Do you think it is worth it with the 1940 census coming out or would you recommend doing a one month or three month? For me, I am uncertain whether the 1940 census will be too interesting. My parents are still alive, thank God, so there aren't too many mysteries existing at that time . . . that I know of.

I'm just now wrapping up a 30 day world subscription that was sort of a waste of time with regards to my family tree issues. If they do this 90 day offer on a regular basis it would be a real plus for many of us gravediggers (I didn't get that email BTW :-). Meanwhile I will jump back in the pond for the 1940 census but I won't really need more than a 30 day subscription for that. Bottom line: it's about time Ancestry started making their subscription cost more realistic.

Thanks, I'll be careful. I noticed your researching Cosenza. I have a friend from Rende, not related, whose name is Francesco Russo. Anyone in your research by that name. There's probably more than a few Russo's from Rende. "Russo's from Rende" sounds like the title to a movie doesn't it?

Thanks Charlie. It was just a shot in the dark.

I believe the 1940 Census with be available for free when it comes out - but it will not be indexed so I would try and figure out the enumeration district of your ancestors if possible to make it easier. I have joined to help index the project - the quicker we index it the better for all of us here so I would hold off on ancestry right now. I would start looking more and more at the Family Search website. Records are being added at just a rapid speed and it's all free (although some can be challenging since you need to browse through images which haven't been indexed).

As for Rende - I have family from Rende. And yes, Russo is like 'Smith'. It's probably the one number Italian surname in Italy to date.

I agree that the subscription price of Ancestry is a bit high but given the ever escalating fuel prices it is actually less costly than my driving to a local library and scheduling time to use its computers so that I can access the free library edition of Ancestry. One cannot schedule time in advance but only after making the drive to the library--the wait time can easily be well over an hour to get an available computer with the time to do research limited to an hour depending on the size of the queue to access the computers.

I opted to take Ancestry's promotion; I've not had any difficulty canceling before the automatic re-billing feature activates. Also, I think that the 1940 period was the beginning for many families to settle into an area and to establish more permanent residences. In tracing my immigrant Sicilian ancestors, I rarely find them in the same place from one census to the next--this is not as much the case with ancestors who have been here for several generations. Knowing or predicting the enumeration district is a challenge in years prior to 1940 and I think becomes even more difficult with the 1940 census. Enumeration districts may change over time which further complicates the process. It goes without saying that a good index is invaluable, even more so when one is working from clues which are imprecise.