ROOTSWEB REVIEW: RootsWeb's Genealogy News Vol. 3, No. 23, 7 June 2000, Circulation: 624,831+ (c) 1998-2000 RootsWeb.com, Inc. http://www.rootsweb.com/ RootsWeb.com, Inc., P.O. Box 6798, Frazier Park, CA 93222-6798 ROOTSWEB REVIEW and MISSING LINKS are free, weekly e-zines. Editors: Julia M. Case and Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG RWR-Editors@rootsweb.com RootsWeb HelpDesk: http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/ Advertising: rrti@rootsweb.com Media Contact: stwalsh@rootsweb.com IN THIS ISSUE: o ISTG Sails on with RootsWeb Grant o News and Notes at RootsWeb (New Searchable Databases at RootsWeb -- Lamar County, Texas Marriage Records; Lamar County, Texas Cemetery Records; User Databases at RootsWeb; Data, Data -- Who's Got the Data?; WorldConnect Tip: Searching WorldConnect; Shaking Your Family Tree; 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 o Letters to the Editors o Humor o Reprint Policy; Back Issues; How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe DONATIONS HELP ROOTSWEB HELP YOU AND ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED. For details about support levels, benefits, and payment options (check or credit card), e-mail info@rootsweb.com or visit http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/how-to-subscribe.html 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.) * * * * * IMMIGRANT SHIPS TRANSCRIBERS GUILD (ISTG) SAILS ON WITH ROOTSWEB GRANT. RootsWeb and ISTG http://istg.rootsweb.com/ have teamed up to increase the pace at which ISTG can transcribe and make available online in a searchable database information from passenger lists of ships sailing to and from ports worldwide since about 1600, although the most data are from ships that sailed in the past 200 years. Thanks to a grant of $20,000 from RootsWeb, ISTG has purchased an advanced new computer suite. The crown jewel is a state-of- the-art document scanner, which allows scanning of passenger lists on site, greatly simplifying and accelerating the pace of acquisition and distribution of the lists to be transcribed. "We can't thank RootsWeb enough for this generous donation," said Patty MacFarlane Neumann, ISTG's founder and coordinator. The stories behind the names make the work worthwhile to ISTG volunteers, says Neumann. "We have e-mails from people who have searched for years and found their entire family after five minutes on our site. It's about helping folks leave a legacy. It's about learning who came before you and what they went through to get here, what they left behind, and how little they could bring with them. It's about helping someone give her mother a copy of the passenger list on her 93rd birthday, where her name was first written when she was but 15 years old, and the name of her husband whom she married after meeting aboard ship. These lists are such keepsakes, such wonderful pieces of history." Sheila Jensen Tate, ISTG's production coordinator, reports: "We are now adding correspondence to any ship on which one of our visitors finds an ancestor. We will link from the passenger's name to any amount of invaluable information one wishes to contribute as well as to a picture of the passenger or his descendants. We will also, as an added help to our visitors, link back to their genealogy home page and recently we have begun uploading on our Web site photographs of ancestors who are not found on our lists, hoping to be of further assistance to those seeking to make new connections." Today ISTG has hundreds of volunteers -- from Australia, Canada, Denmark, England, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Panama, Taiwan, and the U.S.A. -- transcribing passenger lists and uploading the data to ISTG's Web site. The volunteers come from all walks of life and from all age groups. "We have the neatest group of volunteers," said Neumann. "They are so dedicated. Our youngest are 10 and 13, a brother and sister team working with their mother, who is also an ISTG member. They're just fascinated by the history. Our oldest is 88. Sixty-six percent of our volunteers are over age 50." ISTG volunteers already have uploaded the complete passenger lists of 2,600 ships. At an average of 600 passengers per ship, this amounts to about 1.5 million names. Hundreds of passenger lists are in the works now. Impressive as that is, it barely scratches the surface. That is why the ISTG is actively recruiting more volunteers. For anyone interested in volunteering, ISTG is opening its own port at http://istg.rootsweb.com/ Just click on the heading, "Guild Information." ISTG will send you everything you need to get started working from your own home. ** PAID ADVERTISEMENTS ** The June/July issue of HISTORY MAGAZINE is full of social history articles about the conditions that affected the lives of our ancestors. Articles include "Let's Eat, a history of what our ancestors ate," "The Stirrup, considered to be medieval technology's greatest achievement," "The Natchez Trace, a look at an historic route of the Old Southwest," "Costs in New York, the price of goods and services in 1866," "Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin and one of America's great inventors," "The 1900 House, a preview of an interesting new series coming to PBS." You can obtain a free trial copy of HISTORY MAGAZINE by visiting http://www.history-magazine.com The May/June issue of FAMILY CHRONICLE is full of articles by top genealogy writers. Articles include "Saving the Union, with advice on tracing ancestors through Civil War Records," "Second Ancestor Series, a preview of the new 13-part series coming to PBS," "Researching in England and Wales, with tips on how to spend research time wisely," " Researching at Family History Centers, includes 25 tips to optimize your FHC research time," "Top Research Sites, non-genealogy Web sites that can help genealogists," "Research Resources, reviews of products and services for the amateur genealogists." Find out how you can obtain a free trial copy by visiting http:// www.familychronicle.com FAMILY CHRONICLE would like to have your story on how you solved a difficult "brick wall" problem, to be published in a special publication later this year. All contributors will receive two free copies of the publication by sending your "brick wall" story to ronwild@familychronicle.com ********************************************* FREE TWICE-MONTHLY EMAIL NEWSLETTER Dozens of Books & CDs at Publisher-Only Sale Prices in Each Issue Message "subscribe email newsletter" to heritagebooks@pipeline.com HERITAGE BOOKS, INC. 1540 Pointer Ridge Place, Bowie MD 20715 ********************************************* "I have looked for over a year for my ancestors and always hit a dead end. The first day I tried Kindred Konnections within 5 minutes I found 7 generations and a living cousin. Thank you." M. Stacy World's Largest Online Pedigree-Linked Archive. Search over a Billion Names http://www.kindredkonnections.com ** END PAID ADVERTISEMENTS** NEWS AND NOTES FROM ROOTSWEB NEW DATABASES AT ROOTSWEB. Two new free and fully searchable databases were added to RootsWeb in the past week. o LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS MARRIAGE RECORDS (1841-1910), contributed by the Lamar County, Texas Genealogical Society, contains 22,935 records (one record equals two people, so there are 45,870 individuals in this database) with 7,517 unique surnames. http://userdb.rootsweb.com/marriages/TX/Lamar o LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS CEMETERY RECORDS includes 74,064 records with copious notes and documentation, reflecting 7,635 unique surnames. http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/TX/Lamar * * * DATABASES ADDED TO ROOTSWEB IN MAY 2000 contain approximately as much data as the SSDI. They are: o The WORLD WAR I CIVILIAN DRAFT REGISTRATION database contains 1,215,381 records reflecting 141,114 surnames of all registrants born 1872-1900 from about 15% of U.S. counties. http://userdb.rootsweb.com/ww1/draft/ o The TEXAS DEATH RECORDS database contains 3,963,456 records reflecting 163,544 surnames of those who died in Texas during the period 1964-1998. Now has Post-ems ("Post-ems"). http://userdb.rootsweb.com/tx/death/search.cgi o LINDESBERG, OREBRO, SWEDEN VITAL STATISTICS http://userdb.rootsweb.com/vitals/ o ROCKLAND COUNTY, NEW YORK NATURALIZATIONS http://userdb.rootsweb.com/naturalization/ o TEXAS BIRTH SUMMARY RECORDS Records (1950-1995) has 11,974,269 records with 308,979 surnames. Post-ems. http://userdb.rootsweb.com/tx/birth/summary/search.cgi o TEXAS BIRTH RECORDS, PART 2 (1926-1949) has 3,211,268 records with 164,733 surnames. This set has more information, including the parents' names. Post-ems. http://userdb.rootsweb.com/tx/birth/general/search.cgi o TEXAS MARRIAGE RECORDS (1966-1995) contains 5,269,009 records http://userdb.rootsweb.com/tx/marriage/search.cgi Post-ems. o TEXAS DIVORCE RECORDS (1968-1997) contains 2,543,376 http://userdb.rootsweb.com/tx/divorce/search.cgi Post-ems. o CALIFORNIA BIRTH INDEX (1905-1995) has 24,596,236 public records with 984,961 surnames. Post-ems. http://userdb.rootsweb.com/ca/birth/search.cgi o CALIFORNIA DEATH INDEX (1940-1995) contains 9,366,786 public records with 498,701 surnames. Post-ems. http://userdb.rootsweb.com/ca/death/search.cgi o LOUISA COUNTY, IOWA CEMETERY LISTINGS. http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/IA/Louisa/ o KENTUCKY CIVIL WAR ROSTERS http://userdb.rootsweb.com/rosters/ * * * DATA, DATA -- WHO'S GOT THE DATA? Do you have a database you would like to share with the worldwide genealogy community? What about your genealogical or historical society? Does it have a database or index to some records (in ASCII format) that would be helpful to others? If so, in most instances, RootsWeb would be proud to host these. RootsWeb's programmers can do magic with databases, plus we offer incredible search engines that will enable others to find and utilize the material you have so carefully compiled. If you think that your database would be of value to RootsWeb's users and you would like to share, send a message to Robert Tillman rrti@rootsweb.com and tell him about your database. Please do not send the database with the initial message. Little genealogical databases are like little acorns -- from them grow mighty big family trees. * * * WORLDCONNECT TIP: SEARCHING WORLDCONNECT Begin your search for those long-lost cousins who may hold the key to breaking down a brick wall in your research by visiting WorldConnect Global Search. http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi Search using only a surname or even part of a surname. You may ask for a return of only exact matches, or you may select Soundex or Metaphone. Global Search allows trailing wildcard matches with a minimum of three letters followed by an asterisk. Or refine your search by including a given name, or place of birth and/or death. Eliminate from your search entries with fields containing no data by checking the boxes marked "not null." Remember that the more you narrow the search by adding criteria to match, the greater the chance that you will eliminate a record of interest to you because it is not an exact match. Also remember that "Tennessee" is not an exact match for "TN" for example. If you have a GEDCOM on file with WorldConnect you can exclude your own database from your search by completing the "skip database" box. Use the "updated within" drop down menu to limit your search to records uploaded or updated since you last performed a search. Remember to check back often as new databases are added all the time, and old records are updated daily. SOUNDEX. The Soundex filing system produces a four-character code beginning with the first letter of a surname followed by three numbers assigned according to the Soundex Coding Guide. Soundex keeps together names with the same and similar sounds, regardless of spelling. For a detailed explanation of Soundex, see ROOTSWEB'S GUIDE TO TRACING FAMILY TREES, Lesson 9, at http://www.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/ METAPHONE is an algorithm to code English words phonetically by reducing them to 16 consonant sounds. It is similar in concept and purpose to Soundex, but more comprehensive in its approach. [Andrew Binstock and John Rex. METAPHONE: A MODERN SOUNDEX. PRACTICAL ALGORITHMS FOR PROGRAMMERS. Addison-Wesley, 1995, pp. 160-169; Gary Parker. "A Better Phonetic Search." C GAZETTE, Vol. 5, No. 4 (June/July), 1990; Lawrence Philips. "Hanging on the Metaphone." COMPUTER LANGUAGE, Vol. 7, No. 12 (December), 1990.] Find WORLDCONNECT TIPS at http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/tips/ and FAQs at http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/help/wchelp.html RootsWeb's WORLDCONNECT SUGGESTION BOARD and help are at http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/gedcom/ The WORLDCONNECT database now contains almost 33 million names. http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/ * * * SHAKING YOUR FAMILY TREE (SYFT). Myra Vanderpool Gormley's Los Angeles Times Syndicate genealogy columns are archived by subject and browsable at http://www.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/syft/ This week's column, "New Tomes and CDs for Family Historians," is at http://www.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/syft/curcolumn.htm * * * ROOTSWEB'S GUIDE TO TRACING FAMILY TREES http://www.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/ 30 interactive genealogy lessons with links to resources at RootsWeb and elsewhere on the Internet. Not just for beginners. The index page has links to Name and Genealogical Query boards, Ancestor Tables of American Presidents, and other special pages. * * * CONNECTING THROUGH ROOTSWEB. Thanks for sharing your stories. GENEALOGICAL TREASURES by Brian Schaller schaller@nitrosoft.co.za Searching for SCHALLERs in London in 1960, I took a gamble and entered one of the 17 depositories beneath London's streets. A white-coated gent asked: "Had your ancestor a lot of money?" I stared at him and then said, "Yes." "Fine. Follow me." There I found old documents in a hardly readable script. An American student helped me. There on page 5 of a certain Joseph SCHALLER's Will I found: "My son Adolphus F. SCHALLER has been missing these seven years." Here were my missing ancestors. His son had fled to South Africa as the King's men were searching for him because he and "6 cohorts" led the Corn Riots when the King doubled the price of bread. Now, Adolphus had a wealthy brother who inherited his share of daddy's estate. His name was Cornelius Robert SCHALLER. He and his family disappeared from England. For 40 years I searched. Then, reading the "History of Nebraska" on RootsWeb, there he was, writing on the Indian Wars. That was an adrenaline rush if ever. Now the rush commences to find out more * * * TOTALLY NETTED by Richard Cranswick Richard-Cranswick@rtc1.freeserve.co.uk I became interested in my ancestors when, by chance, I tried to create an account on AOL. I was a little puzzled at being told my name was already in use, but thought nothing more of it. A few months later my brother e-mailed me with an address he had found on a U.S.A. phone company's site listing a Richard CRANSWICK. I immediately wrote a basic letter stating who I was, though at that stage I had not attempted to trace any family, and also contacted my father with the news. It was only when I received a reply that I began to become interested in finding a common link. My father provided information on my great- grandfather, and a tape he had made of my grandfather talking of his life just before he passed away. The links with America came to nothing (as yet) but I began to wonder just how many others shared my surname. Now two years and much net-surfing later (together with many days searching national birth, marriage, and death records), I have an extensive database of people, have been in contact with numerous CRANSWICKs around the globe, and have traced my own tree to the early 18th century, there is a mailing list for CRANSWICK at RootsWeb, and even a dedicated Web site where I hope to post all the information I have. I have found that there is a thriving and very generous Internet community of genealogists out there, whose members are more than willing to spend time helping and giving hard sought-after information to complete strangers. Long may this generosity and community continue. * * * * * MAILING LISTS. For an index to most genealogy mailing lists hosted by RootsWeb, visit http://lists.rootsweb.com/ NEW MAILING LIST REQUESTS. Please request new mailing lists at http://resources.rootsweb.com/adopt/ 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 Bohemian research, send your SUBSCRIBE request to BOHEMIA-L-request@rootsweb.com NEW SURNAME MAILING LISTS, GENCONNECT BOARDS, AND CLUSTERS Beanblossom, Bowron Charlebois Delung, Ducham Furby Girling, Goeller, Gollaher Hasson, Hataway, Hattaway, Hennelly Jewsbury Kollock Lowenkamp Maycock, Meininger, Menninger, Mitchener Nardi, Nightwine Poncy, Purget Quinet Shricker Thone, Tremain Wakeland, Weekhout Yaudes NEW REGIONAL MAILING LISTS BOHEMIA -- Genealogical focus in the geographic region known as Bohemia. ENGLAND ENG-EAST-YORKS -- Genealogical research list for the East Riding of Yorkshire including city of Kingston-upon-Hull GERMANY DEU-SAUERLAND -- for all genealogists interested in the Sauerland area, especially the former "Herzogtum Westfalen." Preferred language is German, but other languages also accepted. IRELAND IRL-MAYO-BOHOLA -- for those originating from or living in Bohola, County Mayo MARTINIQUE MARTINIQUE -- Families and history of Martinique U.S.A. MA-BAY-COLONY -- Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1630 to 1700 VACCHESA -- City of Chesapeake, Virginia VACCOLON -- City of Colonial Heights, Virginia VACFAIRF -- City of Fairfax, Virginia VACFREDR -- City of Fredricksburg, Virginia VACLYNCH -- City of Lynchburg, Virginia VACMANAS -- City of Manassas, Virginia VACMANCH -- City of Manchester, Virginia VACMARTI -- City of Martinsville, Virginia VACNEWPO -- City of Newport News, Virginia VACPETER -- City of Petersburg, Virginia VACPOQUO -- City of Poquoson, Virginia VACRICHM -- City of Richmond, Virginia VACROANO -- City of Roanoke, Virginia VACSALEM -- City of Salem, Virginia VAELIZAB -- Elizabeth City County, Virginia VAPRINCESS -- Princess Anne County, Virginia OTHER NEW MAILING LISTS ASASRA -- All past and present ASASRA members and families to find and keep in contact with each other and regimental historical research (Australian Special Air Service Regiment Association) LORD-BALTIMORE-HEIRS WORLDWAR2 -- To help those who are resarching the genealogy and service records of family members who served in the armed services during World War II (1939 1945) and in the history of the units and organizations in which they served. It complements the existing Great War List for the First World War (1914-1919). * * * * * NEW WEB ACCOUNT REQUESTS. Please see the instructions at http://cgi.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/acctform.cgi 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. http://www.rootsweb.com/~[account name]. Note that the ~[tilde] before the account name is required. FOR EXAMPLE, to visit the Escambia County, Alabama Web page, go to http://www.rootsweb.com/~alescamb/ CANADA mbwest -- Western Region, Manitoba nbbgcha -- Base Gagetown Comm. Hist. Assoc. (New Brunswick) SAUDI ARABIA sauwgw -- Saudi Arabia U.S.A. alescamb -- Escambia County, Alabama morcga -- Ray County Genealogical Association (Missouri) nmmigrat -- New Mexico Migrations Project scabbevi -- Abbeville County, South Carolina scsparta -- Spartanburg County, South Carolina wvrcbiog -- Raleigh County, West Virginia Biography Project WALES wlsgfhsp -- Gwent Family History Society (Pontypool Branch) SOME NEW HOMEPAGES AND FREEPAGES BANCROFTs from Yorkshire, England http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~bancroftsfromyorkshire CARDIGANSHIRE FAMILY HISTORY. Family history of North Cardiganshire, Wales, U..K with hundreds of identified individuals as well as census information, all searchable. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~ceredigwynd ESPEY FAMILY HISTORY. Most of the information on this site comes from ESPEY FAMILY HISTORY compiled in 1970 by Warren J. Hedman. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~espey FAMILY BIBLES WEBSITE -- ROOTSWEB. For researchers to find their family Bibles and also post information for others to find you. Sign up on the FAMILY_BIBLES mail list. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~familybibles/ FRENCH-CANADIAN FAMILY TREE. BLAIS, CHARTIER, LETOURNEAU, PLANTE, MORIN, MERCIER, FOURNIER, BLANCHET, BOUCHARD, MEUNIER http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kathissite GOMERY, GOMMERY, GOMRY, GUMERY, GUMMERY, etc. One-Name Study http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gomery/ INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF SLAVE ANCESTRYr SLAVE ARCHIVAL COLLECTION DATABASE. Information collected from living descendants across the U.S.A. Descendants can contribute to the Web site online by submitting their enslaved ancestor's name, date and place of birth and death, and other information. http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilissdsa/ ITA-Sicily -- Sicilian genealogy research (companion to ITA-Sicily mail list) http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~itasicily/ MOSER AND BLACKMAN INSCRIPTION BOOK. Pre-Civil War tombstone inscriptions from Monroe County, Tennessee. This ledger originally belonged to Moser and Blackman, stonecutters, whose shop was on Marble Hill (Lakeside) in Monroe County, Tennessee, in the 1850s and 1860s. The shop was destroyed in the Civil War. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~janelle/Blackman.htm NEISINGH FAMILY HISTORY http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~neisingh Ian D. SINGER's Home Page. Family history of SINGER, PULVERMACHER, GOLDMAN, ROSENBERG http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~iansinger STEPHENSONs from Whitby, North Yorkshire, from about 1800. Also WOODCOCK, LENG, MURRAY, HOWIE http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~willsteph/ * * * * * 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 http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/surnames/adoptable/ o For the form to request to adopt a GenConnect surname board (the same form is used for surname mailing list requests) http://resources.rootsweb.com/adopt/ 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: Somebodys-Links-Newsletter-L-request@rootsweb.com, you can read and post notices to the GenConnect SOMEBODY'S LINKS board: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/SomebodysLinks/ * * * * * USGENWEB ARCHIVES -- THE ARCHIVES NEWSLETTER contains the current USGenWeb Archives submissions from the last week. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/newsletter/ 5 June 2000 issue http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/newsletter/2000/june/june5.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: usgw-archives-announce-l-request@rootsweb.com * * * * * LETTERS TO THE EDITORS may be posted to the GenConnect board at http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/RWR-LettersToTheEditor or e-mailed to RWR-Editors@rootsweb.com. Just wanted to say a quick thank-you. I spent hours trying to help a friend start her family research in Leicester, England. Just found the birth entry I wanted on your FreeBMD site that was mentioned in RWR. I can't wait to tell my friend. She was so disappointed that we could find nothing. I'm afraid new researchers don't understand that it takes time, and patience. Many thanks once again. Christine RWR 3:22 mentioned that FreeBMD had recently added its two- millionth entry. I thought that I'd have a look at the project and see how things were going. I read some of the news and related items and then put in the name of my great-great- grandfather, whose marriage details I'd not been able to find. Guess what? The first item out was the man himself. As only one percent of the index has been transcribed this was always going to be a long shot, but it worked out for me. I've already sent off for the certificate and hope that with his wife's father's name revealed for the first time it will give me a new channel to search. Kay Clark in New Zealand transcribed this particular record, so thanks Kay for all your time and effort. And thanks also to everybody else transcribing indexes into the database. It's not immediately obvious that somebody will benefit but they will, and this family historian at least is grateful that you are putting so much into the project. Best wishes, Michael Page, Peterborough, Cambs michael@thepages.clara.net [WorldConnect Board, 2 June 2000] Thank you. Your hard work is much appreciated. Wanted to tell you that since posting on WorldConnect, I have been contacted by more than two dozen people also researching "my" surnames -- some weeks as many as four people and almost all of them on different branches. . . I had no problems uploading my GEDCOM, nor when I made corrections and additions on two subsequent occasions. I thought your explanations for the procedures were easily understood and followed them. My only suggestion and/or advice would be for folks submitting GEDCOMs to enter as much information as they can. Entering the county and state helps narrow the search geographically. About 90% of the people contacting me were courteous and appreciative of any help. The other 10% seemed to share a "mission" of correcting any errors on "their" lines ASAP. I never dreamed I'd have this kind of response. Thank you again for providing this wonderful service so efficiently. Definitely a fan. Marjorie mikemarg1@aol.com I am all for your posting of the vital records for these states. Wish they were more complete and went further back in Texas but thankful for what you are doing. Have seen discussion about privacy being invaded with this information. Still believe that if you use your mother's maiden name for credit information you are not very bright. Also if a person wants to steal your identity it is easier then using this. One credit card receipt and it can be gone. Keep up the good work and appreciate your getting more vital information from other states out there. You are a true boon to those of us who are handicapped and can't get out like we would like to. I used to do my research at the library. Now with limited mobility and funds I do it from home and am very thankful to the Web and people like you. Marcia mlhs@uswest.net * * * * * HUMOR from the mailbog: Some say a computer is a woman -- if you do something wrong, it will remember every bit of it. Some say a computer is a man -- if you had just waited one more week, you could have gotten a better model for less. * * * * * 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 [author's name, e-mail address, and URL, if given]. Previously published by RootsWeb.com, Inc., RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Genealogy News, Vol. 3, No. 23, 7 June 2000. RootsWeb: http://www.rootsweb.com/ BACK ISSUES OF ROOTSWEB REVIEW and MISSING LINKS are fully SEARCHABLE at http://search-rwr.rootsweb.com/ and may be DOWNLOADED from ftp://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/review/ and ftp://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/mlnews/ The presence of a paid advertisement in ROOTSWEB REVIEW or MISSING LINKS should not be construed as an endorsement of the product or service. TO UNSUBSCRIBE from the free weekly genealogy e-zines, ROOTSWEB REVIEW and MISSING LINKS, send any e-mail to: rootsweb-review-unsubscribe@rootsweb.com TO SUBSCRIBE, send to rootsweb-review-subscribe@rootsweb.com