree is not opened for anyone, but it is listed as a private family tree so I was contacted to see if I knew more about one of the family members. Cheryl and I are fifth cousins, but we have many common ancestors and this week she has shared more family information and more pictures which I in turn have shared with other members of this line. I am having a truly thankful November in my genealogical world.

Even though Cheryl's line is one of the collateral lines that I research it is just as interesting to me as if it were a direct line. We now have seven cousins working on this family and I am convinced that this is one of the best ways to complete a family history.

Get everyone involved. I now have assistance from Virginia, Indiana, Oregon, Texas and West Virginia. The contact points in Virginia and Oregon descend from the same line which is John Hatt, a brother to my ancestor, Joseph Franklin Hatt (also my West Virginia contacts' ancestor), Texas contact descends from another brother George Washington Hatt and Sarah Jane Hatt, my Indiana contact's ancestor.

In April of this year I had the opportunity of meeting my Virginia cousin and we spent four hours talking at the Colonial Dames Tea. We usually spend a couple of hours at the tea, but have you ever known a genealogist who could stop talking about their family history when you have a willing listener?

She was amazed that I could remember so much detail about the Hatt line, but she has not been researching as long as I have. After you have looked at your information for years you can almost recite it perfectly, however I still write it all down in case I have a memory lapse.

I have learned if I put my research on the back burner, I need a refresher course before I began again.

Trying to locate a family of 11 children on all the applicable census records has been a task and some still remain lost. I was searching for surnames of six daughters which can be extremely difficult if you do not have any clues.

I found one daughter on the 1930 census because her brother lived in her household and I was searching for his surname. She and her sister had married brothers. They both had children in California and when checking the California Birth Index I had given all the children to one sister.

The California records only list the surname of the mother and not the given name as Texas records do. My Oregon cousins have helped me with some of the other sisters and I am hopeful that we will soon have this family documented.

When having problems with your family history be sure that you have searched every census record available. Look for online death certificates, social security death records and the state indexes that are available.

When I find the census index on Ancestry.com that lists the household of the individual family I copy and paste it on the applicable family, within my genealogical software database.

I use the same process when I find the Social Security Death Record or any other document online. Time is saved when I am doing online research because I can call up this family database and not have to search through stacks of files for the documentation. It is also a quick reference for the research that has been accomplished.

More and more documentation is added to the Internet everyday so search for new databases as you research. The FamilySearch has Ohio Death Records online as well as some other states and Missouri has some of their death records online. There is a movement for the Pennsylvania Death Records to be put online and I hope that is accomplished as I have some Pennsylvania ancestors.

Maybe Oklahoma will put some of their old death certificates online in the future.