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Ranging from genealogical sketches to compilations of passenger lists, land records, and tax lists, the eight books that make up this Family Archive CD are pre-eminent in the field of Texas genealogy, primarily because they deal with a period of time before Texas achieved statehood. For all its turbulence, pre-statehood Texas attracted thousands of settlers, and nearly 100,000 of them are identified in this CD. Materials drawn on for this compilation include poll lists, military records, vital records, histories, biographies and family histories, land records, and ships' passenger lists. Although the first federal census of Texas was not taken until 1850, several of the books included on this CD amount to a virtual census of Mexican Texas (Austin Colony Pioneers, for example) and the Republic of Texas (Poll Lists for 1846 and Character Certificates in the General Land Office), and offer more genealogical data on pre-statehood Texas than any comparable collection. Many of the original German settlers of Texas are covered as well. The books included on this CD are:

*Republic of Texas: Poll Lists for 1846
*Austin Colony Pioneers, Including History of Bastrop, Fayette, Grimes, Montgomery, and Washington Counties
*Character Certificates in the General Land Office of Texas
*Stephen F. Austin's Register of Families
*Kentucky Colonization in Texas, A History of the Peters Colony
*Ancestor Lineages of Members of the Texas Society . . .Colonial Dames 17th Century
*A New Land Beckoned: German Immigration to Texas, 1844-1847
*New Homes in a New Land: German Immigration to Texas, 1847-1861

System Requirements: You must have a CD-ROM drive, and in order to read the CD you must use either the Family Archive Viewer (version 4.0 or higher), which is available as a free download at http://www.genealogical.com/content/dlfav6.html, or Family Tree Maker for Windows, version 4.0 or higher (Family Tree Maker software can be ordered from www.FamilyTreeMaker.com).

To access information on our Family Archive CDs using the Family Archive Viewer:

1. Install the Family Archive Viewer CD or download it from http://www.genealogy.com/dlfav6.html.
2. Start the Viewer if it is not already running
3. Insert the CD you wish to view into the CD-ROM drive. If you have 2 or more CD-ROM drives, the CD must be placed in the first one.
4. The CD should open automatically, but users of later versions of the Family Archive Viewer must click the CD/magnifying glass icon in the top toolbar (above the template in some versions) to read the CD.
5. When the screen entitled "About this Family Archive" appears, click OK where prompted.

To access information on our Family Archive CDs using Family Tree Maker:

1. Start your Family Tree Maker and open a Family File. (If the program is already running, skip to Step 2.)
2. Insert the CD in your computer's CD-ROM drive. (If you have 2 or more CD-ROM drives, the CD must be placed in the first one.)
3. From the View menu, select Family Finder, or select the Family Finder icon from the toolbar.
4. For FTM 2005, FTM 2006, or Version 16, you must go to the View menu, select Data CD, then View CD. For FTM 2008 or higher, you must download the Family Archive Viewer.

To search the CD for names, select the Search Expert button in the top right of your screen, then select "Search this archive for someone NOT from your Family File." You can also search for names by using the Index.

Note: If a window opens that contains a list of files on the CD, simply close it.