I very much enjoyed David A. Fryxell's article "Conquering the Continental Divide" (December 2003). But your readers should know that JewishGen's ShtetlSeeker <www.jewishgen.org/shtetlseeker> is an invaluable resource for both Jewish and non-Jewish researchers who have ancestors from Central or Eastern Europe. I have used it to find the correct spellings of my German ancestors' ancestral villages, as well as to map the location of those villages. When you run out of leads in one village, you often can pick up the trail in a neighboring village. Knowing the exact location of each of your ancestral homes, along with neighboring villages and the topography of the area, can give you valuable clues and save a great deal of time.

My great-great-grandfather's native village was named on his marriage license; however, the handwriting wasn't clear. I first found the marriage license in 1972, but more than a quarter century passed before I was able to properly identify the village. Correspondence with various experts was fruitless. Once I discovered ShtetlSeeker, I was able to identify the village in less than 15 minutes, with a little guesswork and a little luck.