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<DIV>While I'm a subscriber to Ancestry.com, I have several frustrations with the service. The first is how slow and "clunky" the site is. Often the census images are of very poor quality, and the need to continually download the advanced viewer is annoying. The second is that their "generosity" in hosting free access sites comes with thinly disguised search boxes that lead the unwary (of which I occasionally am) into the $ area of Ancestry.com. My third frustration is purely philosophical...like FamilyTreeMaker that initially offered free individual webpages and sent us all disks urging us to send in our research to share with others, these sites basically built businesses on the research of others. My last frustration is that the subscription prices for access to census and other data bases is, in my opinion, much too expensive.</DIV>
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<DIV>I agree with the others on this list; each site has strengths and weaknesses and while they often access the same or similar data bases, there are enough differences to make each site worth using.</DIV>
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<DIV>With specific reference to deBeers, I would suggest going to Cyndi's list (<A href="http://www.cyndislist.com">www.cyndislist.com</A>) and doing a search for the country (Netherlands?) of origin of the family. You'll find on that website a list of archives in foreign countries, and various genealogy sites in those countries. I know from experience that if your family did originate in the Netherlands, there are great searchable archives online in that country and there are also data bases of people who were emigrating. The resources of course vary from country to country, but I've found huge amounts of information through this method.</DIV>
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<DIV>Carla</DIV>
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<DIV>Carla Klooster Bonney</DIV>
<DIV>Tanana, Alaska</DIV>
<DIV>STEPHENS, HAWLEY, WHEALDON, SHIELDS in Oregon and Washington.</DIV>
<DIV>KLOOSTER in Michigan and Oostellingwerf, The Netherlands.</DIV></BODY></HTML>