Editor's note: Leadernet is working on an archive of Tom Mooney's genealogy columns, dating back to their inception in 1997. Check back soon for this feature.

'Out on Limb' earns national recognition "Out on a Limb" took first place in the 1999 "Excellence in Writing" competition sponsored by the Council of Genealogy Columnists, a national organization of genealogy writers. This was the 10th year the award for genealogy columns was given.

Looking for the name of a minister who was active in Wyoming Valley back in the 1870s?

Puzzled by town names you can't find on a map?

Researching the old Wilkes-Barre Home for Friendless Children?

A good place to start -- particularly if you are living outside the area -- is the Luzerne County Genweb. This Web site is rapidly becoming a major source of research material for people studying ancestors who lived in Luzerne County.

In charge of the Genweb site is Tammy Lamb, former president of the Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society.

"I can't take all the credit," says Lamb, who is also in charge of Northampton County's Genweb. "I have a lot of volunteers. I have people who walk cemeteries and do the stones. I have people who spend hours with census records."

Call up the Genweb at www.pagenweb.org/~luzerne and you'll find a table of contents that is getting bigger all the time. Intriguing topics abound: Jewish Genealogical Research, the Molly Maguires, Pennsylvania 1895 Maps. There are also World War II casualty lists, town histories and biographies of prominent people.

"We have a complete list of ministers from 1835 to 1935 for Luzerne County," said Lamb. "That was huge -- so huge we had to break it down into 10 parts."

You'll also find a few things you'd never expect. "Place Name Interpretations" is a list of old-time variants on names of Luzerne County communities. So if an ancestor's hometown doesn't appear on a modern map, it could be that he was using one of the strange old spellings or pronunciations on the list.

Lamb has even set up a search engine function. Type in a name and you'll get a list of pages on which it appears.

"We have a lot of information," she said.

The Genweb movement began in 1996 in Kentucky. Now, counties and groups of counties all over America have their own sites, maintained by genealogical organizations and volunteers.

Lamb and her volunteers are constantly adding new material.

"Our biggest, newest project was the mines," said Lamb. "We just got through doing the 1911 mine accidents for Luzerne and Lackawanna counties."

But a Genweb site's value goes beyond simple data. It's also a place where genealogists researching in a specific town or county can post queries and get answers -- a very valuable service for people outside the area. They can also send in any material they think others might find useful

"It's not just the information that's there, it's the trading of information, free, open, accessible," said Pat Krivak, society president.

Lamb agrees. "It's an easy way for people to share information, and that's what genealogy is all about."

Searching: Is your name MACAULAY, or is that name found in your family tree? If so, Ronald Taylor of North Carolina would like to hear from you. Taylor represents Clan MacAulay U.S.A., for descendants of members of the original Scottish Clan Macaulay, which disbanded in 1767.

Other spellings of the name are Aulay, MacAlley, MacAulay, MacAuley, MacAully, MacPhedran and MacPhedron. Names of "sept" or associated clans, whose members are also eligible to join, are Lennox, MacAll, MacCall, MacKail, MacKell, Paterson and Patterson.

Contact Ronald Taylor by postal mail at Clan MacAulay U.S.A., Inc., 208 Lawrence Road, Cary N.C. 27511; by telephone at (724) 346-1826; at his Web site www.macaulay.org; or by e-mail at macaulay@msn.com.