ROOTSWEB REVIEW: RootsWeb's Genealogy News Vol. 2, No. 31, 4 August 1999, Circulation: 344,915+ (c) 1999 RootsWeb.com, Inc. RootsWeb.com, Inc., P.O. Box 6798, Frazier Park, CA 93222-6798 Editors: Julia M. Case and Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG RootsWeb HelpDesk: CONTENTS. News and Notes at RootsWeb (RootsWeb Introduces GenSeeker; RootsWeb Banner Design Contest; New Community Mailing Lists and Web Pages; RootsWeb's Guide to Tracing Family Trees, Lesson Eight: Support RootsWeb with a Click); Connecting through RootsWeb; Mailing Lists; Web Pages; USGenWeb Archives Project; USGenWeb Census Project; Letters to the Editors; Advertisements; Humor; Reprint Policy * * * * * NEWS AND NOTES AT ROOTSWEB ROOTSWEB INTRODUCES GENSEEKER, a new search engine that accesses almost all sites at RootsWeb and many genealogical sites elsewhere on the Web. These searches are more than three times faster than they were before we upgraded the CPU and disk subsystem. Access GenSeeker at . The amount of material accessed by GenSeeker is huge and will grow quickly as this search engine indexes an ever-increasing number of Web sites. Try GenSeeker often to find new items of interest. GenSeeker is a good example of your contributions at work to make free genealogical data accessible on the Web. * * * DONATIONS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED AND HELP ROOTSWEB HELP YOU. For details about support levels, benefits, and payment options, visit or e-mail . RootsWeb's mailing address is: RootsWeb.com, Inc., P.O. Box 6798, Frazier Park, CA 93222-6798. (Please write your e-mail address on correspondence and checks.) * * * ROOTSWEB BANNER CONTEST. Feel creative? Design a banner (468x60 pixels) urging contributions to RootsWeb. If it has the highest click-through rate for the month of September 1999, you will win a dinner for two (up to $200 value) at the restaurant of your choice paid for personally by RootsWeb's CEO, Bob Tillman. Send your banners to: by 31 August 1999. We will run all banners that are not outright offensive. Hint: Bob has a quirky sense of humor. * * * NEW COMMUNITY MAILING LISTS. New community mailing lists are listed at as soon as they are established. You can subscribe to a list at that page. Autos Community HOTRODS Crafts Community GLASS-CRAFTS Food Community DIABETIC-COOKING, VEGETARIAN Games Community BOARD-GAMES, COMPUTER-GAMES Gardening Community ORGANIC-GARDENING Health Community NUTRITION Living Community ENTERTAINING, LIVING Radio Community TALK-RADIO Technology Community PALM-PILOT NEW COMMUNITY WEB PAGES Hedgehog Lizard Rats/Rodents Snake * * * ROOTSWEB'S GUIDE TO TRACING FAMILY TREES ("RootsWeb Guide") . Lesson Eight is "Misspeld Knames: A Commun Probblem for Reeserchors -- Why U Can't Find Them." As in previous lessons (Where to Begin?, What's in a Name?, Using Technology to Trace Family Trees, Vital Records: Death, Vital Records: Marriage, Vital Records: Birth, and What Is the Question?), there are links to resources at RootsWeb and elsewhere on the Internet that will be useful to everyone. . * * * SUPPORT ROOTSWEB WITH A CLICK. You can support RootsWeb and free genealogy online by going to and clicking on the "Show me commercial banners" option. This activates certain extra commercial banners on Surname Helper, GenConnect, and search-engine pages, which generate revenue for RootsWeb. This in turn enables RootsWeb to obtain the funds for more free genealogical material and to provide better services to online genealogists. Thank you for supporting RootsWeb. * * * SUPPORT FREE GENEALOGY DATA. Buy an Ancestry.com subscription through RootsWeb. RootsWeb has joined the Ancestry.com Affiliate Program. RootsWeb will receive subscription revenues for all Ancestry.com subscriptions purchased through RootsWeb. The more subscriptions purchased, the higher the percentage of revenues earned by RootsWeb. The primary goal of RootsWeb is to provide free genealogy data on the Web. We recognize, however, that genealogy publishers like Ancestry.com provide a real service to the genealogy community by funding the development of data that otherwise would not be available. "We are very excited for the opportunity to work with RootsWeb," said Curt Allen, CEO of Ancestry.com. "This program will provide the genealogy community a new wealth of online family history data and continue to bring families together in search of their heritage." By purchasing an Ancestry.com subscription through RootsWeb, you contribute to RootsWeb -- at no incremental cost to yourself -- while obtaining access to a valuable resource. **IMPORTANT** RootsWeb only receives credit for your purchase if you click through to Ancestry.com from an affiliate link or through the following URL: . Please note that RootsWeb does not receive credit if you click through from one of the banners at the top of many of its pages. Webmasters can help RootsWeb by placing an Ancestry.com search template on their Web sites. This button can be obtained at . If you have been thinking of purchasing an Ancestry.com subscription, why not buy it through RootsWeb and support free genealogy data on the Web? * * * * * CONNECTING THROUGH ROOTSWEB. Thanks for sharing your stories. I've had so many success stories that it's hard to know where to start. The one that I'm proudest of is finding a first cousin, twice removed on March 28, 1999. I had family in Hamilton Co., Texas and had put a query on its GenConnect board. Elreeta Weathers and her husband are the Web masters for that county and Elreeta even does research on her own to try to answer the queries. She gave me marriage records and obituaries that helped me. About a week later, my grandfather's first cousin got on GenConnect, saw the information and my response to it, and e-mailed me that his mother was Katie Bell BARNES. I sent him my BARNES files immediately and he called the next day. We talked for a while and about a week later he told me of a BARNES reunion that was going to be at Meridian State Park on Memorial Day weekend. I had never met or known about any of these cousins even though I had grown up less than 100 miles from where they lived. Now I live 1,100 miles away and hadn't been back to Texas in about five years. We met them and had a really nice but all too short visit. Their knowledge of our family genealogy had been hampered by bad experiences in the family so we have been sharing and piecing things together. I even found out what the middle initial of my great-great-grandfather was and where he died, although my illusions of him have been shattered and I now know why there are no pictures of him to be found, but that's part of our heritage also. Now we've gotten past him and they know that our PELT heritage is Dutch instead of an English immigrant in the 1800s. This whole line has opened up so much for me through RootsWeb, even more than I have been able to relate here. Elaine Blackman * * * Look what I got today. There is nothing to this genealogy thing. Just open up your mailbog [sic] and in it flows . Myra V. Gormley Re: A Little Genealogy Gift Dear Myra: I have a page in the New York section for New York in the Civil War . It also comes up under New York in the Civil War on the New York Web site. I have submitted a major collection on men who served in other states and are buried in New York State. For more than 20 years I was historian for Seneca County, New York and I retired about two years ago to pursue my avocation of collecting data on the men of New York who served in the Civil War. I have information on about 150,000 men on my hard drive and add more every day. . . I greatly enjoyed trying to help people find their roots and, before I retired, I microfilmed the records I had accumulated. I have copied all the Vanderpools and Gormleys I have in my Civil War collection and the few I have in the Seneca County genealogy. Thanks again for your wonderful column. Betty Auten bauten@lynnet.com * * * * * MAILING LISTS. For an index to most user mailing lists hosted by RootsWeb, visit . IF YOU DO NOT HAVE WEB ACCESS but would like to know if a RootsWeb-hosted mailing list exists for a particular surname, send a SUBSCRIBE request in accordance with the instructions below, filling in the desired surname where the example shows [name of list]. If the list exists, you will receive confirmation that your address has been added to the list. If the list does not exist, your message will bounce back to you with a message advising there is no such address. Try alternate spellings. 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 "Contributors only" warning on the list request page. Please request new mailing lists at: TO SUBSCRIBE OR UNSUBSCRIBE from any RootsWeb-hosted 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 are researching Baptists, send a SUBSCRIBE message to: . IF YOU ARE TRYING TO CONTACT THE PERSON WHO MANAGES a RootsWeb mailing list, remove the -L or -D from the list address, and replace it with -admin. FOR EXAMPLE, to reach the BAPTIST-ROOTS-L list administrator, write to BAPTIST-ROOTS-admin@rootsweb.com. * * * * * 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. FOR EXAMPLE, to visit the Northern Ireland Web page, go to . CANADA skwheat -- Saskatchewan Wheat Pool calendar maps IRELAND nirwgw -- Northern Ireland SCOTLAND sctroc -- Ross and Cromarty U.S.A. ilpip1gs -- PIP Chapter 1 (Illinois) -- a.k.a. "Pursuing Our Italian Names Together in Person" lacivwar -- Civil War -- Louisiana mtcarter -- Carter County, Montana mtcuster -- Custer County, Montana mtfallon -- Fallon County, Montana pasepags -- Southeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society (SEPA) tnwilson -- Wilson County, Tennessee wirock -- Rock County, Wisconsin NEW HOME PAGES AT ROOTSWEB DOLAN-HEITLINGER Genealogy Lorrie PATTERSON's Family Passages PEARSALL Family Genealogy * * * * * USGENWEB ARCHIVES -- CENSUS IMAGES ONLINE [N.B. Some URLs are long. Remember that everything between the angle brackets is a part of the URL and you will have to cut and paste or type it in if it is longer than one line.] LOUISIANA. 1860 Calcasieu Parish Census Images Index WEST VIRGINIA. 1870 Greenbrier County Census WEST VIRGINIA. 1880 Greenbrier County Census WEST VIRGINIA. 1910 Greenbrier County Census USGENWEB ARCHIVES -- OTHER SUBMISSIONS NORTH DAKOTA. Mercer County Bureau of Land Management Records NORTH DAKOTA. Morton County Bureau of Land Management Records NORTH DAKOTA. Mountrail County Bureau of Land Management Records OHIO. Athens County Cemeteries OHIO. Athens County Unknown Cemetery OHIO. Darke County Updates (added history and more biographies) OHIO. Hocking County, Mt. Carmel Church Cemetery OHIO. Washington County, Goodman-Chapman Cemetery OKLAHOMA. Civil War Biographies (published 1907) USGENWEB CENSUS PROJECT -- TRANSCRIPTIONS ALABAMA. 1880 Chilton County Census (Partial -- District 1) GEORGIA. 1850 Elbert County Census (Partial -- Elbert District) GEORGIA. 1830 Hancock County Census GEORGIA. 1840 Heard County Census GEORGIA. 1830 Jefferson County Census GEORGIA. 1840 Washington County Census ILLINOIS. 1870 Fulton County Census (Partial -- Astoria, Banner, Bernadotte, Buckheart Townships) INDIANA. 1850 Boone County INDIANA. 1850 DeKalb County (Partial -- Union Township) KENTUCKY. 1850 Pike County MARYLAND. 1790 Queen Anne's County MISSISSIPPI. 1830 Greene County Census MISSISSIPPI. 1840 Greene County Census MISSISSIPPI. 1840 Jasper County Census NEW YORK. 1860 Genesee County Census (Partial -- LeRoy Township) NORTH CAROLINA. 1850 Stokes County Census PENNSYLVANIA. 1830 Bedford County Census (Partial -- Air, Dublin and McConnellsburg Townships) PENNSYLVANIA. 1810 Cambria County Census PENNSYLVANIA. 1870 Cambria County Census (Partial -- Summerhill Township) PENNSYLVANIA. 1800 Fayette County Census (Partial -- German Townships) PENNSYLVANIA. 1800 Fayette County Census (Partial -- Franklin Township) PENNSYLVANIA. 1850 York County Census (Partial -- North Ward York Borough, Paradise Township) TEXAS. 1870 Stephens County Census WYOMING. 1920 Sweetwater County Census (Partial -- Districts 79, 80, 81) VIRGINIA. 1810 Middlesex County Census * * * * * LETTERS TO THE EDITORS may be posted to the GenConnect board at http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/RWR-LettersToTheEditor or sent to RWR-Editors@rootsweb.com. In my late father's papers I found a newspaper photo from February 1944 taken by a PEORIA JOURNAL STAR photographer because my dad was from that area. It shows a group of men as they were taken by troop train to the Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver after being hurt in battle. I will ask my cousin to scan this photo and, if possible family members or friends of any of these men write to me, I will send them a copy of the scanned photo. It is not in great condition, but who/what is after 55 years? Here are the names of these World War II heroes: Pvt. D. PATTERSON (African American), North Carolina; PFC Allen DIX, Massachusetts; PFC Carl CAREY, Michigan; Pvt. Walter J. PARKS, Canton, Illinois (my father); Cpl. D. ROBINSON, Indiana; Pvt. G. CARNAHAN, Louisiana; Sgt. D. J. BARBATOSTA, Chicago, Illinois; Sgt. M. MUNSCH, Pennsylvania; Cpl. John FARINA, New York; and PFC H. E. SCHUYLER, Indiana. Roxanne Parks Garrett * * * * * HUMOR. Thanks to Dan Galvin for this one. Any fool can know. The point is to understand. --Albert Einstein * * ADVERTISEMENT * * IGIREAD is an excellent, inexpensive program that reads files created from the IGI component of the "Family Search" program on CD-ROM, then transfers them to commercial programs. Details at . * * ADVERTISEMENT * * Finding Your Immigrant Ancestors Expand the Reach of Your Research with Ship Passenger Lists by Soren Rasmussen The Broderbund Home Productivity unit of Mattel, Inc. Since the first new settlers arrived in America several centuries ago, people have been coming to the United States for a variety of reasons: to find land to farm, to get an education or a better job, to earn money to send home, to practice their religion freely, or to escape famine or war. Others came by force. Whatever the cause or reasons, this immigration is what made America the melting pot that it is today. There are several ways to continue tracing your family's history once you have gone back to an ancestor's arrival in the United States. The best overall sources for immigration information are ship passenger lists. Beginning in 1900, the U.S. Census recorded the number of years an individual had been in the United States. Church and naturalization records and passport applications are also good sources. Passenger lists generally provide an individual's date of arrival into the United States. However, when using passenger lists, you should be aware of their limitations: many lists have been lost or destroyed over the years. The government did not require passenger lists until 1820, so the records for pre-1820 immigrants are more sporadic, and the information on these lists varies greatly. Some lists may be difficult to locate. The National Archives collection mainly includes lists for Atlantic and Gulf ports in the post-1820 period, and there are large gaps in the records for most ports. Pre-1820 lists are scattered in libraries, historical societies, and other archives. You may need to check with several libraries and genealogical societies before you can locate the list that you need. Records for individuals entering through Canada and Mexico were not kept until the early 1900s, so if an individual first went to one of those countries and then entered the United States, you may not find them. To locate your ancestor on a passenger list, you must first find his or her name in an index. There is no single index for all passenger lists, but the most complete index is PASSENGER AND IMMIGRATION LISTS INDEX, by P. William Filby and Mary K. Meyer, which is available on Family Archive CD #354 from The Learning Company . There are many other indexes, some of which concentrate on a specific group of people, such as Germans, or on a specific port of arrival, such as Boston. It is possible that you will need to search through several indexes before you locate your ancestor. Check with your local public library, genealogy library, and other resources to see what types of indexes they have. A few examples of specialized indexes are in the list below. THE FAMINE IMMIGRANTS: LISTS OF IRISH IMMIGRANTS ARRIVING AT THE PORT OF NEW YORK, 1846-1851, Ira A. Glazier, editor. GERMANS TO AMERICA: LISTS OF PASSENGERS ARRIVING AT U.S. PORTS, 1850-1872, Ira A. Glazier and P. William Filby, editors. DUTCH IMMIGRANTS IN UNITED STATES SHIP PASSENGER MANIFESTS, 1820-1880, Robert P. Swierenga THE WUERTTEMBERG EMIGRATION INDEX, 1750-1900, Trudy Schenk and Rutch Froelke, compilers. To use most indexes, you need to know the name of the immigrant and the approximate date of arrival into the United States. From the index, you can find different types of information, often including the individual's age and port of entry, as well as the source of the information. If the arrival was after 1820, the source of information normally includes a microfilm roll number that you can look up through the National Archives. If the arrival was before 1820, the index will give you information about where the list was published so that you can locate it. To find a pre-1820 list, you may have to contact several libraries or archives. Once you locate the list and are certain that the individual on the list is your ancestor, you may identify your ancestor's ethnicity, last place of residence, birthplace, or place of departure, depending on the passenger list. To look at passenger lists held by the National Archives, you must either go to, or contact, the National Archives regional branch in your area or the National Archives in Washington, D.C. The passenger ship list holdings for the Regional branches vary, so you should call before you go. You can also order copies of passenger lists from the National Archives themselves. Chapter 2 of the GUIDE TO GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH IN THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES, published by the National Archives, lists all of the ports of entry for which the National Archives has lists and/or indexes. Write to: Reference Services Branch (NNIR), National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C. 20408. Request a copy of NATF Form 81. You will need to fill out and return this form to order a copy of a particular list. * * ADVERTISEMENT * * PRESERVE YOUR FAMILY HISTORY IN A SECURE ENVIRONMENT. While the ability to post genealogical information online has made it easier to share data over long distances, there are drawbacks too. It is unsafe and unwise to post personal information on living family members on the Web. Then there are those who would take your hard work, post or publish it, and call it their own. Wouldn't it be great if there was a place where you could post your data and only share your personal data with the people you know and trust? Well there is. It is called MyFamily.com and it allows you to post your information on a secure site where only the people you invite will be able to access it. Post your GEDCOM file on the site and share it with family members and trusted friends across the country and around the world. It can be easily viewed by your guests in the MyFamily Pedigree Viewer, with no extra software downloads necessary. Share family stories in the Family History feature and invite your guests to share their stories. Post your latest findings on the message board, then invite your guests to a MyFamily chat to brainstorm ways around that brick wall you've been having trouble with. Old (and new) photos can be scanned in and posted in the family album. Find out if anyone recognizes that guy sitting next to grandma in that old photograph you found. Share those old family recipes that everyone loves and keep family traditions alive with the MyFamily recipe file. Keep track of family birthdays and events on your site and receive reminders via e-mail. But your MyFamily.com site does not have to be for adults only. Your site provides a safe place for kids to interact with cousins, grandparents, aunts, and uncles online. They'll love the "Show & Tell" area where they can post scanned images of their artwork, audio files, and video clips of their latest accomplishments. Show children and grandchildren photos of their ancestors in the family album, and share stories from your family history that reference these photos. Then show them how they are related to these people from long ago with the pedigree viewer. What a great way to stir the interest of the next generation of family historians. All of this is available in one place and best of all, it's FREE! Start your free site today at: * * END ADVERTISEMENTS * * PERMISSION TO REPRINT articles from ROOTSWEB REVIEW is granted unless specifically stated otherwise, PROVIDED: (1) the reprint is used for non-commercial, educational purposes; and (2) the following notice appears at the end of the article: Written by Previously published by RootsWeb.com, Inc., RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Genealogy News, Vol. 2, No. 31, 4 August 1999. RootsWeb: * * * * * BACK ISSUES OF ROOTSWEB REVIEW are available for download from . Back issues of MISSING LINKS are available for download from . * * * * * TO SUBSCRIBE OR UNSUBSCRIBE from ROOTSWEB REVIEW and MISSING LINKS, send e-mail with only SUBSCRIBE (or UNSUBSCRIBE) in the message area to: .