The Howdyshell Newsletter is  available for free via e-mail.  I originally envisioned it as a monthly newsletter complete with maps and graphics.  After the first two issues (January and February, 1997) I temporarily discontinued it until late August.

    This was due to several reasons.

    The first was the sudden influx of new information.  As soon as I got online and in touch with other researchers I received so much information that the previously published newsletters were hopelessly out of date.

    The second was new software.  Although I am much happier with the software I'm using now, the old data did not convert very well.  This left me with a great deal of new data entry to do.  Combine that with the new data I was receiving and my housekeeping duties quickly became overwhelming.

    The original format wasn't right.  I thought a narrative style would be the most pleasing to the reader but it had many flaws.  For one thing it required me to make many assumptions to keep the narrative going.  Even though I noted my guess work within the text, I soon found, upon receiving new information, just how far off base I could be. 

    It was also very time consuming.  I greatly over estimated the amount of time I would have for this and under estimated the work required.

    But probably the most damning flaw at all was that it was probably not very useful to anyone trying to figure out how their family fitted in.

    That finally brings me to the new format.

    Data.  Plain and simple.  As I reorganize my data I will then post it both on my web site and via the newsletter.  This should make it considerably easier on me and hopefully more useful to you.  I will not follow a rigid monthly publishing schedule but simply send out the data as I organize it.  I also do not plan to follow any rigid rules as far as chronology is concerned although I will try to  begin the most recent (and probably the most useful to anyone with little knowledge of their lineage) and work my way backwards.  I will however try to keep you abreast of some of the oldest records I have found simply because they're fun.