ROOTSWEB REVIEW: RootsWeb's Genealogy News Vol. 3, No. 1, 5 January 2000, Circulation: 384,415+ (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: Advertising: Public Relations/Press: DONATIONS HELP ROOTSWEB HELP YOU AND ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED. For details about support levels, benefits, and payment options (check or credit card), e-mail or visit Mailing address: RootsWeb.com, Inc., P.O. Box 6798, Frazier Park, CA 93222-6798. (Please write your e-mail address on all correspondence and checks.) * * * * * IN THIS ISSUE: o Announcements from the CEO o U.S. Presidential Pedigrees at RootsWeb o RootsWeb's Guide to Tracing Family Trees o Connecting through RootsWeb o New Genealogy Mailing Lists o New Genealogy Web Pages o GenConnect o USGenWeb Archives Project o Letters to the Editors o Humor o Reprint Policy, Back Issues, How to Subscribe/Unsubscribe * * * * * ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM THE CEO, by Robert R. Tillman o WORLDCONNECT PROJECT BLOWS PAST GOAL OF 12 MILLION NAMES UPLOADED BY 12/31/99. As of midnight on 12/31/99, 12.3 million names had been uploaded to the RootsWeb WorldConnect Project. By the end of the day today that number had grown to 12,978,259. Thank you to all RootsWeb users, volunteers, and staff who made this achievement possible. Thank you particularly to Randy Winch, the author of the WorldConnect Project software. o WORLDCONNECT PROJECT SETS NEW GOAL OF 100 MILLION NAMES UPLOADED BY 12/31/00. Given the success of WorldConnect to date, we are announcing a new goal of making the WorldConnect Project the largest and best repository of GEDCOMs on the planet, with 100 million names uploaded by the end of 2000. The WorldConnect Project, in connecting genealogists so that they can help each other, represents the essence of RootsWeb. Almost 5,000 dedicated genealogists have uploaded GEDCOMs to the WorldConnect Project. Some 380,000 people receive the RootsWeb Review each week. According to MediaMetrix more than one million people access the RootsWeb site each month. ANY of you who has a family tree uploaded to ANY of the major genealogy software packages (and almost all of the minor packages) can generate a GEDCOM easily. Each day you delay in uploading your GEDCOM to the WorldConnect Project is day that you may miss a breakthrough in your research or fail to help another genealogist. Upload your GEDCOM now. Remember that, unlike with other Web sites, you can revise or remove your GEDCOM on RootsWeb at any time and RootsWeb will never burn it onto a CD or charge others to access it. There is no reason to wait. Search the names already uploaded, upload your own GEDCOM, or find more detailed answers to your questions regarding the WorldConnect Project at o ROOTSWEB ACCEPTS GEDCOMs ON REMOVABLE MEDIA. If you experience difficulty uploading your GEDCOM for any reason, please feel free to send it on a floppy, ZIP disk, or CD to RootsWeb WorldConnect Project, 1001 Tower Way, #120, Bakersfield, CA 93309. We will upload it for you and send you notification by e-mail of your account name and password. Please allow two weeks for processing. Thereafter, you can change the viewing options at any time by going to o FIND UNTOLD RICHES IN THE MAILING LIST ARCHIVES. Last week, we systematically searched RootsWeb for the surname Mittelstadt. (You can find this very helpful template for searching all major RootsWeb resources in the December 29, 1999 issue of RootsWeb Review, located in the RootsWeb Review Archives as 19991229.txt at .) One of the areas that requires a more detailed explanation is how to search the Mailing List Archives. Currently, there exist messages in the Mailing List Archives 7.7 million e-mails from RootsWeb's 15,000+ archived mailing lists. Some of these messages date back to 1987. Many messages, even those a decade old, contain vital genealogical information. There are currently two ways to search these messages. The Mailing List Threaded Archives contains 2.2 million of the most recent e-mail messages from all of RootsWeb's archived mailing lists. One can search all of these messages with a single search at The Interactive Search of Mailing Lists provides access to all 7.7 million e-mail messages in the Mailing List Archives; however, the search process is more labor intensive. One must perform a separate search for each mailing list and for each year that such mailing list is archived. In addition, one must first know the name of the mailing list that one wishes to search. All genealogy-related mailing lists on RootsWeb are located at . In addition to surname related lists there are regional, country, state, county, ethnic group, and topic-related lists. Once a list is located, the user can search it one year at a time at . Do not forget to search all the years for which the list has been archived. When choosing a promising list to search, it pays to be creative and thorough. When looking for a particular ancestor, check out not only surname-related lists but also lists that relate to country of origin, places of habitation, migration routes, ethnic group, UseNet NewsGroup topics, and general interest topics (such as the Roots-L list at ). Wonderful gems turn up in the most unlikely places. Nevertheless, please remember that one must often mine a great deal of ore in order to find a diamond. Good luck and good hunting! o HAVE US SEARCH ROOTSWEB FOR YOU AUTOMATICALLY WHILE YOU SLEEP. How would you like to wake up each morning, pour yourself a cup of coffee, turn on your computer, log on to your e-mail, and be greeted by a list of hot genealogy leads relating exactly to your research interests? Now you can have your wish. When you become a RootsWeb contributor or upgrade to the $24/year level you gain access to RootsWeb's new Personalized Mailing List. PML allows you to enter multiple complex search terms and receive daily notification by e-mail of any new post that matches those search terms on any of RootsWeb's nearly 15,000 archived mailing lists, 140,000 message boards, and 780,000 RootsWeb Surname List (RSL) entries. This magnificent tool is RootsWeb's "thank you" to its financial contributors. o MEET NEW PEOPLE EVERY DAY. Volunteer to administer any of the numerous county and surname mailing lists and message boards that are available for adoption. To adopt a county mailing list or message board, go to . To adopt a surname mailing list or message board, go to . o BURY ACORNS, NOT YOUR WEB SITE. Don't squirrel away your Web site on some forgotten corner of the Net. If you have a genealogy or history-related Web site that is not located on RootsWeb, then you might as well have buried it. Search engines index only a small fraction of the Web, and then only infrequently. Link registries include only a small number of all genealogy sites on the Web. Move your Web site to RootsWeb, the largest traffic genealogy Web site in the world, and people interested in genealogy and history will FIND it (and they won't be harassed by pop-up ads). To date, RootsWeb has fulfilled 4,825 requests for UNLIMITED FREE WEB SPACE from genealogical and historical societies, family associations, individual genealogists, and others. Why not join them? The FreePages Directory (users' pages at FREEPAGES) includes much helpful information on establishing a RootsWeb Web site and is located at: . o DRIVE EXACTLY THE RIGHT USERS TO YOUR ROOTSWEB WEB SITE. Link your Web site to the relevant surname, county, state and/or country resource cluster at . Thereafter, a link to your Web site will appear at the top of whatever surname, county and/or state resource cluster(s) you have chosen. Users specifically interested in the information on your Web site will see this link whenever they use the RootsWeb surname resources at or the RootsWeb U.S. county and state resources at . This feature is only available for Web sites located at RootsWeb. o Do you have a "Mayflower" line? RootsWeb's WORLDCONNECT is compiling a list of the GEDCOMs submitted that have "Mayflower" families in them. Upload your GEDCOM to WORLDCONNECT and then send an e-mail providing the name(s) of your "Mayflower" ancestors and name of your WORLDCONNECT file to . * * * THe global display of WORLDCONNECT now shows parents and spouses of an individual. Check it out: * * * PRESIDENTIAL PEDIGREES. Are you a member of the Adams family (not as in Uncle Fester Adaams but as in John and John Quincy Adams)? Find out by checking this week's additions to RootsWeb's ahnentafels (ancestor tables) of U.S. presidents compiled by Gary Boyd Roberts, Senior Research Scholar, author, and reference librarian of the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS), whose areas of expertise include the ancestry of notable historical figures, royalty and royal descents, presidential and "Mayflower" genealogy, Rhode Island and Connecticut, the South, and printed sources. Books by Gary Boyd Roberts include ANCESTORS OF AMERICAN PRESIDENTS ($37.50 postpaid), AMERICAN ANCESTORS AND COUSINS OF THE PRINCESS OF WALES (with William Addams Reitwiesner) (Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, Maryland [out of print]), NOTABLE KIN (Volume One) [An Anthology of Columns First Published in the NEHGS "NEXUS," 1986-1995] ($34 postpaid), NOTABLE KIN (Volume Two) ($34 postpaid). The two NOTABLE KIN books and ANCESTORS OF AMERICAN PRESIDENTS are available from the publisher, Carl Boyer, 3rd, P.O. Box 220333, Santa Clarita, CA 91333-0333 (California residents must add state sales tax). E-mail Guess who would be eligible for Social Security January 8? Read the latest about some ancestors of the "King of Rock 'n Roll" that's been uncovered by a couple of renowned genealogists. Elvis Presley was related also to at least one American president. Guess who? * * * ROOTSWEB'S GUIDE TO TRACING FAMILY TREES. Index to first 22 lessons: Lesson 23, SCANDINAVIAN ROOTS (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland): * * * CARDS AT ROOTSWEB You can send free postcards to online friends and family. **PAID ADVERTISEMENT** FAIRBAIRN'S BOOK OF CRESTS OF THE FAMILIES OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND: First published in 1859, this 4th edition reprint has proven of great value to researchers looking for family crests and mottoes and is recognized as the only authoritative and complete collection of crests and mottoes in use. This is a book to be used by serious genealogists researching lines of nobility and royalty. Get Fairbairn's book on sale for $54.90 until January 12, 2000. BECOMING AN ACCREDITED GENEALOGIST: Whether you want to become a professional genealogist, or just have the proficiency of one, BECOMING AN ACCREDITED GENEALOGIST is for you! Author Karen Clifford presents a clear understanding of what should be expected from the efforts of a professional family historian. Even if it is not your lifetime goal to become a professional genealogist, this scholarly work will teach you what to expect whenever you hire a professional to assist your personal family history research challenges! Author: Karen Clifford, AG, 234 pages, 8 1/2" x 11", Softbound, ISBN 0-916489-81-7. Normally $20, BECOMING AN ACCREDITED GENEALOGIST is on sale for $15.95 until January 12, 2000. Place your order for these products on the secure site at , or call the Familystorehouse sales department at 1-800-725-5013 and mention Rootsweb. Familystorehouse.com will donate 10% of all purchases to RootsWeb. **PAID ADVERTISEMENT** ATTENTION WOMEN!!! Alleviate side effects of synthetic hormones, yet reap the benefits with Natural Hormones. Not "wild yam," but truly natural estrogens and natural progesterone. Compounded by a Registered Pharmacist into one capsule for your ease and convenience. Visit our Web site at . **PAID ADVERTISEMENT** Top columnists share their opinion of HISTORY Magazine with RootsWeb users. "I'll be crowing like a rooster about this new magazine."--Donna Potter Phillips. "I think you are going to have another winner."--Edward M. Knights. "I have read it from cover to cover with much interest."--Mary Fitzhugh. "HISTORY Magazine is a winner."--Tamie Dehler. "Articles are written in a style that appeals to the average person rather than the historical scholar."--Regina Hines. Find out what they are talking about by requesting a free trial copy at . **END PAID ADVERTISEMENT** CONNECTING THROUGH ROOTSWEB. Thanks for sharing your stories. I wish to contribute a happy tale of WorldConnect. I have an ancestress named Esther MOLER concerning whom I had never done much work -- the result of a vaguely depressed assumption that she might be a Miller, a Moeller, a Moller, a Muller, or a Mueller, while her father had the fairly common given name of Joseph and I didn't know where he had lived before they showed up in Kentucky in the decade after 1805 (Bath County being one of those partially-burned nuisances). I uploaded my databases to WorldConnect, and happened to use her name to check if all had gone well. There, next to my Esther MOLER (b. 1790-1800) was another Esther MOLER (b. Abt. 1794). I thought, "Could this really be?" Well, it was! The other entry led me to a descendant of one of Esther's brothers, who has devoted his genealogical life to the MOLER family and its peculiar migration from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, to Georgia, to Bath County, Kentucky, and then to Ohio. Talk about taking the long way around! They've never shown up on either IGI or any of the Internet search engines, so I am most grateful to you. Virginia Easley DeMarce * * * * * MAILING LISTS. For an index to most genealogy mailing lists hosted by RootsWeb, visit NEW MAILING LIST REQUESTS. 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, to discuss York County, Ontario, Canada, send a SUBSCRIBE message to: NEW SURNAMES MAILING LISTS, GenCONNECT BOARDS, AND CLUSTERS AMPLEFORD BAADE BABOCK BIERBAUER BLACKKETTER BOTTEMILLER BURSEY CESTARO COLLOSKY CROMPTON CUTWAY DARNEY DEONIER DOCKENDORFF DONIER EVERTON FRANKENFIELD FROSHOUR GERISCHER GOLLA GOTSHALL GOUCHER GREENLAND HAPPE HECTORNE HORRIGAN HUNTZICKER IWANIW JARESH KINSINGER KIRKUP KNEESHAW KOHR KNELL KRAHENBUHL LUCKABAUGH MAIDENS MANIRE MATTHYS MAYCHELL MCCARD MCNEER MEDBURY MICHUM MUCKEY NANNINGA NILSEN NIPPER PINTER RAYER RUMPEL SAFFOLD SAUVAGE SAXMAN TRYBUS VANDENBERGHE WEIGART YEAROUT YOWELL NEW REGIONAL MAILING LISTS CANADA CAN-ONT-YORK -- York County, Ontario ENGLAND ENG-SOMERSET-FROME -- Frome, Somerset MEXICO MEX-BAJA-CALIFORNIA -- State of Baja California MEX-BAJA-CALIFORNIA-SUR -- State of Baja California Sur MEX-CAMPECHE -- State of Campeche MEX-CHIAPAS -- State of Chiapas MEX-GUERRERO -- State of Guerrero MEX-GUANAJUATO -- State of Guanajuato MEX-HIDALGO -- State of Hidalgo MEX-QUERETARO -- State of Queretaro MEX-QUINTANA-ROO -- State of Quintana Roo MEX-TLAXCALA -- State of Tlaxcala MEX-YUCATAN -- State of Yucatan NEW ETHNIC, SPECIAL INTEREST, AND MISCELLANEOUS MAILING LISTS ELIJAH -- LDS Genealogy list MA-MVPGP -- Portuguese Immigrant Genealogy on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, U.S.A. * * * * * 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 WorldGenWeb Israel Web page, go to GERMANY deuberst -- Berlin Stadt IRELAND irlcnn -- Connaught ISRAEL isrwgw -- Israel SWEDEN swesspd -- Swedish Postal History Society UNITED KINGDOM ukuhc -- Ulverston Heritage Centre U.S.A. idsrfhc -- Snake River Family History Connection to UGA/Idaho nhctamwo -- Tamworth, New Hampshire (city) tn4cav -- 4th Cavalry, Tennessee txochilt -- Ochiltree County, Texas vapage2 -- Page County, Virginia * * * * * GENCONNECT. RootsWeb hosts many surname GenConnect boards that are in need of people to maintain them. o For a complete list of adoptable GenConnect surname boards o For the form to request to adopt a GenConnect surname board (the same form is used for surname mailing list requests) Have you found a genealogical treasure, such as a photo album or an old Bible containing a completed family record page, that you would like to see reunited with its family? If so, in addition to submitting a notice for publication in the "Somebody's Links" section of MISSING LINKS or in the SOMEBODY'S LINKS NEWSLETTER (to subscribe, send e-mail that says only SUBSCRIBE to: ) you also may post a notice about it on the GenConnect board at Don't get all lathered up, but there's a WYCKOFF shaving mug looking for a home at the Somebody's Links GenConnect board. * * * * * USGENWEB ARCHIVES -- THE ARCHIVES NEWSLETTER contains the current USGenWeb Archives submissions in the last week. January 3, 2000 issue USGW-ARCHIVES-ANNOUNCE is a read-only mailing list for weekly announcements of new updates and submissions to the USGenWeb Archives. It is open to anyone who wishes to subscribe. To subscribe, send e-mail that says only SUBSCRIBE to this address: * * * * * LETTERS TO THE EDITORS may be posted to the GenConnect board at http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/RWR-LettersToTheEditor or e-mailed to RWR-Editors@rootsweb.com. Dear RootsWeb, I want to send a donation in appreciation of the wonderful genealogy Web site. It is by far my favorite! I can't begin to tell you how much RootsWeb has helped me in my genealogy endeavour. I have found numerous cousins and made friends. I have had tremendous results with volunteers on the RootsWeb State Web sites, finding obits and taking pictures of tombstones to mention a few; there has been lots more help in various ways. Thank you for your continuing additions to help in finding our roots. Verla Pinkerton [Renewing RootsWeb Sponsor] * * * Dear RootsWeb Guide, Thank you for the excellent lessons. They have been a real boon, especially for me. I work at a major institution that has a genealogy section and we often must cope with inquiries about these issues. I often remember I've just read a lesson on a topic that gives me inspiration for others even if is laterally not literally (we must use slightly different tools in Australia). Keep up the good work! The Italian and Hispanic lesson (Number 22) has been a real help as we get many inquiries from Italians wanting information on what to do, this will at least get a handle on the topic. Other topics that might be useful (even down here in Australia the same sources could be used) are Greek, Polish, and Russian. German is also a big topic (this has been due to a list started by a member of staff on the State Library of Victoria's Web site (under Genealogy) which has generated many inquiries especially from overseas (any tidbits I learn from your marvelous services are passed on to this librarian with grateful thanks). Linda Notley Proud Rootsweb Sponsor! * * * Just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate the Review. I've been at this less than a year, and I thought I knew my way around pretty well. Five minutes with your research template ["Search and Ye Shall Find" by RootsWeb CEO Robert R. Tillman in RootsWeb Review, Vol. 2, No. 52] this morning gave me several new leads to pursue. I get help out of every issue. Keep up the good work. Janie Parrish * * * I enjoy the RootsWeb Review. Just wanted to thank you for a particularly interesting article in Vol. 2, No. 52, "Search and Ye Shall Find." It was interesting to see the comparison with commercial sites. And I got an appreciation of how much info is available on RootsWeb and how to ferret out more of it. Robert Weber * * * * * HUMOR. Thanks to the unknown author of these "Top 20 Replies by Programmers when Their Programs Do Not Work." 20. "That's weird..." 19. "It's never done that before." 18. "It worked yesterday." 17. "How is that possible?" 16. "It must be a hardware problem." 15. "What did you type in wrong to get it to crash?" 14. "There's something funky in your data." 13. "I haven't touched that module in weeks!" 12. "You must have the wrong version." 11. "It's just some unlucky coincidence." 10. "I can't test everything!" 9. "THIS can't be the source of THAT." 8. "It works, but it hasn't been tested." 7. "Somebody must have changed my code." 6. "Did you check for a virus on your system?" 5. "Even though it doesn't work, how does it feel?" 4. "You can't use that version on your system." 3. "Why do you want to do it that way?" 2. "Where were you when the program blew up?" 1. "It works on my machine." * * * * * 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. 3, No. 1, 5 January 2000. RootsWeb: BACK ISSUES OF ROOTSWEB REVIEW may be read online or downloaded from TO SUBSCRIBE OR UNSUBSCRIBE from ROOTSWEB REVIEW and MISSING LINKS, send e-mail with only SUBSCRIBE (or UNSUBSCRIBE) in the message area to: .