ROOTSWEB REVIEW: RootsWeb's Genealogy News Vol. 2, No. 34, 25 August 1999, Circulation: 352,504+ (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 in the News; RootsWeb's Guide to Tracing Family Trees, Lesson 11: Tax Records; New Community Mailing Lists); Special Deal on Cyndi's List - The Book; World War I Draft Registration Cards at the National Archives and Records Administration, Southeast Region; The Coming Day of Genealogy; Connecting through RootsWeb; Mailing Lists; Web Pages; USGenWeb Archives Project; USGenWeb Census Project; Letters to the Editors; Humor; Reprint Policy DONATIONS HELP ROOTSWEB HELP YOU AND ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED. 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.) * * * * * NEWS AND NOTES AT ROOTSWEB ROOTSWEB IN THE NEWS. RootsWeb and the WorldGenWeb Project are mentioned in "Yahoo!" September 1999 Special Anniversary Issue, pp. 168-169. RootsWeb and the USGenWeb Project are mentioned in "The Olmstead Story," FAMILY HISTORY NEWSLINE (FHN), 12 August 1999. Recent articles are available at . * * * ROOTSWEB'S GUIDE TO TRACING FAMILY TREES ("RootsWeb Guide") . Lesson 11 is "Taxing Times . . . Unromantic records, but reliable, and sometimes quite revealing" . As in previous lessons (Where to Begin?, What's in a Name?, Using Technology to Dig for Roots, Death Records, Marriage Records, Birth Records, What Is the Question?, Misspelled Knames, Census Records, and SSDI), there are tips and links to resources at RootsWeb and elsewhere on the Internet that will be useful to everyone. RootsWeb Guide is NOT for beginners only. * * * 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 FORD-MUSTANGS Computers Community ICQ-USERS Crafts Community DOLLHOUSE-MINIATURES Family Community REUNIONS Folklore Community HERBAL-LORE, KENTUCKY-LEGENDS, STORYTELLING Food Community BEER-LOVERS, LOW-CHOLESTEROL Literature Community CHILDRENS-BOOKS, CLASSICS Living Community UFO-SIGHTINGS Music Community JAZZ Pets Community HEDGEHOGS, RATS Science Community RENEWABLE-ENERGY Sports Community BARREL-RACING, GYMNASTICS, ICE-SKATING Writing Community FAMILY-NEWSLETTERS NEW COMMUNITY WEB PAGES Sports SportMarks Web Page * ADVERTISEMENT * CYNDI'S LIST - THE BOOK. You've visited Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet . Now you can have CYNDI'S LIST - THE BOOK conveniently available on your own desk. FamilyStoreHouse.com, the online genealogy superstore, regularly sells this marvelous reference book for $49.95, but during this week's sale it can be yours for $38.95 (a 22% saving). Visit or call 1-800-725-5013 and ask for the RootsWeb Sales Department. FamilyStoreHouse.com will donate 10% of all sale proceeds to RootsWeb. This offer will expire on Tuesday, August 31, 1999. * * * * * WWI DRAFT REGISTRATION CARDS AT NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION, SOUTHEAST REGION (Date Issued: August 23, 1999) The following information is provided by the National Archives and Records Administration, Southeast Region, in response to recent postings on several list serves concerning World War One (WWI) Draft Registration cards maintained at our facility. Unfortunately, the original posting, and subsequent, altered postings provided incorrect information about these holdings and related reference procedures. To better serve the public and the research community, we provide the following information and guidance concerning the WWI Draft Registration cards: 1. The original cards, in excess of 24 million, were received at our facility a number of years ago. Upon their receipt, they were boxed and arranged by NARA employees. The original arrangement was by state, thereunder by county or draft board, and thereunder alphabetically by the registrant's last name. The cause for arrangement by draft board instead of county is due to the size of certain cities. For example, New York City had in excess of 180 boards, Chicago had over 80. As a result, we require a street address when searching for cards in most large cities. 2. The cards were later microfilmed by representatives of the Genealogical Society of Utah in the exact order they were originally arranged; each NARA regional facility has a copy of the microfilm for the states in the region that it serves. Any patron wishing to use microfilm will find the cards arranged exactly as they are in the box. The arrangement of the cards has never been changed. 3. NARA, Southeast Region, has provided a request form for these records for a number of years. The forms can be ordered via e-mail (archives@atlanta.nara.gov), telephone (404-763-7383), or in writing (NARA, Southeast Region, 1557 St. Joseph Avenue, East Point, GA 30344). 4. At a minimum, the following information is required from the requestor for NARA staff to conduct a search for draft registration cards: o Full name of registrant o Complete home address at the time of registration (to include county) o Name of nearest relative 5. Additional information, if known, which can improve the thoroughness of a search includes: o Birth date o Birthplace o Occupation of registrant 6. In July, 1997 NARA established an updated fee schedule for services provided to the public. The minimum mail-order fee for photocopies for each WWI Draft card was increased from $6.00 to $10.00, a fee which includes both sides of the card. Patrons need not request that both sides of the card be copied, and patrons need not submit a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) with their request. Walk-in customers can make self-service photocopies of the original records for $0.10 per side. Please contact individual regions for their policies regarding microfilm copies. These fees are copying fees only; there is no charge for searches when a record is not located. The staff of the NARA, Southeast Region, remains committed to assisting our patrons in anyway possible, including the timely and accurate dissemination of information concerning our holdings and services. The WWI Draft Registration cards represent only one of many significant collections of historical records maintained by the Region that are invaluable for genealogical research. For additional information regarding our holdings and services, visit our home page at . JAMES J. MCSWEENEY, Regional Administrator National Archives and Records Administration, Southeast Region * * * * * THE COMING DAY OF GENEALOGY by Jeff Scism, , Flockmaster International BlackSheep Society of Genealogists "Really BAAAAD ancestors make great genealogies" Knowing where we are from is the first step on the road to where we will be. The search for personal history and its relationship to our personal lives makes history come alive. The lesson of genealogy isn't simply a knowledge of what happened in the past, but also what we know about our present. Now and in the future the history documented and saved for future reference will be the known events of our contemporary past. Our views from the end of the 20th century will be classical perspective at the end of the 21st century. To put the concept in perspective, think about your family research and the documentation you find about your 19th century ancestors. How does that information impact on the data you are saving about the lives of the members of your current family? To research the past and store that information for easy future retrieval will be the legacy of today's genealogist/historian. A greater legacy will be the way we store information about ourselves. Making the research of our family's past a priority now but failing to document our own involvement in current history is shortchanging the future. Think about your ancestors of the year 1900, or 1800, or any year in the past. How many of us can say we "know" these ancestors? How many of us have "living" documents of these ancestors? Wills, marriage certificates, and short newspaper notes are a poor "story" of a life spent. How many diary and journal writers were there in our collective past? What was our ancestor's view of events of his/her day? Knowing the regional history of an ancestor, and "milestone" events, can give an indication of where and why, but to have the story in his or her own words is a priceless insight into the person's life. Now, how many of us have an ancestor's actual autobiography written in his or her own hand? Right now you are a family historian studying the lives of all who came before you. Are you documenting your own life in a "hard" form for the genealogists of the future, so that in the year 2100 your great-great-grandchildren will be able to say they know you? Documenting your life the way you would want your ancestors to be documented is the first step to being the person your descendants will know from the past, and a journal of your thoughts on current events will be a marker and a reference valuable to many, not just your descendants. Make the year 2000 the year that genealogy unites past and present for the future. Document yourself. * * * * * CONNECTING THROUGH ROOTSWEB. Thanks for sharing your stories. Although I've had a lot of success with RootsWeb resources in the past year or so since I started searching for ancestors, it was all pretty much heady intellectual stuff: a nice man on the Baden-Wurttemberg list found my great-great-grandfather's village in Germany and an Ortssippenbuch [village lineage book] that gave his ancestors back to 1580; after a whirlwind day with U.S. censuses that linked Iowa ancestors with New York, I sat at the computer that evening to find marriage and burial records from 1849 on the Wayne County, New York USGenWeb site; another contact through the St. Louis, Missouri list led me into correspondence with a German woman with whom I'm now investigating a dead-ended family line that's really tangential to both our trees, and that's a nice thing. When I read all the "cousins connecting" testimonials, I thought, that's nice but I know all my cousins and it'll never happen to me. Wrong. A few months ago I started looking into my husband's ancestors, only to discover that he and my daughter are the last living members of his maternal great-grandfather's branch of the family. My husband, not naturally disposed to genealogy, thought that maybe some people in his youth named NORTHFOSS were relatives, but he had no idea what the connection was. I scoured the family papers and came up with a rudimentary family tree and the theory that maybe great-aunt Hattie Northfoss had been a RICHMOND. The Richmonds (maternal great-grandfather's line) came from Butler County, Iowa, and I had subscribed to the mailing list already. Reviewing some old messages, there was a woman in Alabama who was researching Northfoss. I wrote to her asking about Hattie Northfoss's in Los Angeles, and as the old story goes, she wrote right back and said I had a match with her third cousin in Redding, California. So her third Northfoss cousin is my husband's Richmond third cousin, and probably the closest living relative he has on his mother's side, because the branches were much closer in previous generations. My husband, still not genealogically inclined, doesn't care much, but surprisingly I do. I've found a part of my daughter's family that she never would have learned about and gained a new sense of place here in Southern California that makes me feel much more "rooted" than before. It's wonderful to learn that there are living people out there who have the "other half" of the pictures, the memories, and the information, and that together you can be a "whole" family. From this experience, I gained a totally new appreciation for why we do family history. Thanks, RootsWeb. Cheryl Tarsala Los Angeles, California RootsWeb Sponsor * * * * * 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 interested in County Leitrim, Ireland, send a SUBSCRIBE message to: . NEW SURNAME MAILING LISTS ALLEN-UK (ALLUN, ALLIN) (in the U.K. only) BATTAIN BOHMBACH (BOHNENBERG) BOLLIER BORDNER (BORTNER) BRACKHONGE BRAUND COSPER ECKEROTE ETZEL GIDLEY GREIWE IMRIE JAECOOKES KOSHAREK LAMAISTRE LAMOREAUX LAMOS LEDERACH LINNEY MAWHINNEY MECHEN MURRAY-UK (MURRAY in the U.K. only) NEASE OSTERBERG PITTROFF PRESBURY (PRESSON, PRESTON) RIDSDALE RODNEY SCHIRPKE SHIPPEN WARMOTH (WARMOUTH, WARMATH, WORMOTH, WORMETH, WURMUTH) WELCHER WESTALL WEST-KY-MO (WEST families migrating from Kentucky to Missouri) WILKINSON-ENG (Wilkinson from England) WILLEMETE WUEST WYMORE ZIEMBA NEW REGIONAL MAILING LISTS CANADA NB-GRANDMANAN -- Bostron Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick ONT-STORMONT-DUNDAS-GLENGARRY -- The "united counties" of Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry in eastern Ontario IRELAND IRL-LEITRIM -- County Leitrim IRL-MONAGHAN -- County Monaghan SCOTLAND SCT-EDINBURGH--Edinburgh, Midlothian U.S.A. CA-CVGS-CIG -- Conejo Valley Genealogical Society (California) Computer Interest Group PAGENWEB -- Pennsylvania GenWeb County Coordinators PA-HILLTOWN-TWP -- Hilltown Township, Bucks, Pennsylvania TN-CIVIL-WAR -- Tennessee in the Civil War NEW ETHNIC, SPECIAL INTEREST, AND MISCELLANEOUS MAILING LISTS BIBLICAL-GENEALOGY -- Genealogy in Biblical times CELTS -- genealogy, history, culture, religion of the Celts * * * * * 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 Colorado Kids Project Web page, go to . ROMANIA romban -- Banat U.S.A. cokids -- Colorado Kids Project flwashin -- Washington County, Florida flwfgs -- West Florida Genealogy Society instarke -- Starke County, Indiana kygrant -- Grant County, Kentucky kysimpso -- Simpson County, Kentucky lastmart -- St. Martinsville Parish, Louisiana mocjeffe -- Jefferson City, Missouri nygags -- Genesee Area Genealogy Society (New York) panepgs -- Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogy Society txcarson -- Carson County, Texas txlgs -- Lancaster Genealogy Society (Texas) wapierce -- Pierce County, Washington * * * * * USGENWEB ARCHIVES -- CENSUS IMAGES UPLOADED LAST WEEK SOUTH DAKOTA. 1860 Dakota Territory Census. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/sd/census/1860images.html SOUTH DAKOTA. 1870 Bon Homme County Census http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/sd/census/bh-1870-images.html SOUTH DAKOTA. 1870 Brookings County Census http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/sd/census/brook-1870-images.html SOUTH DAKOTA. 1870 Buffalo County Census http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/sd/census/buff-1870-images.html SOUTH DAKOTA. 1870 Clay County Census http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/sd/census/clay-1870-images.html SOUTH DAKOTA. 1870 Deuel County Census http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/sd/census/deu-1870-images.html SOUTH DAKOTA. 1870 Lincoln County Census http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/sd/census/linc-1870-images.html SOUTH DAKOTA. 1870 Minnehaha County Census http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/sd/census/minne-1870-images.html SOUTH DAKOTA. 1870 Todd County Census http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/sd/census/todd-1870-images.html USGENWEB ARCHIVES - OTHER SUBMISSIONS MISSISSIPPI. Mississippi Marriage Project NORTH DAKOTA. Towner County Bureau of Land Management Records NORTH DAKOTA. Traill County Bureau of Land Management Records NORTH DAKOTA. Walsh County Bureau of Land Management Records NORTH DAKOTA. Ward County Bureau of Land Management Records NORTH DAKOTA. Wells County Bureau of Land Management Records NORTH DAKOTA. Williams County Bureau of Land Management Records OHIO. Geauga County Marriage Indexes -- Bride and Groom ftp://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/oh/geauga/marriages/brides/ ftp://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/oh/geauga/marriages/grooms/ OHIO. 1870 Mahoning County Census Index OHIO. Meigs County Cemeteries WISCONSIN. Sauk County Pension Application USGENWEB CENSUS PROJECT -- TRANSCRIPTIONS ARKANSAS. 1850 Bradley County Census INDIANA. 1850 DeKalb County Census (Partial - Franklin Twp.) IOWA. 1850 Fremont County Census KENTUCKY. 1850 Marion County Census KENTUCKY. 1850 Monroe County Census MICHIGAN. 1870 Keweenaw County Census PENNSYLVANIA. 1830 Bedford County Census (Partial - Belfast and Bethel Twps.) PENNSYLVANIA. 1820 Schuykill County Census UTAH. 1860 Iron County Census VIRGINIA. 1830 Middlesex County Census VIRGINIA. 1850 Tazewell County (Partial -- Western District) * * * * * 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. I've been at this genealogy game for enough years that I've learned a few things. One thing I learned, and which was reinforced while working on a degree in Computers, is the concept of "Hot Site and Cold Site." Basically, a "cold site" is a place AWAY from where you maintain your primary files/ equipment (e.g., at work or at a relative's home). A "hot site" is where you keep all of your files, hard copies, etc (for most of us, home). Many times, I have read of researchers losing their data because of a crash, natural disaster (flood is one I recently recall reading about), or theft of equipment. While a back up (floppy or zip) is nice, it doesn't help if the back up is also destroyed. Now, as before the use of computers, my cousin and I continue to exchange copies of genealogical items we have obtained (NARA record copies, marriage and death records, census reports, etc.) or received from others. Additionally, I make copies of relevant files and keep those at work (about 30 miles from where I live). In the business world, having two or more cold sites is not uncommon. So, for those who routinely back up their files and/or make copies of their files, the hot/cold site principle is something to consider. It may not save all of our files or records, but it's a lot better than losing many years of research. Mike Hardester <2lakota@pollux.gibralter.net> * * * * * HUMOR. Thanks to Stephen Treseder of Perranporth, Cornwall, who advises he is researching TRESEDER/ TRESIDDER and related names NANCARROW (Illogan), RICHARDS (Illogan), WOOLLEY, and DONNITHORNE, and who prefaced his contribution with these remarks: "Dynergys dyworth Kernow -- Greetings from Cornwall (and NO it's not in England, but England is next door to us). Thought you might like this story -- you may have to translate for those on your side of the pond -- after all the Brits and Yanks are two nations divided by a common language. Am I glad I'm Cornish :-)" The story: A drunk lurched into a pet shop and gazed around with glassy eyes. Eventually he picked up a tortoise (turtle to you), gave his money to the cashier and, thrusting the tortoise into his pocket, staggered out the door. Fifteen minutes later the same drunk waltzed back in, held out some money to the girl and hiccuped: "Shay Mish, jus' gimme two more of them crushty meat pies." * * * * * 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. 34, 25 August 1999. RootsWeb: BACK ISSUES OF ROOTSWEB REVIEW are available for download from and of MISSING LINKS from . TO SUBSCRIBE OR UNSUBSCRIBE from ROOTSWEB REVIEW and MISSING LINKS, send e-mail with only SUBSCRIBE (or UNSUBSCRIBE) in the message area to: .