Ran across an article in the NYTimes about genealogy, and it pointed me to a new website out there for tracking your family's ancestors. Although other genealogy software has been out there for some time, this Internet-based application allows you to easily share and network your family tree. Instead of having to take responsbility for the entire tree, you can send parts out to family to either add or see for themselves. Also if distant relatives are also using the software, you can search for them, and then add them to your tree. Kind of based on the wikipedia principle - the more people, the better.
Just to give you an idea on how fast your family tree can grow, in just 5 days we were up to 455 family members. With a little searching online, I was able to find my paternal grandmother's line going back to a Hugh Mahurin (1655-1718), who came over from Northern Ireland or Scotland. Of course, all this needs to be documented and proven, but it's quite fascinating in just the short time I've been doing it.
