ROOTSWEB REVIEW: RootsWeb's Genealogy News Vol. 3, No. 2, 12 January 2000, Circulation: 384,415+ (c) 1998-2000 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 RootsWeb's Guide to Tracing Family Trees o FreeBMD Update o RootsWeb in the News: Elvis and Jimmy o Many "Mayflower" Lines Uncovered in WorldConnect 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 Reprint Policy, Back Issues, How to Subscribe/Unsubscribe **PAID ADVERTISEMENT** The current issue of FAMILY CHRONICLE includes an article by Cyndi Howells entitled "Researching Using the Internet," along with other articles, "The Search For Missing Irish Family and Friends," "Writing a Family History," "Immigration at Castle Garden," "Unjumbling Land Deeds," "Immigrant Letters from Germany," and many others. Find out how you can obtain a trial copy by visiting . You can also obtain a trial copy of HISTORY MAGAZINE with articles "Battle of the Little Big Horn," "Life in 1000 AD," "History of Cremation," "After the Sun Went Down," and many others. Find out how you can obtain a trial copy by visiting . Save $5 on FAMILY CHRONICLE's INTRODUCTION TO GENEALOGY special publication by calling 1-888-326-2476. Offer good until January 31st 2000. **PAID ADVERTISEMENT** ====================================== FREE CATALOG --- 1300+ BOOKS & CD-ROMS all published by Heritage Books, Inc. Request New Free Catalog -150 1-800-398-7709 or heritagebooks@pipeline.com HERITAGE BOOKS, INC. 1540 Pointer Ridge Place., Bowie MD 20716 ====================================== **END PAID ADVERTISEMENT** ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM THE CEO, by Robert R. Tillman o REFLECTIONS OF A NEWBIE. If you are not a RootsWeb newbie, then you may wish to skip what follows. After almost seven months as CEO at RootsWeb, I would like to share with other newbies some lessons that I have learned. 1. Only a small fraction of genealogy-related information is on the Web. Most is in the form of books, documents (many hand written), photographs, microfilm and microfiche held by tens of thousands of libraries, genealogy societies, churches, local, state and national government archives, and other organizations. Much of the best information is located in the attics, file cabinets, book shelves and computers of millions of individual genealogists. If you are frustrated in searching the Web for genealogy information on the Web, there is good reason. Most of what you are looking for is not yet there. 2. The quickest way to make progress in genealogical research is to connect with someone who is further along or is more experienced than you are. I recently asked my father to document as much as he could remember about his family history. He surprised me by saying that he had just received from a distant relation a family tree printout containing details on 150 individuals in our line going back to 1850. This information likely will save me many weeks or months of research. 3. The primary purpose and function of RootsWeb is to connect people so that they can help each other and share genealogical research. Most resources on RootsWeb are designed to facilitate such connections. Genealogy on RootsWeb is a vast cooperative research project, possibly the largest group software application in existence. The hundreds of gigabytes of data on RootsWeb are a byproduct of millions of online genealogists sharing research. 4. The best ways for you to connect to others on RootsWeb are to ask for help, make it easy for others to find you, and give others help. Below are my suggestions for connecting to others on RootsWeb. All features cited below are free. o Join a mailing list at . A mailing list is simply the e-mail party line. Every e-mail that a list subscriber sends to the list is distributed to all other list subscribers. There are more than 17,000 genealogy- related mailing lists on RootsWeb divided by surname, U.S. county and state, country, ethnic group, and topic. Subscribing to a mailing list is one of the best ways of connecting to people who share your interests. If you do not find a mailing list covering your topic of interest, start one at o Post a message to a GenConnect message board at . A message board is a computerized version of the old-fashioned bulletin board. There are more than 140,000 message boards on RootsWeb related to surnames, locations, and topics. By posting a message to the appropriate message board, you create a record through which other researchers can find you. If you do not find a message board covering your topic of interest, start one at . o Post your family surnames on the RootsWeb Surname List (RSL) at . The RSL is a registry of more than 788,000 surname entries that have been submitted by more than 165,000 online genealogists. Associated with each surname are dates, locations, and information about how to contact the person who submitted the surname. The RSL is one of the primary tools on RootsWeb that online genealogists use to contact each other. o Upload your family tree (GEDCOM file) to the RootsWeb WorldConnect Project at The RootsWeb WorldConnect Project is a database of family trees submitted by thousands of RootsWeb researchers currently containing more than 14 million ancestor names. With your family tree posted here, other researchers with common ancestors can find you. o Add Post-ems to the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) at and to the RootsWeb WorldConnect Project at A Post-em is the electronic equivalent of a yellow sticky note. It allows you to attach your email address, a link to another Web address or other information to the record of any individual in these two databases. Search for your ancestors and leave your calling card attached to their names. o Build your own genealogy Web site on RootsWeb. Request free unlimited Web space on RootsWeb at RootsWeb hosts more than 11,000 Web sites, most related to genealogy. Building a basic Web site is not as difficult as you might imagine. Millions of people have done it. You can get help from other RootsWeb Webmasters on the mailing lists and message boards devoted to this subject on RootsWeb. o Add a link to your Web site to RootsLink at . RootsLink is RootsWeb's Web address registry, where users can add and categorize a genealogy link from anywhere on the Web. Currently, there more than 4,000 links on RootsLink. o 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 Volunteer. RootsWeb hosts many of the largest volunteer genealogy projects on the Web. Volunteers locate, transcribe, and publish genealogical data and help new users. Through this work they meet other genealogists with similar interests. Information on volunteer opportunities can be found at: FREE BIRTH, MARRIAGE AND DEATH INDEX (ENGLAND AND WALES) MESSAGE BOARD/MAILING LIST ADOPTION . . IMMIGRANT SHIPS TRANSCRIBERS GUILD OBITUARY DAILY TIMES USGENWEB PROJECT USGENWEB CENSUS PROJECT USGENWEB TOMBSTONE TRANSCRIPTION PROJECT USGENWEB ARCHIVES USGENWEB ARCHIVES CENSUS PROJECT USGENWEB ARCHIVES PENSIONS PROJECT USGENWEB ARCHIVES DIGITAL MAPS PROJECT WORLDGENWEB o Search all of RootsWeb. (See the 12/26/99 issue of RootsWeb Review at for an example, usable as a research template, of searching all major RootsWeb databases. See the 1/5/00 issue of RootsWeb Review at for a detailed explanation of how to search the RootsWeb Mailing List Archives.) Contact others with common interests who have taken the steps suggested above to make themselves easy to find. o Finally, keep in mind that a large part of the fun of genealogy is the relationships you develop with people along the way. Be kind, courteous, helpful, slow to take offense, quick to forgive, and you will be rewarded. **PAID ADVERTISEMENT** SAR PATRIOT INDEX 1999 Edition: If you have Revolutionary War Ancestors, much of your family history is probably already lineage linked in genealogical format. With 140,000 new records, you will have access to more than 610,000 family history records to search. All records are lineage linked to Patriots who served in various ways in the Revolutionary War. Includes 16-page mini-manual. Normally $39.95 Get SAR PATRIOT INDEX on special for $33.95 until 18 January 2000 SAR REVOLUTIONARY WAR GRAVES REGISTER: You can find the exact cemetery in which your great ancestors are buried! Included are the cemetery locations of 69,000 war graves of soldiers, patriots, and their spouses. You will find American citizens, lady patriots, Black soldiers, Jewish, German, French and even Polish patriots and soldiers. Plus more than 1,000 brave American soldiers who perished at Valley Forge during the severe winter of 1777-1778. Normally $29.95 Get SAR PATRIOT INDEX on special for $24.95 until 18 January 2000. Get both SAR CDs for $54.95. 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 Roots Web. **END PAID ADVERTISEMENT** FreeBMD Update. [FreeBMD is transcribing vital records of England and Wales that are more than 100 years old from the Public Record Office in London, England]. As of January 9, 2000, FreeBMD had 777,075 records from 202 contributors. Project co-Leader Camilla Gemmingen von Massenbach reported, "We had 500,000 at the beginning of December, so this is a mammoth increase. About 85,000 records of this are directly due to the RootsWeb- sponsored scanner. The rate of useful scans is still increasing due to improved software written by Ben Laurie and also my increasing experience of judging the correct parameters needed when scanning." * * * ROOTSWEB'S GUIDE TO TRACING FAMILY TREES. Index to first 23 lessons: * * * ROOTSWEB IN THE NEWS: ELVIS AND JIMMY [Note: Everything between the angle brackets is a part of the URL. You will need to cut and paste or type in both lines.] * * * * * MANY "MAYFLOWER" LINES UNCOVERED IN WORLDCONNECT by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG Last week RootsWeb Review readers were requested to send the name(s) of their "Mayflower" ancestor(s) along with their WorldConnect file name. You responded. Your editors are still buried under the flurry of responses. Some of you sent your firstborn, and/or hogs, butter, milk and eggs (living persons and nonedible items will be returned collect). Others thought they would slip in a bogus "Mayflower" progenitor (did you really think we'd fall for Peter Rabbit?), while a few, eager to share their dazzling pilgrim pedigrees, sent GEDCOMs, colored charts, photographs, and assorted files -- with unknown extensions that we have not been able to pry open. A few figured out their WorldConnect file name (it is what appears just after the equals sign once you have successfully uploaded your GEDCOM to WorldConnect). Example: (worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=sonavan) However, some were so confused about "file name" that they sent us the secret name of their GEDCOMs residing on their PCs and Macs in the hinterlands. (Your GEDCOM file names are safe with us). We appreciate your eagerness to provide information. However, we decided not to include the file names in our report this week since we are unable to verify many of them. Let us tell you a secret for finding "Mayflower" lines in WorldConnect. Type in the given and surname of a particular individual at: and include the birth place of England; then do a search. "Mayflower" ancestors (with the number of readers who indicated to us that such a progenitor was in their uploaded GEDCOM at WorldConnect) are: Alden, John 5; Allerton, Isaac 2; Billington, John 1; Bradford, William 4; Brewster, William 4; Browne/Brown, Peter 1; Chilton, James 4; Cooke, Francis 4; Doty, Edward 0; Eaton, Francis 1; Fletcher, Moses 0; Fuller, Edward 1; Fuller, Samuel 1?; Hopkins, Stephen 6; Howland, John 5; More, Richard 0; Mullins, William 4; Priest, Degory 1; Rogers, Thomas 1; Samson, Henry 0; Soule, George 4; Standish, Myles 2; Tilley, John 5; Warren, Richard 3; White, William 1; Winslow, Edward 2. No one reported being descended from: Edward Doty, Moses Fletcher, Richard More, or Henry Samson. However, there is at least one file in WorldConnect for each "Mayflower" progenitor - except Moses Fletcher. Fletcher died early in 1620/21 in what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts. He is the only "Mayflower" passenger (known to date) whose family and descendants (he had 10 children by his first wife, Mary Evans) remained in Holland and did not immigrate to New England. * * * * * CONNECTING THROUGH ROOTSWEB. Thanks for sharing your stories. When I was around the age of 6 or 7 I found a picture of a bride and groom I didn't recognize. I asked my mother who the people in the picture were and she said, "That is your father's other daughter." I started asking questions but she said I'd have to ask my father, so I did. He said, "That's my niece." When I told him mom had told it was his other daughter, he said she was mistaken. Dad didn't talk much about family and when I questioned him about his parents or grandparents he cut me off short. In 1980 My father and stepmother had a family gathering for Christmas. My father had two children from his second marriage and three from his third. This would be the only time that all five of us were in the same place at the same time, along with spouses and kids. One brother said to me, "You know that there is another sister?" He said that his mother knew about her and probably knew her name. Our father passed away in 1993 and I decided then to see if I could find the missing sister. In 1996 I asked my brother for his mother's phone number so I could ask about our missing sister. She told me when the divorce was final and most importantly my half sister's name. I wrote to the courthouse and asked them to search for a divorce decree for my father and his first wife. I only had her first name but that was enough, because they sent me the entire file. I learned my half sister's birthdate, where they lived at the time of the divorce, and that in 1946-1947 her mother remarried and her new husband adopted my half sister. This gave me a name to search under, but since she married that too would have changed. I started posting messages to many lists. Finally, on an adoption message board, I received six messages telling me to contact the same person. I did and he started his search. On September 24, 1999 I finally spoke to my half sister for the first time in our lives. We have been in contact weekly ever since and have exchanged letters and photos. I plan to make the trip to meet her this spring. Just let this be some sort of inspiration to others who are searching for someone. Never give up. My heartfelt thanks to all the good people out there helping others in my situation. The secret is finding such people, which I did with the help of RootsWeb. Dena Koch-Miner * * * * * 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 Donegal, Ireland, send a SUBSCRIBE message to: NEW SURNAME MAILING LISTS, GenCONNECT BOARDS, AND CLUSTERS Abnet, Altig, Annoot, Berrick, Blowes, Buckey, Capers, Carr-UK (Carr surname in Buckinghamshire, U.K.), Carvin, Copes, Culler, Culverhouse, Darmody, Dencker, Diggens, Eckenbach, Elsberry, Fairfeild, Feliz, Flock, Fyke, Gettle, Goines, Goudelock, Grund, Gurden, Harvick, Hilyard, Hontz, Judgwyn, Karas, Kershner, Kevern, Laishley, Letvinchuk, Lotspeich, Mackenroth, Matthews-Hugh (descendants of Hugh Matthews (1681-1747) Isle of Wight), McHargue, Merklein, Middleton-Canada (Middleton surname in Canada), Miron, Mollison, Neagle, Niehaus, Noden, Opie, Orpwood, Papineau, Piggin, Rambonnet, Rienstra, Roullier, Saban, Scovell, Sihrer, Sintes, Sixberry, Stiltner, Szczdrowski, Tegyi, Topper, Tregunna, Valledolmo, Viar, Vlerebome, Washbrook, Weisel, Wibert, Widdows, Worsfold, Zallar, Zvaniga NEW REGIONAL MAILING LISTS BELGIUM WAASLAND -- Waasland, Belgium (between Antwerp and Ghent) CANADA CAN-ONT-GREY -- Grey County, Ontario, Canada ENGLAND ENG-CORNWALL-MENHENIOT -- Memheniot, Cornwall, England ENG-CORNWALL-ST-IVE -- St. Ive, Cornwall, England IRELAND IRL-DONEGAL -- Genealogical or historical interest in Donegal, Ireland MICRONESIA MICRONESIA -- Federated States of Micronesia SCOTLAND SCOTLAND -- Genealogical or historical interest in Scotland SLOVENIA SLOVENIA -- research in SLOVENIA and for all those of Slovenian descent U.S.A. EIGS -- Eastern Iowa Genealogical Society MOBARRY-CHAT -- Barry County, Missouri fun chat list NEPAGS -- Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society SOCCGS -- South Orange County, California Genealogical Soc. WYWINDRI -- Wind River Indian Reservation, Wyoming (WYGenWeb) NEW ETHNIC, SPECIAL INTEREST, AND MISCELLANEOUS MAILING LISTS AUSTRIA-HOLOCAUST -- Austrians in German Holocaust camps CANADIAN-ULSTER-SCOTS -- Canadians of Ulster Scots descent DUTCH-MIDWEST -- Dutch immigrants and their descendants from the Roseland (Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.) area ETHICS-IN-GENEALOGY -- Ethics, accuracy and integrity in genealogical research FPC-OTHER-FREE-GEN -- Free Persons of Color and/or Other Free as reported by official records GENEALOGY-CHAT-FRIEND -- Genealogy Friends Chat Club family history, class and mentor list GEN-FF-LOG -- Genealogy software used by French genealogists. Gatewayed with fr.comp.applications.genealogie newsgroup. HUGUENOTS-WALLOONS-EUROPE -- Huguenot and Walloon research for European descendants ORIGINAL-13 -- The original 13 families of Germantown, Pennsylvania * * * * * 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 Native American Genealogy in Colorado Web page, go to CANADA abponoka -- Ponoka, Alberta qcchaudi -- Chaudiere-Appalaches, Quebec EUROPE eurgaesr -- Genealogical Association of English-Speaking Researchers in Europe SCOTLAND sctoki -- Orkney U.S.A. calasfv -- Los Angeles County, San Fernando Valley area, California comilita -- Colorado Military conamer -- Native American Genealogy in Colorado denewcas -- New Castle County, Delaware flpcgs -- Pasco County Genealogical Society (Florida) gajones -- Jones County, Georgia kywchs -- Woodford County Historical Society (Kentucky) laeghs -- Evangeline Gen. and Hist. Society (Louisiana) mtjeffer -- Jefferson County, Montana ncwwi -- World War I in North Carolina nvsbiig -- Summerlin British Isles Interest Group (Nevada) orduvcw -- Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War (Oregon) txbrazor -- Brazoria County, Texas wywindri -- Wind River Reservation, Wyoming * * * * * 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: * * * * * USGENWEB ARCHIVES -- THE ARCHIVES NEWSLETTER contains the current USGenWeb Archives submissions from the last week. January 10, 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. I just wanted to say briefly that the new global index format for WorldConnect is superb -- by far the most helpful and useful I have seen on any site. Virginia Easley DeMarce [Personalized Mailing List or PML is] another wonderful service from RootsWeb. It's like having a paid genealogist looking for information on my family lines. It would take pages to list the information I've gotten from wild and crazy places. The most amazing thing is the number of hits I've gotten on my surname, HISE, HICE, HEISS, HEISE, HEIS and allied lines. I had no idea there were so many of them out there. Thanks. Joan HISE Bancroft I have enjoyed the Rootsweb e-newsletter for several years now. However I could not place why I was already familiar with Myra Vanderpool Gormley's name, despite seeing her notes and articles most every week. Today [January 11, 2000], while looking for some census records I had copied 12-13 years ago, I came across an article Ms. Gormley had written entitled "Descendants of state pioneers sought," published in the Sunday, January 11, 1987, edition of the YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC. The article described the Washington State Genealogical Society's Pioneer Project, planned for completion by 1989, and asked readers to research their family's history in Washington State for the project. Knowing that some of my ancestors had been living at the Whitman Mission in what is now Walla Walla, Washington, at the time of the infamous Whitman Massacre, long before Washington even became a separate territory from Oregon, my mother and I determined to research our family's lineage because of this article. I was 12- years-old. 13 years to the day after reading Ms. Gormley's article, I am now a 25-year-old Social Studies teacher, a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, an avid amateur genealogist determined always to document the details, and am planning to earn a Master of Arts in Public History over the next two years. Though I had always enjoyed history, Ms. Gormley's article gave me the push I needed to determine my life's course. Thank you, Myra Vanderpool Gormley. Shara Church Forrister [T]hank you for all your efforts to make RootsWeb a reality every day. . . As others have done, I give a quick sample of what has come from RootsWeb. I found [m]y husband's Finnish roots and so much more. Did you know that Finnish children in the U.S.A. went to "Sunday School?" Circa 1920s, they learned to read, write and speak Finnish. Finnish customs and beliefs were taught as well. . . I've learned more history through genealogy than I ever learned in any class in school. Finnish children also went to summer camp here in the U.S.A. where they learned more about Finnish society. . . Ten years ago I tried to find the roots of the surname REMINDER. It was an uphill battle and I gave up. Three years ago . . . I decided to try again. It took two years, several mailing lists, many e-mails and lots of determination. A very fine gentleman in Germany who speaks French, German and English and knows genealogy held the key to my mystery. How would I have found him without RootsWeb? The name turns out to be REMU:NDER [an umlaut over the U], at least in 1825 Otterstadt, Bavaria. Thank you again. . . Here's wishing us all a great New Year and wonderful things in the next 1,000 years. . . Debbie Paul * * * * * 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. 2, 12 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: .