ROOTSWEB REVIEW: Genealogical Data Cooperative News Vol. 2, No. 1, 6 January 1999; Circulation: 247,200+ Copyright (c) 1998 RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative Editors: Julia M. Case and Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG * * * * * CONTENTS. News and Notes from RootsWeb (IIGS Newsletter; HelpDesk Tips); FreeBMD Hosted by RootsWeb; Geek Speak; Connecting through RootsWeb; Peering into the Future; New Mailing Lists; New Web Sites; New GenConnect Boards; U.S. Census Transcriptions Uploaded to USGenWeb Census Archives; Cemetery and Mortuary Records; Humor; Reprint Policy; Unsubscribe Instructions. * * * * * NEWS AND NOTES FROM ROOTSWEB IIGS (tm) NEWSLETTER. The January 1999 issue is now available at . Articles include "Genealogy As Story," "Another Great Library Resource," "No Shelves Here!" (about the completely digital Odessa Library, an online resource for German-Russian researchers), "Starting Your Research the Right Way," and "Query With Precision." * * * HELPDESK TIPS. Your new computer is connected, you've ventured onto the Internet, you've discovered RootsWeb, but where should you begin? RootsWeb has a Web page especially for "newbies" at , and the HelpDesk is always available at . * * * * * FreeBMD HOSTED BY ROOTSWEB by Camilla Gemmingen von Massenbach FreeBMD co-Leader FreeBMD stands for "Free Births, Marriages, and Deaths." The FreeBMD project's objective is to provide free Internet access to the Civil Registration index information for England and Wales. For more information see (please note the new URL). Why did we decide to ask RootsWeb to host the system? FreeBMD is a huge project with upwards of 120 million records to transcribe and store, all needing double keying, search engines, bandwidth to support the access requirements, Web space, and so on. RootsWeb is the future of free data access on the Internet. RootsWeb can supply the hardware we need today and is dedicated to scaling for next year and the year after. RootsWeb is responsive to system administration needs, providing software and technical support on the servers as well as on the associated mailing lists. RootsWeb is there in an emergency. We can confidently leave the running of the system to the staff and volunteers in our temporary absence. Because it's RootsWeb, people will find it and know it's a real project. Thank you, RootsWeb, and all RootsWeb contributors who make this possible. * * * * * GEEK SPEAK. Thanks to Ben Laurie , who kindly provided the following definitions of some terms used in Camilla von Massenbach's FreeBMD article in this issue. SCALING: The process of increasing a computer's capacity in order to accommodate increased demand for its services. This may mean increasing the number of hard disks, the hard disk speed, the amount of memory, the network bandwidth, the power of the CPU, or the number of CPUs. It could even mean splitting the work across several machines. Often a combination of several upgrades is required to have any noticeable effect. SCALABILITY: A measure of how much scaling is available before we run out of steam, money, or ingenuity. Geeks think that a "highly scalable application" is a Good Thing. KEYING: The process of entering data (usually when transcribing from another medium). Named after the keys on a keyboard, of course. DOUBLE KEYING: Entering data twice as a crosscheck (of course, if they disagree, you must triple key). This is commonly used where it is important that the keyed data is correct, or the original source is difficult to read (for example, a microfiche of handwritten records). * * * * * CONNECTING THROUGH ROOTSWEB. Thanks for sharing your stories. Just wanted to thank you for your site and all of the incredible information it provides. A lot of us want to find out more about our family backgrounds and ancestry, but it is difficult dedicating the time it takes to continue the search. RootsWeb provides the inspiration and interest on an ongoing basis that keeps me in the process. Thank you and Happy New Year. Peter Jesionek * * * My 1998 success story actually began late on Christmas evening in 1932, when, just after midnight, my father was born in Panama City, Panama. Although the details have not been verified, the facts remain that my father and his mother parted company, my father remaining in Panama with his grandfather and his mother returning to the United States. Family rumor states that my grandmother was married to an Olympic swimmer named McCann before the 1932 Olympics. She was an Olympic diver and apparently had an accident while preparing for the Games in Pasadena, California. She went south to Panama to recuperate at the home of her father, who was a Panama Canal pilot. Family rumor says while she was under anesthesia, her father told her that an adoption had been arranged for her son, my father, and that the marriage mentioned earlier was ended somehow, possibly annulled. Some time after this she went to New York, and my father remained in the Canal Zone. My father was raised believing that his grandfather was his "dad" and that the person who in reality was his mother was an older sister. He never had any contact with the "sister." Fifteen years later he was vacationing in Florida with his family when his "dad" had a coronary and passed on. His "mom" (who was not his biological grandmother) took him to California to be near her relatives. A couple of years later she also passed on, leaving my father without any family knowledge other than that the family was from Kingston, New York. In 1975 I began the search for my missing family history. I began the "old-fashioned" way by using a mailing list of people with my surname gleaned from the telephone companies. The name is rare and only 300 addresses were found, mostly in the South, but several were around Kingston, New York. I wrote them all letters and only received about 15 responses, none professing any knowledge of my father's family. The search stalled in 1988. In 1997 I finally acquired a 486 computer and an Internet connection. I restarted the search. I searched databases and Web sites; I joined RootsWeb and browsed USGenWeb. I signed up for the RootsWeb Surname List (RSL). I aggressively followed each lead. Still no success. I found a Query Board for the Ulster County, New York USGenWeb site, and I posted a query about my missing grandmother. I received a note one day from a researcher in Ulster County, New York, who had recognized the surname as the maiden name of another researcher she had known, who had moved to Texas. My correspondent copied my query and forwarded it to the other researcher, to whom "The Story" looked familiar and who sent me her line. I had found a second cousin. Our grandmothers were sisters. The bad news was that my grandmother had passed on 14 years before. The good news is there are seven half-brothers and half-sisters who are still living and with whom my father is now in contact. RootsWeb and the USGenWeb Project put my family, separated for 65 years, back together. Jeff Scism Listowner Bullock-l, Scism-L, Peffley-L, BlackSheep-L, and PROUD RootsWeb Sponsor+ * * * No, I didn't find a parent, brother, or sister through RootsWeb, but can I thank you for making it possible to "meet" a close ELLIS cousin who lives in Australia, who didn't know she had a bunch of American cousins? And for a close WHEELER cousin I didn't know about? And for being able to show my offspring and theirs, through WYATT-L, that my late husband's descent was as royal as mine! I'm expressing my warm feelings by initiating DEWITT-L, hoping it will give others as much as those three lists have given me in a short time. Roberta Hart Dutton, Lakewood, CO * * * * * PEERING INTO THE FUTURE by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG, Co-editor, RootsWeb Review Recently Mattel, the toy maker (Hot Wheels, Ken and Barbie), announced it would buy The Learning Company, Inc. Earlier in 1998, The Learning Company purchased Mindscape (producer of Family Tree Creator) and Broderbund (producer of Family Tree Maker), and then in December it acquired Palladium Interactive (producer of Ultimate Family Tree). What does this mean to genealogists? It appears Mattel is going to wind up with all of the genealogy toys, so to speak -- owning the major popular genealogy software programs and the companies that produce most of the genealogy CDs. Additionally, the "Wall Street Journal" in its December 17, 1998, issue announced that CMG Information Services, Inc., will invest $10 million in Ancestry for a 30 percent stake in that company. CMG is betting that genealogy is about to make a big breakthrough on the Web. However, the CMG investors are not talking about helping you find that long-lost ancestor when they refer to a "breakthrough." They mean making money. Where is all this going in 1999? I have as much trouble peering into the future as I do digging up the past, but it appears to me that the costs of computer genealogy (software and CDs) are likely to increase. Moreover, the price of admission to many genealogy sources on the Web is probably going to go up. Many surfers are already paying $5 to $10 per month ($60-$120 annually) to have access to various sources or finding aids. Many onliners are discovering their "free" Web space or e-mail account comes with hidden prices -- loaded with ads and their names and e-mail addresses sold to cyber-merchants. RootsWeb is one of the "Top 25" or so sites on the Internet and continues to swim against the tide by providing free access to huge amounts of genealogical data. Yet currently less than three percent of its users are providing financial support. If RootsWeb users contributed only $2-$3 per month ($24 to $36 annually) there would be adequate financing to maintain and build an incredible genealogical resource. If they don't, the future of Internet genealogy looks expensive. * * * * * DONATIONS TO HELP SUPPORT ROOTSWEB ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED. For details about support levels/benefits and payment options, please visit: or send e-mail to: . RootsWeb's address is: RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative, P.O. Box 6798, Frazier Park, CA 93222-6798. (Please include your e-mail address on all correspondence and checks.) * * * * * 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're interested in genealogical trivia, send your SUBSCRIBE message to: . For an index to most user mailing lists hosted by RootsWeb, visit . NEW 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: . NEW SURNAME MAILING LISTS BALLERSTEDT (BALLENSTEDT, BALLERSTADT, BALLENSTADT, BALLERSTEADT) BANDY BASSETT BASTABLE BEARSE (BEARCE) BEAUREGARD (BEAUREGARD dit JARRET; dit VINCENT of Quebec; BEAUREGARD dit DAVIGNON of Quebec; BEAUREGARD Toutant of Louisiane) BETTS BUZZARD CADDELL (CADDEL, CADELL, CADDLE, CATTELL) CARRICO CHECKLEY (CHECKLY, CHICHELE, CHICHELEY) CHIDDY DANNAR (DANNER) DECOSTE DITTMAN (DITTMANN) DONAGHY (DONEGHY, MacDONAGH, O'DONAGHY, McDONOUGH) DUNLAP FARQUHAR (FARQUHARSON) FEATHERS (FEATHER, FETTER, FETTERS, FETHER, VETTER) GAULDING (GAULDIN, GOULDING, GOULDIN) GRALEY (GRAYLEY, GRAILIE) GUTHRIE HALFACRE (HALFAKER, HUFFAKER) HASLETT HATHAWAY HECTOR HENDERSON-CANADA -- HENDERSON lines of Canada HERD (HEARD, HIRD, HURD) HUBER JACO JANES JEFFERS LANGHORN (LANGHORNE) LARRABEE LAYZELL (LAZELL, LASELL, LAYZELL, LAYSELL, LASELL, LAZELLE, LASCELLES) LEDLOW (LEDLOWE, LEDLOE, LEDLO, LEADLOW, LETLOW, LETLOWE, LETLOE, LETLO, LUDLOW, LUDLOE, LUDLO) LIGON LINTNER MACDOUGALL (McDOUGALL, MacDOUGAL, McDOUGAL, MacDOWELL, McDOWAL) MARDORF (MORTORFF, MURTIFF, MONDORF) MASTIN (MASTEN and MASTON) MATZ (MOTTS, MOTZ) MCCOLLUM MCELWEE MCKEON (McKEOWN, McKEONE) MCLEES NEEP NEGRYCH (NEGRICH) from Galicia (western Ukraine) ODOR (ODER) OSTROM (OSTRUM); OOSTEROOMs of New Netherland PEDLEY PEEK PENCE (PENTZ, PENSE, BENTZ) in the U.S.A. RADLEY (RADLY) RASEY REMINGTON RENNIE (RAYNIE); a diminutive of REYNOLDS RICKER SCOBEE SHEEHAN SPECK STAPLES TEVAULT (DEVOLT) TOCA TOTTY TOWNER TREAT TYO WALTON WINELAND (WEINLAND) YEAGER (YAGER, YAEGER) NEW REGIONAL MAILING LISTS U.S.A. CAAMADOR -- Amador County, California CABUTTE -- Butte County, California CACALAVE -- Calaveras County, California CAELDORA -- El Dorado County, California CAIMPERI -- Imperial County, California CASUTTER -- Sutter County, California CATUOLUM -- Tuolumne County, California INUNION -- Union County, Indiana LAEVANGE -- Evangeline Parish, Louisiana MDCAROLI -- Caroline County, Maryland MNWILKIN -- Wilkin County, Minnesota MODALLAS -- Dallas County, Missouri MOMACON -- Macon County, Missouri MSNEWTON -- Newton County, Mississippi NCHAYWOO -- Haywood County, North Carolina NDHETTIN -- Hettinger County, North Dakota NDCAVALI -- Cavalier County, North Dakota NVCARSON -- Carson County, Nevada NVCLARK -- Clark County, Nevada NVDOUGLA -- Douglas County, Nevada OHPERRY -- Perry County, Ohio PACARBON -- Carbon County, Pennsylvania TNROBERT -- Robertson County, Tennessee UTDAVIS -- Davis County, Utah UTSALTLA -- Salt Lake County, Utah MSWILKIN -- Wilkinson County, Mississippi UTUTAH -- Utah County, Utah UTWEBER -- Weber County, Utah VANEWKEN -- New Kent County, Virginia NEW ETHNIC, SPECIAL INTEREST, and MISCELLANEOUS MAILING LISTS AL-MOBILEBAY -- Mobile Bay (Alabama) area genealogy BYEGONE-TOWNS -- Extinct towns, communities, settlements GEN-TRIVIA-UNIVERSAL -- Genealogy trivia from any country (an offshoot of the GEN-TRIVIA-ENG list for sharing ancestral recipes, poems, rhymes, ditties, slang words, sayings, etc.) GHFHC-NEWS -- Newsletter for Geneva Heights Family History Center, Orem, Utah KY-DAR -- Kentucky State Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) members and potential members MGS-MEMBERS -- Mobile Genealogical Society (Alabama) members NC-ALEXANDER-ROOTS -- Alexander Co., North Carolina genealogy NC-IREDELL-ROOTS -- Iredell County, North Carolina genealogy NJ-MEMORIES -- For reminiscing about New Jersey TOLPUDDLE -- Ancestors/descendants/siblings/families related to James and George LOVELESS, two English Tolpuddle Martyrs WARBRIDES -- World War II war brides and their children * * * * * NEW WEB ACCOUNT REQUESTS. Please see the instructions at . 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. . Note that the ~[tilde] before the account name is required and will work for most. If not, you'll find most of them at USGenWeb or WorldGenWeb . For example, to visit the page for Cabarrus County, NC, go to: . U.S.A. flpolk -- Polk County, Florida nccabarr -- Cabarrus County, North Carolina HOME PAGES Ted CASH. Genealogy of BREMER and CASH families; also ANDERSON, BAHLMAN, BATTERMAN, COBLE, CORNELIUS, THISIUS CLIMBING the Branches. MCPHERSON, HARMAN, BRINSON, COLSELL, DEWHURST. GUILE, GILE, GUILES; especially descendants of Samuel GUILE of Haverhill, Massachusetts. HAKMILLER Genealogy. Includes BRADEN, CARLE, COLLINS, EDEN, LAWSON, and WEST. HOMME. Bernard W. HORN, A Tribute to. Dedicated to information about individuals who received the Purple Heart. JOHNSON Acres. Clay County, Kentucky genealogy of surnames EVERSOLE, BROUGHTON, JOHNSON, HUNTER, BYRD, and ISAACS. Elton and Bonnie LACEY's Family Home Page. BRICE, CLENDENIN, COVEY, HUSTON, LACY, LACEY, and YANCEY. PARKER. Samuel Henry PHELPS Family of Cordell, Washita Co., Oklahoma. PRYOR. Annette WOMACK. ESTES, GREENWOOD, BEVILLE, and HAND. * * * * * NEW GENCONNECT BOARDS. Link to GenConnect Fun Facts at . 654 new GenConnect boards were activated 12/27/98 to 1/2/98, as follows: ARCHIVES 6 BAHAMA ISLANDS 6 IRELAND 6 POLAND 5 U.S.A. Ar 4 Ca 3 Co 1 Fl 24 Ga 12 Ia 2 Il 1 In 5 Mi 4 Ms 3 NC 6 ND 1 Ne 1 NJ 6 NY 3 Oh 14 Ok 2 Pa 6 Tn 2 Tx 8 Va 16 Wi 18 WV 14 SURNAME BOARDS 475 * * * * * U.S. CENSUS TRANSCRIPTIONS UPLOADED TO USGENWEB CENSUS ARCHIVES . ARKANSAS. 1880 Sharp County (Lebanon and Strawberry Townships) * * * * * AND NOW, A WORD FROM THE CORPORATE SPONSOR. CEMETERY AND MORTUARY RECORDS (Part 1 of 2) by Brian Mavrogeorge, Senior Development Manager The Learning Company Americans rely heavily on the censuses for family group information. But when searching for children or women who lived prior to 1900 in the United States, these records are not reliable. Infant mortality was high, and children who were born and died between census enumerations don't appear on the census. If you are looking for a woman in the U.S. who died before the 1850 federal census enumeration, the only information you'll find under her own name might be on her tombstone or in a cemetery card file. Tombstone inscriptions, cemetery records, or undertaker records might be the only tangible evidence of these lives. The Family Tutor for Basic Genealogy Records , by Johni Cerny, offers this advice. Start your cemetery search by finding the names and addresses of churches in areas where your ancestor may have died. The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution has a Web site for locating cemeteries: . Churches with affiliated burial grounds usually kept records of interments in their ecclesiastical registers (sometimes called "Sexton's Books"). The local minister might be able to tell you where these registers are now -- in the original meetinghouse, a central church archive, in the possession of the heirs of the then-presiding minister, or at the office of the current minister. Also, thousands of church burial registers have been microfilmed and can be found in genealogical collections, or at the LDS Family History Library and Family History Centers. * * * * * HUMOR. Thanks to Sharon Chappius for sending this tale. THE WEDDING A little boy was in a relative's wedding. As he was coming down the aisle he would take two steps, stop, and turn to the crowd, alternating between bride's side and groom's side. While facing the crowd, he would put his hands up like claws and roar . .. so it went, step, step, ROAR, step, step, ROAR, all the way down the aisle. As you can imagine, the crowd was near tears from laughing by the time he reached the altar. The little boy, however, became distressed at all the laughing and began to cry. When asked what was the matter, the child sniffed, "I was just being the Ring Bear." * * * * * PERMISSION TO REPRINT articles from ROOTSWEB REVIEW is granted unless specifically stated otherwise, PROVIDED (1) The reprint is used for non-commercial, educational purposes. (2) This notice must appear at the end of the article: Written by Previously published by RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative, RootsWeb Review, Vol. 2, No. 1, 6 January 1999. Please visit RootsWeb's main Web page at . * * * * * ROOTSWEB REVIEW is e-mailed on Wednesdays to all RootsWeb Members, subscribers to RootsWeb-hosted mailing lists, submitters to the RootsWeb Surname List (RSL), and other RootsWeb users. DOWNLOAD BACK ISSUES FROM . UNSUBSCRIBE INSTRUCTIONS: If you would prefer not to receive future issues of RootsWeb Review, please e-mail: and put ONLY the word "unsubscribe" (omit the quotation marks) in the subject line and in the body of the message. * * * MISSING LINKS: A Weekly Newsletter for Genealogists, edited and published by Julia M. Case and Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG, is a free e-zine usually distributed on Fridays. Back issues are available for download from . To subscribe to MISSING LINKS, send an e-mail message that says only SUBSCRIBE to: Missing-Links-L-request@rootsweb.com * * * * * PLEASE NOTE: The editors of ROOTSWEB REVIEW, the staff of RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative, and the HelpDesk volunteers are unable to respond to requests for genealogical research help. ____