ROOTSWEB REVIEW: Genealogical Data Cooperative Weekly News Vol. 1, No. 6, 22 July 1998; Circulation: 195,000+ researchers Copyright (c) 1998 RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative Editors: Julia M. Case and Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG * * * * * RootsWeb Review is e-mailed on Wednesdays to all who make use of the resources provided by RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative. UNSUBSCRIBE INSTRUCTIONS: If you would prefer not to receive future issues of RootsWeb Review, please e-mail: RootsWeb-Review-L-request@rootsweb.com and put ONLY the word "unsubscribe" (omit the quotation marks) in the subject line and in the body of the message. * * * * * CONTENTS: New at RootsWeb (Obituary Daily Times Reaches Milestone; Apprentice SysAdmin Joins RootsWeb Staff; Web Account and Mailing List Requests; BlackSheep Update; RootsWeb Status; How to Help RootsWeb); Connecting through RootsWeb; Geek Speak; New Mailing Lists; New Web Sites; Ultimate Family Tree Online Resources; A Texan Farmer in Australia. * * * * * NEW AT ROOTSWEB: THE OBITUARY DAILY TIMES has indexed more than two million obituaries from around the world since it began four years ago, reports Denis Savard, its founder and editor. GEN-OBIT contributors index obituaries from their local newspapers. These are gathered to make daily indexes of current obituaries. Approximately 2,000 obituaries are now indexed daily. Contributors to GEN-OBIT are usually family surname genealogists, and can request from each other a complete copy (personaly retyped) of a particular obituary. * * * APPRENTICE SYSADMIN JOINS ROOTSWEB STAFF. Last week, staffers Tim Pierce and Ellen Seebacher welcomed their very first descendant -- son Morgan James Nicholas Pierce. The littlest sysop and parents are all home and doing wonderfully, though it's amazing how much e-mail can accumulate during a brief hospital stay. * * * WEB ACCOUNT REQUESTS. RootsWeb is currently caught up on the backlog of creating new accounts. However, if you previously submitted a new account request and have not received your account information, please resubmit. We regret any oversights. To request a Web account please e-mail the information to: accounts@rootsweb.com MAILING LIST REQUESTS. USGenWeb and WorldGenWeb hosts may have FREE locality mailing lists for the areas they host and for that purpose may ignore the "Sponsors-only" warning on the list request page. Please request new mailing lists at: * * * BLACK SHEEP UPDATE. Jeff Scism wrote on 21 July 1998: "I am hoping the recent upswing in visits to the BlackSheep page has not overburdened Karen, Brian, and crew. We have counted more than 5,000 hits in the past 24 hours. This all goes back to the premier issue of Rootsweb Review (24 June 1998) which featured the Web site and the mailing list . The reporters have been living in my shower. I have given more than 20 interviews, and have been splashed across the Internet and papers throughout America. I guess I should blame someone. Thanks to RootsWeb for making the International BlackSheep Society of Genealogists a happy home." * * * A RootsWeb Member recently wrote: "I have been working under the impression that RootsWeb was a 'non-profit' organization that provided all of its good services via membership and contributions. When I posted a 'plug' for you today, I was told that you are NOT 'non-profit.' Will you clarify this for me?" This was Dr. Brian Leverich's response: RootsWeb has not been and will not be profitable in the sense of a normal business. However, we are not a formal 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation; we are legally what's called a "California Mom & Pop" sole proprietorship. Here's why: RootsWeb has substantial expenses: our servers and bandwidth cost a fair amount of money. Incorporating a 501(c)(3) to handle that sort of thing is fairly expensive, takes about six months to do, and most importantly requires a substantial amount of paperwork on a continuing basis. California Mom & Pops can be created for $75 dollars with no more than an hour or two of paperwork, and they require no additional paperwork beyond the normal bookkeeping that everyone does for the IRS. We figured most folks would rather that we put our time and energy into keeping the servers running, and that's what we've done. However, lately the financial side of RootsWeb has become enough of a burden that we've handed it off to a bookkeeper and CPA. That makes satisfying the legal reporting requirements for a nonprofit organization seem less intimidating, so we are now actively investigating whether we should reorganize RootsWeb as a formal 501(c)(3) nonprofit. * * * If you would like to help RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative by becoming a member, sponsor, donor, or patron, please visit: * * * * * CONNECTING THROUGH ROOTSWEB: We're all encouraged by the success of other researchers, and often another's tale gives us a new idea about how to approach our own research problems. Thanks to those who have shared their stories. Please keep them coming! * * * Terri Malinowski wrote the other day: Your weekly connection is wonderful. Thanks for all the information and the personalizing of your trials and connections. I've been freeloading for a month or two, ever since a newly discovered "cousin" in my own home state of Washington, Valorie Zimmerman, told me of this network. Since that time, I have connected with "cousins" derived from the BAYSINGER line (who arrived in America in 1770 and settled first in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, then Rockingham Co., Virginia, Breckinridge Co., Kentucky, and finally in Warren Co., Iowa, as far as my immediate ancestors go). These newly found "cousins" live in Corbin, Kentucky; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Indiana; Ithaca, New York; and Phoenix, Arizona. We have exchanged information and discovered a few of us descend from Johann Peter Baysinger, while others are from Johann's two brothers, Michael and Philip Jacob. We think they are sons of Jacob, a herdsman in Alsace. In fact, one of the searchers says the proof lies in Kutzenhausen Lutheran Church near Hermersweiler, Alsace. With that information, I wrote a letter in French to the pastor of the church, enclosing international reply coupons and asking if he could verify that three Baysinger, Bessinger, Böesinger brothers left Alsace in 1770 and emigrated to America. I sent the letter in March 1998 and also offered to reimburse the pastor for any record search, but so far have not heard from anyone. Anyway, I am grateful to you all for giving me the "cousin" connection and am ashamed for being a freeloader for three months. So I just subscribed a few moments ago. I'm going to start off in another direction to seek my Czech ancestry -- NOVAK and HANOUSEK surnames. Also my Scottish/Welsh/Irish surnames of STEPHENS, BROWNING, BAUGH and EDWARDS -- far more difficult because they're commoner names. This search is infinite. * * * Ian S. Cunliffe wrote on 22 July 1998 (23 July 1998 in his hemisphere): Dear Friends at RootsWeb, I must thank you for making available such a database as the Roots Surname List (RSL) at RootsWeb. I have only been connected to the Internet for about a month but my research has been on and off for 15 years. Many letters have been sent by me to various places and I have not been all that successful with replies, even though I included international reply coupons. To have answers come in from thousands upon thousands of miles away within, at times, a matter of hours is mind-boggling. Also, I have had about a 95% return of answers to my queries (about 75% with snail mail). Until about one week ago, all replies were negative to any connections, until a query about my wife's maiden name (CUNNINGHAM) brought a positive reply from the husband of a 4th cousin of my wife in St. Andrews, Scotland. He has been doing research on my wife's name for nine years, with all the branches from the early 1800s and some 970 descendants. He was only too pleased to find us in Australia and passed on all his information straight away. We were able to provide our information to him from the Australian end, from when my wife's family arrived in Australia in 1956. Another good thing to come out of it was that we were able to show my wife's father (Alexander Harley Cunningham, born 1920 in St.Andrews, Scotland, the only child of James Wilson Cunningham and Annie Hopkins LITSTER) all this information and he was then able to place many of his ancestors and relayed to us his early years and the happy times (and hardships -- his father died when Alex was very young). Four days later, Alexander died. We like to think that he passed away with these happy thoughts in his memory. Maybe making his journey from pain a little easier. Thank you so much for all this. All things work for the good of God. * * * * * GEEK SPEAK: Questions: Julie; Answers: Dr. Brian Leverich. Q: "I grok." What is grok? A: Read "Stranger in a Strange Land," by Robert Heinlein. To "grok" is to understand deeply, in sort of a karmic sense. It's Martian in derivation. Q: What's a "router" and what happens if you don't have one (or three)? A: A router is a very specialized computer whose only function in life is to listen to various "network interfaces" (ethernets, T1s, etc.) and to move packets back and forth between those different interfaces. That's actually a devilishly hard job -- big routers (the next step up from our Cisco 4500) carry "full routes" and can choose which T1 or ethernet to toss a packet to based on a continuous and real-time knowledge of the shortest paths to tens of thousands of other networks ranging from AOL to Joe's ISP and Burger Emporium. Routers are expensive devices: our Cisco 4500, as we have it configured, is about a $15,000 piece of equipment. Even the little Cisco 2500-grade auxiliary routers, and there are three of them here, are about $3,000 apiece. Q: And what are the associated CSU/DSUs? A: A CSU/DSU is essentially a high-speed modem that works with T1 wires. About 50 times faster than an ordinary consumer modem. CSU/DSUs aren't quite 50 times as expensive as a consumer modem: they're a relative bargain at about $1,000 apiece. Q: What is an ethernet switch, why do you need them, and what happens if you don't have them? A: OK, ethernet works like this. On old coaxial ethernets, all the machines share precisely the same wire and, if any machine gets sick, then the whole network dies. More modern "hub-based" ethernets have machines all connected by individual wires to a central hub. All the network traffic still goes to each of the machines (it's still a big party line), but if any machine gets sick then the hub disconnects it from the network. Much better. State-of-the-art "switch-based" ethernets, like the ethernets used in RootsWeb's network operation centers, have machines all connected by individual wires to a central switch, but the switch knows where each machine is and only sends packets addressed to that machine out the wire to that machine. Switch-based ethernets are *much* faster, much more reliable, and much more secure (nobody can listen in on the party line) than hub-based or coaxial ethernets. Industrial quality ethernet switches, like the Bay Networks 350T, are $1,800 each. And RootsWeb uses a number of them. If you don't have routers, CSU/DSUs, and hubs/switches, you can't put a server farm on the Net. Without the network infrastructure, the machines just sit there and do nothing. Q: What's a "rack" for the network gear? And why do you need it? A: A rack is literally a 100-pound, 84" tall, 19" wide aluminum frame, predrilled with maybe a billion mounting holes. You bolt the rack to the floor with huge lag bolts and brace it against the wall with heavy "ladder racks." Then you have a framework into which you can install routers, CSU/DSUs, switches, servers, monitors, keyboards, and everything else. You need racks for three main reasons. When you have a room with dozens of routers, CSU/DSUs, switches, servers, and what-not, your most serious single problem is simply organizing the equipment in some sensible way. In particular, you have literally hundreds of cables and you must install them right or the fire marshall shuts you down. (RootsWeb is inspected regularly.) Second, all this computer equipment gets hot as it runs. Open racks tend to make it easier to set your air conditioners (did I mention we also own air conditioners and other cooling gear?) to blow over your gear. Keeping it cool keeps it working better and longer. Third, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, and other things happen. Securely rack-mounted gear is less vulnerable to natural disasters than equipment just randomly strewn about. While they're just heavy pieces of aluminum or steel, the cost of racks does add up. The wall of racks in our main network operations center cost us about $2,000. * * * * * MAILING LISTS: To subscribe or unsubscribe from any RootsWeb mailing list, send an e-mail message with only the word SUBSCRIBE (or UNSUBSCRIBE) in the subject and the body of the message to [name of list]-L-request@rootsweb.com (for mail mode) or to [name of list]-D-request@rootsweb.com (for digest mode). For example, if you wish to be added to the mailing list for Lost_Newbies, send your SUBSCRIBE message to: Lost_Newbies-L-request@rootsweb.com For an index to most user mailing lists hosted by RootsWeb, visit * * * NEW SURNAME MAILING LISTS: BARBEE BILBREY (includes BILLBERRY) BORUFF BUSSELL CARLILE (includes CARLISLE) COLBY CRUSER DAMPIER (includes DAMPEAR, DAMPIERRE, DAMPHEAR, DAMPHERE) DEMUTH (includes DAMUTH) EMERY EPPERSON (includes APPERSON) ETCHESON ETHERIDGE (includes ETHRIDGE and ETHEREDGE) FUCICH GALLAGHER GREENE HOLMAN HOSEY JAMESON (includes JAMIESON, JAMISON, JAMERSON, JEMMISON, JEMMERSON, JIMERSON) JEFFREY (includes JEFFERY) KELLAM (includes KILLAM, KILHAM, KELLUM) KENT KINSMAN KITCH (includes KITSZCH) LIENHARD LINCOLN LUNDY LUSK MARCHANT McCULLEY MINESINGER (includes MEINSINGER and MEINZINGER) PINSON (includes PENSON) RAY RileyRelics (RILEYs of the Ohio River Valley) ROPER SADLER SAVILLE (includes SAVIL, SAVILL, SAYVELL, CIVIL) SHUMAN SLOAT (includes SLOOT, SLOTE, SLOT, SLOTT, SLUTE, SLUET, SLAUGHT, Van der SLOOT) SPRY (includes SPREY, SPEI, SPRAY, SPIES, SPRYE) STALLINGS (includes STALLIONS) STAPP (includes STEPP) TRORBAUGH (includes TRORBACH) VENEGONI WARNER WEBSTER WILLETT NEW REGIONAL MAILING LISTS IRELAND KILKENNY -- Kilkenny, Ireland LETTERMULLEN-GALWAY -- The island of Lettermullen, County Galway, Ireland U.S.A. AGS -- The Arkansas Genealogical Society Official Mailing List ARCRAWFO -- Crawford County, Arkansas ARCLEBUR -- Cleburne County, Arkansas BERENDO -- A list for people researching families that lived on South Berendo Avenue and vicinity in Los Angeles, California during the 1940s and 1950s. BVSCA -- Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association CAPE-FEAR-SCOTS -- A list for people researching Scottish immigrants to the Cape Fear region of North Carolina prior to 1850. COROUTT -- Routt County, Colorado MOSALINE -- Saline County, Missouri MSFHS -- Mississippi Federation of Historical Societies conf. NDPEMBIN -- Pembina County, North Dakota PAADAMS -- Adams County, Pennsylvania WASNOHOM -- Snohomish County, Washington VACHESTE -- Chesterfield County, Virginia VASMYTH -- Smyth County, Virginia VATIDEWATER -- Tidewater, Virginia WIWASHBU -- Washburn County, Wisconsin NEW MAILING LISTS (ETHNIC, GENERAL INTEREST, MISCELLANEOUS) ACADIAN-CAJUN -- Acadian-Cajun ancestries ACWGREY -- A list for genealogists and historians researching lines from the Southern states of the American Civil War. GRDB -- Genealogy database of German-Russians being developed by the American Historical Society of Germans from Russian (AHSGR). There are several hundred participants in this project. GermanRussian (Volga Germans) -- This is a list for people who are researching their Volga German ancestry. The Volga Germans are Germans who immigrated to Russia. Lost_Newbies -- This list is for people who are new to genealogy and/or the Internet. Turkish_Jews -- Bringing together Sephardic Jewish genealogists with roots in the former Turkish Ottoman Empire, such as Serbia, Greece, and Yugoslavia. * * * * * NEW WEB SITES: Some of these might not yet be accessible. If one that interests you isn't up yet, please check again in a few days or a week. > (the ~ [tilde] before the name is required) will work for most of the following. If not, you will find most of them at the USGenWeb Project or the WorldGenWeb Project . For example, if you wish to visit the Sussex County, Delaware Web site, visit: CANADA onhaldmi -- Ontario, Haldminand onheirs -- Ontario, Harrow Early Immigrant Research Society qcrichel -- Richeleieu, Quebec skmoosej -- MooseJaw, Saskatchewan skyorkto -- YorkTown, Saskatchewan NEW ZEALAND nzlscant -- South Canterbury, NZ U.S.A. alcoosa -- Coosa County, AL azlhgs -- Lake Havasu Genealogical Society, AZ cojeffer -- Jefferson County, CO desussex -- Sussex County, DE flcolumb -- Columbia County, FL gatift -- Tift County, GA inharris -- Harrison County, IN mnhgs -- Hubbard County Genealogical Society, MN mnhubbar -- Hubbard County, MN mnmahnom -- Mahnomen County, MN mnmarsha -- Marshall County, MN ncbladen -- Bladen County, NC ncbrunsw -- Brunswick County, NC neycha -- York County Historical Association NE wigreenl -- Green Lake County, WI yaquinadar -- Yaquina Chapter DAR, OR * * * * * ULTIMATE FAMILY TREE ONLINE RESOURCES by Kent Deverell, Palladium Interactive, Inc. Over the years, Ultimate Family Tree has been a pioneer in online genealogy. The first genealogy program to offer a seamlessly integrated product-based Website, Ultimate Family Tree continues to look for ways to harness the power of the Internet. Our two sites, and our new data-focused site at , encompass literally thousands of pages of helpful information and family histories. Among the many resources at http://www.uftree.com, you'll find dozens of useful articles, tutorials, searchable databases, and thousands of Family Web Pages posted by the Ultimate Family Tree user community. Looking for advice on interpreting name changes and spelling variants? Check our "How To's" section. And if you are an Ultimate Family Tree owner, you'll definitely want to check out our online support resources, message boards, and weekly hosted chat sessions. Our newest online genealogy venture, Ultimate Family Data Library, features an extensive, ever-growing collection of more than 55 million names. Many of these records, also available on CD-ROM, have never been available online until now. Searchable collections include land, will, and church records from several Pennsylvania and Virginia counties as well as the Social Security Death Index (SSDI). Stop by and search our "Master Index" to discover if we have the data for which you've been searching. If you're on AOL, don't miss the AARP hosted Ultimate Family Tree genealogy chat (keyword AARP) on Thursday, July 30, 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. (Eastern time), featuring Palladium Interactive's Sr. Genealogy Products Producer Brian Mavrogeorge. * * * * * HUMOR: Thanks to Sonny Vanderpool for sharing the following from "6th-Sense -- The Sense of Humor" . A TEXAN FARMER IN AUSTRALIA A Texan farmer goes to Australia for a vacation. There he meets an Aussie farmer and gets talking. The Aussie shows off his big wheat field and the Texan says, "Oh! We have wheat fields that are at least twice as large." Then they walk around the ranch a little, and the Aussie shows off his herd of cattle. The Texan immediately says, "We have longhorns that are at least twice as large as your cows." The conversation has, meanwhile, almost died when the Texan sees a herd of kangaroos hopping through the field. He asks, "And what are those?" The Aussie replies with an incredulous look, "Don't you have any grasshoppers in Texas?" * * * * * *WE ARE UNABLE TO ANSWER E-MAIL REQUESTS FOR RESEARCH ASSISTANCE*