ROOTSWEB REVIEW: RootsWeb's Genealogy News Vol. 3, No. 11, 15 March 2000, Circulation: 408,242+ (c) 1998-2000 RootsWeb.com, Inc. RootsWeb.com, Inc., P.O. Box 6798, Frazier Park, CA 93222-6798 Editors: Julia O'Casey and Myra Vanderpool O'Gormley, CG RootsWeb HelpDesk: Advertising: Media Contact: 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 News and Notes at RootsWeb (WorldConnect Enhancements; SSDI Update; Family Reunions Calendar; St. Patrick's Day Cards; Genealogical Salute to St. Patrick's Day and Our Irish Ancestors; U.S. Presidents with Irish Ancestry; RootsWeb's Guide to Tracing Family Trees -- Irish, Scots-Irish, and Scottish Ancestors) o Find Your Roots Genealogy Webcast o Connecting through RootsWeb: The Treasure of George Washington's Trunk or The Amazing Asdell Ancestor Adventure o New Genealogy Mailing Lists o New Genealogy Web Pages o GenConnect o USGenWeb Archives o Letters to the Editors o Humor o Reprint Policy, Back Issues, How to Subscribe/Unsubscribe * * * * * NEWS AND NOTES FROM ROOTSWEB WORLDCONNECT ENHANCEMENTS. The new version of the WorldConnect User Setup/Edit program is in production. This new version internally approximates missing birth information and uses that data to clean the GEDCOM files. In addition, WorldConnect users now have the choice of using a Standard or an Advanced interface. As of the Ides of March Y2K (that is, today, 15 March 2000), WorldConnect's GEDCOM database contains 23,679,410 names. * * * * * SOCIAL SECURITY DEATH INDEX (SSDI) UPDATE. The February 2000 update of the SSDI is now available to be searched at RootsWeb, making RootsWeb's SSDI database the most current available with a total of 63,305,772 records, significantly more than the total of 62,917,259 records in the January 2000 update. The reason for the nearly half-million records increase in just one month is that RootsWeb's Randy Winch noticed a glitch in the way the government handles the updates, figured out what to do to make it right, then completely rebuilt RootsWeb's database from the updates. In the process, nearly a half-million records that had been missed in the past were discovered and included in the current version of RootsWeb's SSDI database. * * * FAMILY REUNIONS CALENDAR. Post a notice of your upcoming family reunion on RootsWeb's Family Reunions Calendar at [Note that this is a two-line URL. All of the material between the angle brackets should be included. It will be necessary for you to cut and paste the entire URL or type it into your browser window.] There is a new link to the Family Reunions Calendar from RootsWeb's main page . The calendar program has been enhanced to display calendar entries in alphabetical order, making it much easier now to scan the 624 reunions already posted for the year 2000 or later, or recurring yearly, that survived spring cleaning. * * * ST. PATRICK'S DAY POSTCARDS. You can send FREE St. Patrick's Day cards to your Irish (or wannabe-Irish) online family and friends by visiting * * * GENEALOGICAL TRIBUTE TO ST. PATRICK'S DAY AND IRISH ANCESTORS. Don something green and come explore your Irish heritage -- genealogically and in song and dance. Find your family's Irish recipes. Loosen your tongue a wee bit and learn to speak some Gaelic, too. Hear your surname in Gaelic, discover what it means, find your family's motto, and make connections with your Irish cousins. You can do all this and more at RootsWeb, and that's no blarney. * * * U. S. PRESIDENTS WITH IRISH ANCESTRY. Of the 41 presidents of the United States of America, 10 have some Irish ancestry. Ancestor tables for two of them, Andrew Jackson and William Jefferson Clinton, have been available at RootsWeb for some time. Pages with ancestor tables for the other eight -- James K. Polk, James Buchanan, Ulysses S. Grant, William McKinley, Woodrow Wilson, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Richard Milhous Nixon, and Ronald Wilson Regan -- are now available at * * * ROOTSWEB'S GUIDE TO TRACING FAMILY TREES. In addition to brief, interactive online genealogy lessons, you'll find links to resources at RootsWeb and elsewhere on the Internet. Index to Lessons IRISH, SCOTS-IRISH, AND SCOTTISH ANCESTORS * * * * * FIND YOUR ROOTS GENEALOGY WEBCAST. Each week, SierraHome's "Find Your Roots" invites both amateur and expert genealogists to share research, questions, and experiences online. As the Internet's only genealogy Webcast, "Find Your Roots" offers unprecedented opportunities to interact via chat, video, and graphics, and to meet genealogists from around the world. Each show features segments for newcomers, surname discussions, and the RootsWeb Report by Myra Vanderpool O'Gormley. Join "Find Your Roots" Wednesdays at 5 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (Thursdays at 1 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time) **PAID ADVERTISEMENT** Obtain a trial copy of April/May HISTORY MAGAZINE with articles "Connecting the World -- the History of the Telegraph and Telephone," "1910 -- Highlights of the Decade," "The Country Store," "The 1918 Influenza Pandemic that Killed More People than WW I," "Saffron, the World's Most Expensive Spice," and many others. Top columnists have this to say about HISTORY MAGAZINE. Betty Kirkland--"You shouldn't miss a single issue of this delightful publication." Aulena Scearce Gibson--"This interesting and high-quality magazine will appeal to those who are curious about the everyday lives of their ancestors." Find out how you can obtain a trial copy by visiting Check out HISTORY MAGAZINE's new Web site-only feature, TODAY IN HISTORY, compiled by history writer Nancy Hendrickson, and find out what historic event happened on this day at The March/April issue of FAMILY CHRONICLE features an article on "Researching Your Irish Roots" by renowned genealogist Angus Baxter. Other articles include "10 Best Local Library Resources," "Organizing Your Family Records," "How to Choose the Right Genealogy Software," "Why Film Research May Still Be Your Best Choice," "Web Sites Worth Surfing," and many others. Top genealogy writers have this to say about FAMILY CHRONICLE. Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG--"If you haven't discovered FAMILY CHRONICLE you are in for a treat. . ." Dear MYRTLE--". . . this is a must have magazine." Carllene Marek--"FAMILY CHRONICLE is one of the very best genealogical magazines available today." Find out how you can obtain a trial copy by visiting **END PAID ADVERTISEMENT** CONNECTING THROUGH ROOTSWEB. Thanks for sharing your stories. THE TREASURE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON'S TRUNK or THE AMAZING ASDELL ANCESTOR ADVENTURE by Laura Moff Goist Since my earliest memories, in one back corner of my mother's basement, there was an enormous hump-backed trunk. It sat there in the dark and damp holding my father's old boy scout uniforms and other musty treasures that were always good for a little amusement when passing the time on a sweltering summer day, escaping to the coolness of the cellar. I vaguely recall Mom once commenting that I was "digging through George Washington's trunk." When I asked what she meant, she told me that the trunk had belonged to her dad's grandfather, and that his name was George Washington. Naturally, the little child that I was felt thrilled to be related to the father of our country. When I "got into" genealogy several years ago, one of the first things I got a hold of was the obituary of that great-great-grandfather, George Washington ASDELL, of Calcutta, Columbiana County, Ohio. Right at that moment, the trunk seemed a lot less glamorous than it had seemed to me as a child. Soon I learned that George Washington ASDELL's father was John L. ASDEL, born in Ireland in 1798. Somehow I think he'll always have a special place in my genealogical heart since he was the first of my ancestors that I ever traced to a country of origin. Over the last two years I began concentrating on the ASDEL/ ASDELL/AZDELL/ASDALE families in earnest, determined to locate their town of origin in Ireland. It was through RootsWeb mailing lists that I connected with a wonderful woman in Indiana, Jackie, who was looking for information here in Ohio. We exchanged lookups, and she sent me a lot of information on the lines of Asdells that I knew had gone out to Indiana. Some while later, I received an e-mail from a distant cousin, Elinor Asdell, who'd seen my RootsWeb Surname List (RSL) listing and was looking for Asdells in Indiana -- the same Asdells I had learned about from Jackie. Combining our files and dividing the work, we've managed to piece together what I think are the lion's share of the descendants of the several Asdells who came to Ohio from Ireland between 1807 and the 1830s: Andrew and Ellen (MCVICKER) ASDEL, John L. ASDEL, George AZDELL (born 1808), George ASDEL (born 1816), Jane ASDEL, and William ASDEL. Yet in all the information accumulated on several hundred of their descendants, no one ever had anything more than a family legend that they had come from County Antrim in Northern Ireland. (And you know what family legends are worth -- not long ago, I was related to George Washington.) As anyone who has ever attempted it knows, Irish research is notoriously difficult due to the paucity of surviving records. And for pre-famine emigrants, such as the Asdells who had left long before Griffith's Valuation, it is even rarer to find surviving documentation. Many's the time I have been awash in depression over the slim chance we'd have of ever finding the Asdells' origins in Ireland. But, again thanks to RootsWeb's mailing lists, I connected with a professional researcher in Ireland, Paul Gorry, who did a research assessment for me and who I was lucky enough to be able to hear speak at a conference in Cleveland last month. Thanks directly to what I learned from him, I not only found the ship's list for the first Asdell to come to the U.S.A., but I also found, much to my amazement, a snippet from one of the few surviving sections of the 1851 census listing the following: "Appendix for the 1851 Irish Census Abstracts, Northern Ireland Locations from Old Age Pension Records -- Mary ASDEL 62 head m. 1811, M Jane 32 m. 1828, Alex 26, Sarah 25, E. Jane FULLERTON 6 gr dau, William John HAGERTY (claimant spells HEGERTY) 4 gr son (says son). DEC: Alex ASDEL 55 husband d 1846, David 32 son d 1845. Magheraboy Lr, Kilraghts, Lr Dunluce, Antrim, 0258528." Eureka! At last -- a townland, Magheraboy Lower, and a parish, Kilraghts. In Antrim County, no less -- exactly where family legend said the Asdells came from. And to top it off, this listing even appears with the original spelling, Asdel, which was clearly the preferred spelling of the original Irish immigrants. Also, this Mary would have been born in 1789, and her dead husband Alex would have been born in 1791, making them both very much contemporaries of my John and Andrew Asdel. While I realize that this is still far from proof of an Irish origin, it's also about as good a lead as I think we can ask for on this ancestor hunt. At least now we have a probable starting point in Ireland, and I want to thank the folks at RootsWeb for creating the wonderful tool which has made this success possible. Once upon a time, I looked at George Washington Asdell's trunk as something that contained treasures. Now I have come to understand that it is not the contents, nor even the trunk itself, beautiful though it may be, which is the treasure. The treasure is, of course, the family and the history connected to the trunk. The treasures are the cousins I have found, the friends I have made, and the ancestors I have discovered, all of whom I have come to know and love. * * * * * 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, if you are interested in the surname MACDUFF, send your SUBSCRIBE message to NEW SURNAME MAILING LISTS, GENCONNECT BOARDS, AND CLUSTERS Bickmore, Bienemann, Bordewich, Bosket, Boutte, Brazda, Brazzil, Bunt, Burkhiser, Buvia Damewood, Deel, DeGruchy, Dykowski Fooks, Furches Gadberry, Goosic, Grabenstein Hangs, Hechler Janning, Juch Kaminski, Karwald, Kays Lazna, Leak, Leinpinsel, Liebich, Leibowitz, Linkenhoker, Loeb, Lucado MacDuff, McDougald, Mittelstaedt, Mogden Oldaker, Osmun, Otey Pekar, Pinkley Raddatz, Rebbeck, Romolo Seybert, Shamray, Shiable, Sibbach, Sprint, Sudek Templain, Toadvine, Trotton, Troutwein, Troutwine Umberger Wemyss Yarish, Yelverton NEW REGIONAL MAILING LISTS AUSTRALIA AUS-NSW-WEST -- The part of New South Wales loosely following the Darling River, Wentworth to Brewarrina, and all areas west to the South Australian border U.S.A. IN-PRAIRIECREEK -- Prairie Creek, Indiana, surrounding townships, and Darwin, Illinois KYJOHNSON-HISTORY -- Serious no-chat list for Johnson County, Kentucky history KYLAWRENCE-HISTORY -- History of Lawrence County, Kentucky KYMORGAN-HISTORY -- History, roots, and formation of Morgan County, Kentucky NEW ETHNIC, SPECIAL INTEREST, AND MISCELLANEOUS MAILING LISTS AUS-CONVICTS -- Discussion of convicts into Australia AZTCSGENSIG -- Tucson Computer Society Genealogy Special Interest Group (Arizona) BLACK-DUTCH-AMERICA -- Black Dutch ancestry in America TX-CZECH -- Czechs to Texas, 1840-1930 TX-POLISH -- Poland to Texas, 1840-1930 WYOMING-HOME -- History, genealogy, remembrances, and stories * * * * * 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 North Carolina Genealogical Society Web page, go to CANADA nbststep -- St. Stephen Parish (New Brunswick) U.S.A. casyvhs -- Santa Ynez Valley Historical Society (California) cavasaoa -- VASA Order of America, Mayflower Lodge (California) gawashin -- Washington County, Georgia iabcgs -- Boone County Genealogical Society (Iowa) ialee2 -- Lee County, Iowa kyscar -- Kentucky Soc. Children of the American Revolution miecgs -- Eaton County Genealogical Society (Michigan) mnachs -- Anoka County Historical Society (Minnesota) ncgs -- North Carolina Genealogical Society ohschs -- Smithville Community Historical Society (Ohio) SOME NEW HOMEPAGES AND FREEPAGES ALLEN, COMSTOCK, FRY, HADEN, HARDIN, HOLDERNESS, HOLTZCLAW, PIPPIN, POINDEXTER, WISHARD FAMILY NEWSLETTER NEWS. For and about family newsletters GRAU, VAUPEL, GALLAGHER, CYPHER, DENNY, MCCRACKEN KENNY (Tipperary to Ontario, Canada in 1835), WARNOCK, HART, O'CONNOR, O'MEARA, LANDREVILLE, PHELAN, BUTLER. MCMAHAN SURNAME MAIL LIST WEB SITE MAUGHAN SURNAME MAIL LIST WEB SITE SAVE OUR OLD CEMETERIES SWAINSTON, GROOM; England, Idaho; ancestors and descendants of George Swainston Sr. and Mary Groom * * * * * 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 can read and post notices to the GenConnect SOMEBODY'S LINKS board: **PAID ADVERTISEMENTS** ========================================== AMERITRADE has been linking people to Wall Street for 25 years. Tap into the link with a minimum balance of $500 to open and fund an account. Start trading online. http://www.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ameritrade/ =========================================== FREE COMPLETE CATALOG 1300+ BOOKS & CD-ROMS all published by Heritage Books, Inc. Request Catalog #150 1-800-398-7709 or heritagebooks@pipeline.com HERITAGE BOOKS, INC. 1540 Pointer Ridge Place, Bowie MD 20715 =========================================== **END PAID ADVERTISEMENTS** USGENWEB ARCHIVES -- THE ARCHIVES NEWSLETTER contains the current USGenWeb Archives submissions from the last week. March 13, 2000 issue http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/newsletter/2000/mar/mar13.htm USGW-ARCHIVES-ANNOUNCE-L is a read-only mailing list for weekly announcements of new updates and submissions to the USGenWeb Archives. To subscribe, send e-mail that says only SUBSCRIBE in the body of the message 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. * * * Along about the second week in January of [2000], I began researching my son-in-law's maternal line. His mother had provided information about herself, her parents, and her grandparents. From there, she said, she knew nothing. Armed with this data I turned to my trusty computer and logged onto the new WorldConnect site. I was almost overwhelmed as data began pouring in. If the person I was looking for was not posted I could e-mail the originator of the GEDCOM, explain my situation, and ask for assistance. Of course, not everyone I contacted could answer my questions, but I made enough "hits" to boost me on my way. Next I logged onto USGenWeb, and using the many resources offered there, almost immediately found more data [and] contacts. My children came to expect as an answer to their question, "What did you find today?" a standard reply of, "Oh, I added another three (or five, or 10) generations." I had to warn them that this flow of data would eventually dry up. Using almost exclusively resources provided by RootsWeb, my son-in-law now boasts a maternal pedigree -- that began with seven names -- of 136 direct ancestors; reaching as far back in time as the late 1400s! My GEDCOM of 13,000+ names will be submitted as soon as I finish some editing. My thanks to you wonderful people at RootsWeb; Brian, Randy, and all you unnamed, behind the scenes people, for making this possible. Shirley Turner Shiver * * * WorldConnect board 10 March 2000 I just switched to your site for my GEDCOM data. I just love the features you offer on displaying information. Also, the Post-Ems are excellent -- terrific way for authors to add information to display until the next GEDCOM update. I have even attached Post-Ems to other researchers' [GEDCOM files] to tell users of photos at my Web site. I receive lots of traffic at my site and hope to make more new contacts through RootsWeb. Thank you so much for providing this wonderful site for finding family. Susan Barwick Elliott * * * RootsWeb's Guide to Tracing Family Trees, Feedback 14 March 2000 Awesome. About 30 years ago I started my genealogical hobby -- but not until the WWW has it become fun again. Thanks for being there. Genag Gatlin * * * HelpDesk board 9 March 2000 I am so excited. Thanks to your wonderful efforts and contributions by others, I have been able to link another part of my lineage back to the 1500s. Even if it wasn't the branch I hoped to find, it was wonderful. I am on a small Social Security income and cannot afford to use the "paid" genealogy sites, and when your site was recommended to me, I was ecstatic. A great quality site. Thank you all for putting it together and keeping it going. Dodie * * * I thoroughly enjoy using the services of RootsWeb.com. I just wish I had more time. Thanks for the work you do. Through your surname lists I have met many interesting "cousins," gleaned interesting facts about many ancestors, and even found a few puzzle pieces for my most difficult families. It is always a moment of excitement when I "fire up" my Internet server and browse through my messages to see if today is the day that I will really hit pay dirt. Some days I do. And I thank you for that. Pat Flathouse **PAID ADVERTISEMENT** CELEBRATE NATIONAL WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH! A GENEALOGISTS GUIDE TO DISCOVERING YOUR FEMALE ANCESTORS, by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack. Researching the women of our past can be very challenging. Learn the tricks that professionals use in finding the family history of your female ancestors. This book is intended to take you from start to finish in researching your genealogical and historical information about your female ancestors. 152 pages. THE HIDDEN HALF OF THE FAMILY, A SOURCE BOOK FOR WOMEN'S GENEALOGY, by Christina Kassabian Schaefer. For centuries women were not allowed to own real estate, sign a deed, devise a will, or enter into a contract. Finding women in traditional genealogical sources often presents the researcher with a unique challenge. This book addresses these issues and gives you alternative sources to find the hidden side of your family. 296 pages. Get both books for only $49.95! To order, visit or call the Family Storehouse Sales Department at 1-800-725-5013 and mention RootsWeb. With every purchase RootsWeb gets a 10% donation. **END PAID ADVERTISEMENT** HUMOR. We think that the old jokes are the best jokes. THE CAPTAIN'S SAFE One of the world's most famous merchant captains died, having long been admired by his crew and fellow officers. They were puzzled, however, over a strange ritual he performed daily while at sea. He would lock himself in his cabin, open a small safe, take out an envelope, and read the note inside. After returning the note to its place in the safe, he would resume his duties. For years this went on, and his crew became very curious. Was it a treasure map? Was it a letter from a long lost love? Everyone speculated about the contents of the strange envelope. After laying the captain's body to rest, the first mate led the crew back to the ship and into the captain's quarters. He opened the safe, got the envelope, and read the note aloud to the astonished crew: "Port: Left, Starboard: Right." * * * * * 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. 11, 15 March 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: .