ROOTSWEB REVIEW: RootsWeb's Genealogy News Vol. 2, No. 37, 15 September 1999, Circulation: 357,606+ (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: 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.) CONTENTS. News and Notes at RootsWeb (WebRing; RootsWeb's Guide to Tracing Family Trees, Lesson 15; New Community Mailing Lists); Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild Introduces the ISTG Compass; Connecting through RootsWeb; The Bee Tree; Mailing Lists; Web Pages; USGenWeb Archives Project; USGenWeb Census Project; Letters to the Editors; Humor; Reprint Policy * * * * * NEWS AND NOTES AT ROOTSWEB GENEALOGY WEB RING. On 8 September 1999 Jeffery Scism announced that Ken Bowen has volunteered to administer a RootsWeb-based genealogy Web ring. Sites that are in the ring are listed at: If you are an owner of a genealogy Web site hosted by RootsWeb and would like to join the Rootsweb Genealogy WebRing, visit: * * * ROOTSWEB'S GUIDE TO TRACING FAMILY TREES ("RootsWeb Guide") . Lesson 15, Tracing Your Immigrant Ancestors Back to the `Old Country,'" will be posted 16 Sept 1999 at . * * * 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. Collecting Community BARBIE-DOLLS Computers Community PAINT-SHOP-PRO Dance Community CW-DANCE, DANCING, SWING-DANCE Family Community LARGE-FAMILIES Folklore Community AMERICAN-FOLKLORE Health Community ATTENTION-DEFICIT History Community SAN-SIMON-VALLEY Music Community MUSICIANS Nature Community BUTTERFLIES Outdoors Community HIKING Pets Community AUSTRALIAN-SHEPHERD, BEARDED-COLLIE, CAVIES, COLLIE-DOGS, PET-LOSS, SHETLAND-SHEEPDOG Sports Community 10-PIN-BOWLING TV Community BRITCOMS, NOSTALGIA-TV NEW COMMUNITY WEB PAGES GameMarks * * * * * IMMIGRANT SHIPS TRANSCRIBERS GUILD CELEBRATES ITS FIRST ANNIVERSARY BY OFFERING TO THE GENEALOGICAL COMMUNITY THE ISTG COMPASS by Patty MacFarlane Prather As mariners depended on their compass, you can count on this special section of the ISTG Web site, which will act as a guide for all and make navigating the roots of your family tree a little easier. Harriet Rosch, resource coordinator, and her crew: Mary Rigali, Sharon Richlen Ballard, Bette Dew, Faith Gibson Tegethoff, Jan Mann, Jane Stauff, Kathy Stice, Barbara T. Grimm, Pat Lisk, Lynn Faranda, Regina Landis, Pat Becker, Penny J. Sabin, Rose Robke, Ruth C. Hakala, Penny Jansen, Deb White, and Maia Cowen are to be applauded for this wonderful addition to the site. Researching the data included in the ISTG Compass took more hours than we can ever imagine. Sheila Jensen Tate, production coordinator, also spent countless hours designing this Web site. The ISTG Compass is a site for young and old alike, with some special attention given to young people who are discovering the value of studying their ancestors and what they left behind, what they endured on the voyage, and how they began to build a new life in a new land. Some of the categories designed to help in your research are: IMMIGRATION & NATURALIZATION BY COUNTRYPORTS & OTHER PLACES OF ENTRY ETHNIC AND IMMIGRATION RESOURCES MARITIME RESOURCES - MUSEUMS/LIBRARIES PASSENGER LIST SITES EMIGRANTS -- By Surname EMIGRANTS -- By Group SHIPS SHIP TYPES & DESCRIPTIONS INDIVIDUAL SHIPS WITH THEIR OWN SITES SHIPPING LINES SHIP IMAGES (These are sites where you may view ship and nautical images/photographs/prints/etc.) SHIPWRECKS BIBLIOGRAPHIES, ARTICLES and MEMOIRS MAIL LISTS SITES OF GENERAL MARITIME INTEREST JUST FOR FUN and MISCELLANEOUS VOLUNTEER HELP SOME OF OUR EMAIL (A few thank you notes for our first year) ACRONYMS and DEFINITIONS -- coming soon. The ISTG Compass will be an ongoing project. The research began 10 months ago and is likely to continue for as many more. One year ago on September 15, 1998, a small group of volunteers began the difficult task of transcribing manifests from the National Archives and Records Administration, putting them on the Web site generously provided to ISTG by RootsWeb, where they would be freely available to all. Today, the Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild is 450 members strong, has completed its first volume of 1,000 ships' passenger lists, and is almost 500 ships into the second volume of 1,000 passenger lists. ISTG staff members Patty MacFarlane Prather, guild coordinator; Sheila Jensen Tate, productions coordinator; Pam O'Day, surname coordinator; Harriet Rosch, resources coordinator; Marie M. Davis and Mary Beth Arthur, coordinators of new volunteers; Meg Sibbrensen, interpretations coordinator; and David Anderson, correspondence coordinator have given many hours of their time and effort each day to the guild, its volunteers, and its Web site since the first list was uploaded on October 1, 1998. "Each and every guild member is essential to our success," says Patty MacFarlane Prather, guild coordinator. "In addition to the staff members, many volunteers take on the additional tasks of formatting the lists, managing data, and serving on various committees and crews which are critical to the daily operations of this highly visited Web site, which now receives more than 2,000 hits each day." The guild has received thousands of thank you notes from researchers who are grateful to find a Web site devoted to adding passenger lists to the Internet at no cost to them. "We are very grateful to the have the ongoing support and cooperation of Brian Leverich and Karen Isaacson and the RootsWeb staff, Sue Swiggum of Ships-L and Debbie Beavis of Mariners-L, with whom we have a good working relationship, and many other Webmasters with whom we have reciprocal sharing of information in order that it gets maximum exposure." "Like raising a child," Patty concludes, "it takes a village. While the work can be exhausting, the cost of maintaining the project expensive, and the deciphering of the lists frustrating, the rewards are great. I am honored to be working with a group of dedicated and selfless people who share a common passion." You can visit the ISTG Compass at: * * * * * CONNECTING THROUGH ROOTSWEB. Thanks for sharing your stories. This is a double-bank shot where both cushions were the wonderful people at RootsWeb. I recently joined RootsWeb's DARE mailing list. Barry Wetherington, DARE list manager, sent us all a list of 14 fellow DARE researchers gleaned from the RootsWeb Surname List at . I looked up each one and sent an e-mail to the ones whose DARE ancestors came from Arkansas. Three replied. One sent me the name of a woman in Missouri who had my DARE line. She had researched it back six generations beyond my dead-end, and had published a 50-page book of her findings. I bought a copy and now can trace my DAREs back to 1678 in Calvert County, Maryland. Ted Pack * * * * * THE BEE TREE At age 88 years old, and suffering some memory loss, mother suddenly remembered going with her father to hunt for bee trees. She is 92 now and is still active, with only short-term memory loss. This how she told the story to me. When she was a very young girl, grandpa made a device to attract bees that would guide them to a honey tree. It was a wooden stake with a shallow box on top, about six inches square and one inch high. He filled the box with some old honeycomb, if they had any, and also some anise (liquid) on it. With a compass in hand, grandpa would watch, and when a bee came to the box, they would see what direction it took as it flew into the woods. Grandpa walked very fast for a great distance into the woods near the family farm in Big Prairie, Newaygo County, Michigan with little Wilma hurrying along behind as fast as her little legs would carry her. Grandfather, carrying a cross-cut saw, would watch his compass and follow the bees path in a straight line (hence the term "bee line"). Mother remembers it seemed like a long, long walk, but she was so happy to be included in such an important task that she "didn't complain much." When they found the bee tree, grandpa, wearing a net over his hat, would saw the tree down. It was always a big hollow tree. They would then walk the long distance back to the farm house to get grandma and, carrying buckets and large pans, grandma and grandpa, wearing hats with nets, would scoop the honey into the containers. Even with the nets over them they got stung now and then. Back at the farm house, the usually barefoot children had to be very careful not to step on the still live bees that came back in the honey. Mother remembers they were everywhere. She also remembers that the honey required straining. She thought that dark honey was from older bees. NOTE: The World Book Encyclopedia says that the color of the honey is determined by what the bees feed on -- clover, buckwheat, orange blossoms, etc. Told by Wilma Hathaway Woodhouse to her daughter: V. Arlene Woodhouse Smith Frodey * ADVERTISEMENT * PERSI 1999 -- PERIODICAL SOURCE INDEX Get PERSI 1999 CD Index -- this is a must for all genealogists. Contains more than one million index entries extracted from more than 5,000 family history periodicals. Look for articles published 200 years ago right down to the present. Search by surname, article subject, county or state on your own computer. No genealogist should continue research without this essential source. Kip Sperry, Family History professor at Brigham Young University says, "PERSI 1999 is a monumental genealogical index . . . it is an exceptional value." Normally priced at $99.95, FamilyStoreHouse.com is offering this weekly special at $74.95 with a 10% donation to Rootsweb.com. Plus every order receives a free FAMILY CHRONICLES magazine. Order on the secure site or call 1-800-725-5013. This offer expires September 21, 1999. * * * * * 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 CAREY, send a SUBSCRIBE message to: . NEW SURNAME MAILING LISTS AGYAR BUKOVE CLAN-CAREY (CAREY-related surnames, including CARY, CARRY, CARRIE, CAREW, KERRY, KERY, KERRIE KEREY, and the ancient spellings of O'CHAIRDA and O'CAIRDHA) CROLEY GANO GARNAND (including GERNAND, GERNANDT, GERNANNT, and variants) HACKIT HACKLER HARMISON HOOPER-TENNESSEE (HOOPER in Tennessee in the 1700s and 1800s) LYGON PENNIMAN RISENHOOVER SLEEKING (includes SLEKING and SLEKEN) TEDROW WEKKING ZUEHLKE (including ZUHLKE, ZULKE, and ZUELKE) NEW REGIONAL MAILING LISTS IRELAND IRL-CARLOW -- County Carlow IRL-DUBLIN -- County or City of Dublin IRL-KILDARE -- County Kildare IRL-LEIX -- County Leix IRL-OFFALY -- County Offaly NEPAL -- Country of Nepal U.S.A. KY-FOOTSTEPS -- Original Kentucky source material, submitted to the USGenWeb Archives NFLASGA -- Researchers of families in and from north Florida and south Georgia NEW ETHNIC, SPECIAL INTEREST, AND MISCELLANEOUS MAILING LISTS GSG -- For current members of the Genealogical Speakers Guild. * * * * * 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 Adams County, Colorado Web page, go to . CANADA abgpags -- Grande Prairie and District Branch, Alberta Genealogical Society onbrant -- Brant County, Ontario CAYMAN ISLANDS cymwgw -- Cayman Islands WorldGenWeb Project NEPAL nplwgw -- Nepal WorldGenWeb Project U.S.A. cagshasc -- Genealogical Society of Hispanic America - Southern California coadams -- Adams County, Colorado copionee -- Pioneer Project (Colorado) kyjmcdar -- John Marshall Chapter, NSDAR (Kentucky) miccgs -- Cheboygan County Genealogical Society (Michigan) nypaemgs -- Enchanted Mountains Genealogical Society (New York and Pennsylvania) ohsckh -- Sandusky County Kin Hunters (Ohio) * * * * * USGENWEB ARCHIVES (N.B. Everything between a pair of angle brackets is a part of the URL.) ALABAMA AND MISSISSIPPI. Appointment of William Witherington, Jr., A Mississippi Territory Document, Signed by David Holmes, Governor, 1813. IOWA. Jasper County. Biographies from 1878 History of Jasper Co. IOWA. Jasper County. Slagel Cemetery, Buena Vista Township IOWA. 1850 Jasper County Census Index KENTUCKY. 1820 Harlan County Census KENTUCKY. 1830 Harlan County Census KENTUCKY. 1840 Harlan County Census OHIO. Cuyahoga County. People tunnel accident: Cleveland, Ohio (July 25, 1916) OHIO. Cuyahoga County. Obituaries OHIO. Cuyahoga County. Cemeteries OHIO. Cuyahoga County. Marriages OHIO. 1850 Fulton County Census (Partial -- Fulton Twp.) OHIO. 1850 Fulton County Census (Partial - Pike Twp.) OHIO. Hamilton County. Sampson Family Biography ftp://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/oh/hamilton/bios/sampson.txt OHIO. Tuscarawas County. Added History Files OHIO. Van Wert County. Added History Files USGENWEB CENSUS PROJECT - TRANSCRIPTIONS GEORGIA. 1840 Richmond County Census. IOWA. 1870 Palo Alto County Census. IOWA. 1870 Pottawattamie County Census (Partial -- Kane Twp., 2nd Ward, Council Bluffs Post Office ILLINOIS. 1860 Ogle County Census (Partial -- Flagg and White Rock Townships) KENTUCKY. 1850 Breckinridge County Census. (Partial - « Dist. 2) KENTUCKY. 1850 Hancock County Census. KENTUCKY. 1850 Scott County Census (Partial -- East part Dist. 1) KENTUCKY. 1850 Shelby County Census. (Partial - Dist. 1) MARYLAND. 1790 Worcester County. MICHIGAN. 1870 Muskegon County Census (Partial -- Fruitland Twp.) MICHIGAN. 1860 Muskegon County Census (Partial - Dalton Twp.) NEBRASKA. 1870 Adams County Census NEBRASKA. 1870 Hamilton County Census NEBRASKA. 1870 Kearney County Census NEBRASKA. 1870 Pawnee Reservation Census NEBRASKA. 1870 Polk County Census NEW YORK. 1860 Genesee County Census (Partial -- Bethany Twp.) NORTH CAROLINA. 1850 Chatham County Census(Partial -- Upper Reg.) PENNSYLVANIA. 1800 Fayette County Census (Partial -- Redstone Twp.) PENNSYLVANIA. 1830 Schuylkill County Census (Partial -- Pinegrove Twp.) PENNSYLVANIA. 1850 York County Census (Partial - Windsor and York Twps.) VIRGINIA. 1850 Fauquier County Census (Partial WASHINGTON. 1860 Jefferson County Census WASHINGTON. 1860 Kitsap County Census WASHINGTON. 1860 Klickitat 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. I enjoy reading letters and articles about ways to share the results of our family history research in an interesting and accessible way with family members. Readers may be interested in an approach that I used. At my father's 90th birthday celebrations last year I handed out to everybody a copy of "The George Times." This was a 4-page, legal-size "newspaper" I'd prepared full of photos and short articles about my father, George Rutherford's, 90 years. It started with an item headed "It's a Boy!", which I wrote in the style of a birth announcement -- together with a baby photo. It continued with articles and photos about his childhood, youth, romance and marriage ("Romance at the Hendon Town Hall!"), work, family, war experiences, hobbies & talents, retirement, etc. It ended with a STOP PRESS announcement "November 22, 1998 - George is 90! - Many Congratulations!" I kept the tone and style light-hearted, but it included the major points about my father and his 90 years. I also included a couple of old clippings from a real newspaper about him -- as well as a postcard he wrote to "My dear old Pater..." at age 13. "The George Times" was well-received by my Dad, his family and friends. It was a way to share information and photos as well as a way to celebrate his 90 years. It's much better to celebrate a life while the person is still around to enjoy the celebration, than to wait for a funeral. Jill Jones, Kanata, Ontario, Canada Since there are a total of 46 chromosomes in the human genome, it might seem that, since we have 64 great-great-great-great grandparents if no cousins had married in the meantime, we couldn't be genetically related to all 64 of them. However, it's been demonstrated that genetic crossover between analagous chromosomes is very common, so because we have tens of thousands of genes, we can actually be genetically related to individuals much further back. This is actually rather complicated by the further fact that genetic variance between any two individual human beings is miniscule, being less than one percent! What a difference a few tiny genes can make. . . John Knouse Friends who do not have a computer have asked me to help in their desperate search. They recently lost their son to a very rare genetic disorder, thought by some medical researchers to be caused by generations-ago inbreeding. If anyone has knowledge of descendents and/or ancestors of PAYNE RICE, b.11/12/1790, possibly in Providence, Rhode Island, his wife, Margaret Mondale (or Mundell), b. 11/1/1790, or one of their sons, George N. Rice, b. 2/26/1829, Campbell Co., Kentucky, later moving to Union County, Ohio, please e-mail me. This could help in their search for health records that may save their grandchildren. lizzyo * * * * * HUMOR. Thanks to Peter F. Wells . The new settlers on the prairie finally had things to the point where they could think of applying some paint to the church they had built. They ordered the paint through a catalog and got up a work party one Saturday to do the job. However, as the job neared completion they realized they were going to run out of paint before they could finish. One of the members suggested that, since they had plenty of paint thinner, they could thin the paint a little and then it would go far enough to cover everything. The suggestion worked, and the cleanup process started. As they were cleaning up, the sky grew dark above and suddenly a tremendous downpour occurred which washed all the paint off the church. There was a bolt oflightning, and a thunderous voice intoned "Repaint and thin no more!" * * * * * 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. 37, 15 September 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: .