ROOTSWEB REVIEW: RootsWeb's Genealogy News Vol. 3, No. 51, 20 December 2000, Circulation: 737,008+ (c) 1998-2000 RootsWeb.com, Inc. http://www.rootsweb.com/ ROOTSWEB REVIEW and MISSING LINKS are free, weekly e-zines Editors: Julia M. Case and Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG RWR-Editors@rootsweb.com Advertising: sbrenay@myfamilyinc.com RootsWeb HelpDesk: http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/ Data Submission Form: http://userdb.rootsweb.com/submit.html New Databases (check often): http://searches.rootsweb.com/ IN THIS ISSUE o Connecting through RootsWeb (The Unexpected; An Early Christmas Present; Four More Generations) o News and Notes from RootsWeb (New Searchable Databases; Who Has the Data?; Social Security Death Index (SSDI) November 2000 Update; WorldConnect; Electronic New Year Cards from RootsWeb; Ask a Genealogist at RootsWeb; Shaking Your Family Tree; RootsWeb's Guide to Tracing Family Trees) o Homing Instinct o New Genealogy Mailing Lists o New Genealogy Web Pages o GenConnect o USGenWeb Archives o Letters to the Editors o Humor (My Last Real Christmas Tree, or Ping-Ping-Ping) o Reprint Policy; Back Issues; How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe RootsWeb's WORLDCONNECT contains more than 51 million names and new GEDCOMs are added daily. Search WorldConnect and upload your own GEDCOM(s) to http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/ * * * * * CONNECTING THROUGH ROOTSWEB. Thanks for sharing your stories. THE UNEXPECTED by Kathi Gardner, Tucson, Arizona kathi@primenet.com One of the first lessons I learned in genealogy was to expect the unexpected. I started searching for my roots as a young adult when my mother passed away during my high school years, leaving no relatives and scant information about her family. One of the first things I discovered was that the mother's name on my birth certificate was not what I expected. After questioning the only relatives I had, my father and a much older cousin, I determined that the name was that of my father's previous wife. He assured me that it was a mistake and went to court to have it corrected. I continued to search my roots and after 30 years accumulated a considerable family tree. But the entry on my birth certificate kept nagging me. During my 30 years of research I also researched the first wife's family. She passed away when I was about three, so I considered that she might be my mother. I had once seen a photograph of her and there was a slight resemblance. After my father died I finally decided to do whatever was necessary to resolve once and for all the issue of my mother. It turned out that a simple phone call to the state adoption agency uncovered an adoption record listed for my father's name. The only information available to me was "non-identifying." I eagerly awaited the letter that possibly would solve my mystery. To my complete surprise I found that I was the child of someone totally unconnected with the people I had called mom and dad for 50 years. I was fortunate to be referred to a qualified researcher, who was able to provide my birth mother's name along with her parents' names. I then went to work using the RootsWeb Social Security Death Index http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/. I located my grandfather's death information. I then went online to order his death certificate, which provided me with the name of the funeral parlor. One phone call gave me a list of my grandfather's four sisters and brothers. Fortunately, one of his sisters had married someone with an uncommon name. An online phone book provided me with a handful of phone calls to make. I could not believe my luck when my first call received the reply, "Oh, you want my mother, the genealogist"! My search took place almost one year ago. Unfortunately, my birth mother passed away more than 20 years ago. The good news is that I have a 91-year-old grandmother, an aunt, and five cousins. I have been given a second chance to ask all those questions I saved up for 30 years. My family lives in another state but I visited them recently and make frequent phone calls. Oh, and the reason that the name was wrong on my birth certificate is that the second wife signed the adoption records with the first wife's name. I will probably never know why she did that, but, if she hadn't I would have never questioned my parentage at all. AN EARLY CHRISTMAS PRESENT by Raymon Lindsey gabbie@aeneas.net I am a LINDSEY-L@rootsweb.com subscriber. About two months ago, I received a telephone call from a young lady in Lufkin, Texas, who asked to speak to Phillip LINDSEY. On 6 June 1996, my oldest son Phillip LINDSEY had died from M. S., a disease he had fought for almost eight years. When I informed the caller that he was dead and I was his father, she said she was looking for her own father whom she had never met. After talking and exchanging some facts we decided that my son could be her father and that we would have a DNA test to prove it one way or the other. Several weeks ago the DNA test came back positive. She is my 16-year-old granddaughter and she will be coming to Tennessee to meet the other side of her family before Christmas. I will get my year 2000 Christmas present early -- or my 1984 Christmas present late. Whichever way you look at it, it will be welcome. FOUR MORE GENERATIONS by Elizabeth Ekstrom Richards bethrich@yahoo.com Thanks for all the work you do on these newsletters. I'd like to share how a recent newsletter was a gift to me. The following notice appeared in ML 5:50: PEFFLEY. The complete text of the PEFFLEY, PEFFLY, AND PEFLEY FAMILIES IN AMERICA (1938), by May Miller Frost is online at the PEFFLEY Family Association Web site. This covers the descendants (1729 to 1938) of Nicholas PEFFLEY, a Palatine emigrant, who arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1729 from Cowes on board the "Mortenhouse." The files are being updated with information submitted by participants on PEFFLEY-L@rootsweb.com http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~scismfam/peffley/peffbooktext.htm An old family obituary mentioned that a collateral relative had married a PEFFLEY. Because I value every lead, I looked at the Web page and found a wealth of unexpected information. I found that I am also a PEFFLEY descendant and can now add four more generations to my own ancestry. I am looking forward to contributing my own research to the PEFFLEY family knowledge. NEWS AND NOTES FROM ROOTSWEB NEW SEARCHABLE DATABASES AT ROOTSWEB. RootsWeb thanks all of the individuals and groups who contribute their data to share with the genealogical community. See the full list of contributors at http://userdb.rootsweb.com/contributors.html GEORGIA, Camden County. Bickley Chapel Cemetery 135 records; Hoydt Drury http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ IOWA, Keokuk County, Sigourney. Pleasant Grove 2,637 records; Rhonda Lindemann and Becky Berg http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ NORTH CAROLINA, Caldwell County, Granite Falls. Pinecrest Cemetery; 1,200 records; Diane Simmons http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ NORTH CAROLINA, Currituck County. Newbern Cemetery 47 records; Annette Ivy http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ OHIO, Trumbull County. Brownwood Cemetery 2,500 records; Gayle Gall http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ TEXAS, Hall County, Turkey. Dreamland Cemetery 1,418 records; Tammy K. Sharp http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ TEXAS, Knox County. Benjamin Cemetery (partial listing) 145 records; Joan (Bassham) Rooney http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ WISCONSIN, Clark County, Granton. York Cemetery 400 records; Steven G. Lavey http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ WISCONSIN, Outagamie County, Black Creek. St. Mary Cemetery 500 records; Paul West http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ * * * WHO HAS THE DATA? Does your state, province, county, parish, or church have a database available that has not yet been placed on RootsWeb and that you think would be of interest to genealogists and historians? Do you have a database that you would like to share that you think would be of value and interest to others? In most cases, RootsWeb would be proud to host them. Please use the data submission form to tell us about such databases: http://userdb.rootsweb.com/submit.html * * * SOCIAL SECURITY DEATH INDEX (SSDI) UPDATE. The November 2000 SSDI update is in place. 189,819 new records were added and the new total is 64,913,519. See http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/ * * * WORLDCONNECT: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/ Updating a Family Tree v. Creating a Second WorldConnect Account Q. I tried to update my family tree on WorldConnect and I created another separate account instead of updating my existing account. I was able to delete this duplicate file but wonder what I did wrong. A. When you attempted to update your family tree you selected a different user code to access the WorldConnect set-up page than the user code you established when you created your original family tree. This resulted in a NEW family tree file being created rather than an update being made for the family tree you previously had on file with WorldConnect. In order to have WorldConnect know that you want to update an existing family tree you must use your ORIGINAL user code and password. If you can't remember your original password, request it at PASSWORD CENTRAL: http://passwordcentral.rootsweb.com/ When you access the set-up page using the original user code and password the page will reflect all the settings you selected for your original account. You won't be faced with a blank page as you will be if you are about to create a new account. On the set-up page be sure to complete item #9 (on the Standard set-up page) and item #22 (on the Advanced set-up page) for the location of the new updated GEDCOM on your computer that you are about to upload. Then click on Upload/Update and the new GEDCOM will replace the old one rather than creating a new one. For additional information about updating your family tree see: http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/FAQ/wcsubmit5.html Also see RootsWeb's Guide to Tracing Family Trees: Using Technology to Dig up Roots (GEDCOM and Software) http://www.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/lesson10.htm * * * ELECTRONIC CARDS FROM ROOTSWEB: http://postcards.rootsweb.com/ E-mail FREE personalized cards for ALL OCCASIONS and MANY HOLIDAYS from RootsWeb to online family and friends. NEW THIS WEEK: New Year's cards at http://postcards.rootsweb.com/mil.htm * * * ASK-A-GENEALOGIST AT ROOTSWEB. Find this week's Q & A at http://rwguide.rootsweb.com/ask-a-genealogist.html Before posting a new query, please read the GUIDELINES at http://www.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/askguidelines.html Ask-A-Genealogist at RootsWeb ARCHIVES http://rwguide.rootsweb.com/askarchives.html * * * SHAKING YOUR FAMILY TREE (SYFT) by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG. This week's column includes guidelines and suggested questions to get your relatives talking about family history. If you are lucky enough to have grandparents and/or other older relatives still living, there is a gold mine of genealogy to be learned from them. Just learn to ask the right questions. http://www.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/syft/curcolumn.htm SYFT columns are archived by subject and can be browsed at http://www.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/syft/ * * * ROOTSWEB'S GUIDE TO TRACING FAMILY TREES (RWGuide) http://rwguide.rootsweb.com/ Polish, Russian, Czech, Hungarian, Croatian, Slovakian, et al. http://www.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/lesson27.htm ** PAID ADVERTISEMENTS ** ********************************************* GIVE THOSE OLD FAMILY PHOTOS A MAKEOVER! We can restore, colorize and do miraculous things to those important family photos too fragile to put in the album! http://www.doctorfoto.com/ ********************************************* U.S. FEDERAL CENSUS IMAGES Have you seen the U.S. Federal Census Images at Ancestry.com? Now you can view original documents online! Ancestry.com continues the census images project with 1920 postings for parts of MI, MA, MN and NM. Get access for only $39.95. Go to: http://www.ancestry.com/search/io/about/main.htm The Jan/Feb issue of FAMILY CHRONICLE is on the newsstands or you can obtain a FREE trial copy by visiting http://www.familychronicle.com/ . Articles include "Internet Subscription Databases," "Fraudulent Genealogy," "French Canadian Roots," "Fraternal Society Records," "The Lost Virginia City of Henricus," "Web Sites Worth Surfing," "What Counts as Evidence," and many others. Top journalist Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG has this to say: "If you haven't discovered FAMILY CHRONICLE you are in for a treat." Find out how you can obtain a FREE trial copy by visiting http://www.familychronicle.com/ ***************************************** Free Trial ONLINE GENEALOGICAL LIBRARY Try It FREE All Day Today! (this Thursday only) Visit http://www.heritagebooks.com/ & click "Online Library", click "Login", enter username/password "free/day" HERITAGE BOOKS, INC. 1540 Pointer Ridge Place, Bowie MD 20715 ***************************************** The new HISTORY MAGAZINE is now on the newsstands but you can obtain a FREE trial copy by visiting http://www.history-magazine.com/. Articles include "The History of Whaling," "Farming in the New World," "Christmas Recipes," "The Battle of Agincourt," "How Childbirth has Changed Since Roman Times," and many others. HISTORY MAGAZINE articles cover the social conditions that affected the lives of our ancestors. Check out our Web feature "This Day in History" by visiting http://www.history-magazine.com/ Visit Ancestry.com for a FREE 14-Day Trial and enjoy access to the No. 1 Source for Family History Online. Search more than 600 MILLION NAMES and trace your family tree today. Go to: www.ancestry.com/subscribe/subscribetrial1y.asp?sourcecode=F11GC Holidays Savings at http://www.censusmicrofilm.com/ New genealogy microfilm reader ONLY $470. INDUS 4601-11. Plus links to most genealogy research tools you need. RootsWeb users get a FREE electronic Federal Census Catalog (it has a search engine) and two FREE microfilm take-up spools. Buy four census microfilms priced at $12.95 and get one free (best price by more than $10 each). FREE U.S. MAPS show changing boundaries 1790-1870 informative; a $15 value at http://www.censusmicrofilm.com/fedcens.htm Internet's largest selection of new-used microfilm readers. Test online Soundex Converter. View all 75,000 Catalog census microfilms. Census search services, photocopies and digital census images. These are two Web sites worth surfing. Librarians see a complete line of Canon Microfilm Reader Printers, refurbished and like new and all options. Every GENEALOGY item you want is available at the American Genealogy Mall http://www.genealogy-mall.com/ [EDITORS' NOTE: Free trial offers that involve mailing items are limited to North American addresses, unless stated otherwise.] ** END PAID ADVERTISEMENTS ** HOMING INSTINCT by Jeffery G. Scism scismgenie@juno.com http://blacksheep.rootsweb.com/ http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~scismfam/peffley/ What is a homing instinct, and how does it affect a person's choice of location? In birds, cats, dogs, and salmon it is based on magnetic fields of the earth. Scientists believe that animals can, by using an "internal compass," find their way back to a precise location. The homing pigeon was used in experiments that tested and proved this theory. Pigeons were placed in a magnetic field that changed polarity every 30 seconds. After several days they were set free to return to their homes and were last seen flying S patterns in the wrong direction. Control birds were released and after a circle or two headed directly to home roost. There is a theory that humans have this ability, although they do not depend on it. When a person returns to his "home town" after a long journey, he often has feelings of well being, experiencing euphoria as he reaches the "home stretch." People far from home in different climates often experience "home sickness" and feel a need to return home to visit the people and places with which they are familiar. When seeking a new place to live, people subconsciously choose familiar surroundings and try to have as many similarities as possible with "home." It might be mountains, a smell, a type of tree, or a color of roof tile -- all can add to the feeling of "home," and many cannot be comfortable in an environment that does not feel "homely." A house is not a home, but someone can make it into one; you know as soon as you walk in. Your ancestors likely chose places to live that were similar to the places they came from. * * * * * 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 of the more than 20,000 RootsWeb-hosted mailing lists, 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 identifying deserted English villages, send a SUBSCRIBE request to ENG-DESERTED-VILLAGES-L-request@rootsweb.com NEW SURNAME MAILING LISTS, GENCONNECT BOARDS, AND CLUSTERS Babin, Bailly, Bien, Blaicher, Bonstein, Brenneise, Bynam Chicoine, Criss, Cropp Digweed Filius, Flatbush, Freck Haptonstall, Hebenstreit, Hux Kierukstys, Kueker LaFantaisie, Lathey, Lehrling Mahnke, Mahomet, Martorello Nolin Opperman Penton, Phlegar, Piccozzi, Pons Ritczi Semken, Sooter, Southernland, Stolte Tilbury, Timrod Uxley Wieger, Worship NEW REGIONAL MAILING LISTS AUSTRALIA AFFHO -- Australian Federation of Family History Organisations (AFFHO) AUS-IRISH -- Irish in Australia CANADA CAN-ONT-MANITOULIN -- Manitoulin, Ontario ENGLAND ENG-DESERTED-VILLAGES -- Identifying deserted villages and locating their vital records RUSSIA RUS-LIEBENTALDIST -- Grossliebental District in Russia (German settlement) U.S.A. CA-Ghosttowns CT-EAST-HADDAM ID-Ghosttowns MS-Ghosttowns OK-SCHOOLS -- names and locations of early schools in Oklahoma, pre-statehood to 1930ish SC-Ghosttowns VACPORTS -- City of Portsmouth, Virginia (Independent City) ETHNIC AND SPECIAL INTEREST MAILING LISTS OK-Oilmen -- Oilmen in Oklahoma SFBAY-CGSA -- Members in the San Francisco Bay Region of the California State Genealogical Alliance TRANSCRIPTIONS-UK -- To share, exchange, acquire, or request genealogical data, books, transcriptions, etc., subject to the correct observance of copyright, in the UK * * * * * NEW WEB ACCOUNT REQUESTS. Please see the instructions at http://accounts.rootsweb.com/ 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 Web page for Orange County, Virginia, go to http://www.rootsweb.com/~vaorange/ U.S.A. kscemete -- Kansas Cemeteries lafg -- Friends of Genealogy, Inc. (Louisiana) macstoug -- Stoughton, Massachusetts (city) mnmorris -- Morrison County, Minnesota mnnicoll -- Nicollet County, Minnesota okvets -- Oklahoma Veterans paperry -- Perry County, Pennsylvania pacumber -- Cumberland County, Pennsylvania vaorange -- Orange County, Virginia SOME NEW HOMEPAGES AND FREEPAGES BEARBOWER. Connections to BEARBOWER, MILKS, MILLER, PETTIT, COOVER. Direct lines and other related surnames. Miscellaneous notes, include census, obituaries, newspaper items of interest, downloadable GEDCOM and descendancy report. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~cooverfamily/ CLEMENT Genealogy. A study of William CLEMENT (d. 1760) of Amelia County, Virginia and his descendants. Surnames include ABSTON, BUTTERWORTH, CLEMENT, CLEMENTS, EVANS, FORD, GILBERT, MAJOR, and PIGG. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~clement/ ITA-SICILY. It's all about family -- dedicated to Sicilian genealogy research. Companion site to the ITA-Sicily mailing list. Includes Sicilian surnames, old family photo albums, pictures of Sicily, old maps, books, passenger list information and more. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~itasicily/ PAVLICH SOMERVILLE ANDERSON MENDELSON EVANS CRAM EDGAR Genealogy Tracing family in Scotland, Australia and U.S.A., Romania, and Slovenia, but not limited to these countries. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~pavlich/ * * * * * 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/ * * * * * USGENWEB ARCHIVES. THE ARCHIVES NEWSLETTER contains the current USGenWeb Archives submissions in the last week. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/newsletter/index.htm USGW-ARCHIVES-ANNOUNCE is a read-only mailing list for weekly announcements of updates and submissions to the USGenWeb Archives. To subscribe, send e-mail that says only SUBSCRIBE to USGW-ARCHIVES-ANNOUNCE-L-REQUEST@rootsweb.com. DAILY-UPLOADS-L is a read-only mailing list that announces every file uploaded or changed in the USGenWeb Archives. To subscribe, send e-mail that says only SUBSCRIBE to DAILY-UPLOADS-L-REQUEST@rootsweb.com * * * * * LETTERS TO THE EDITORS. Please send letters and all submissions as plain text e-mail messages (no attachments or html) to RWR-Editors@rootsweb.com [Re "The Lillitoe/Sillitoe Bible," by Geoff Lewin Blaxall, in RWR 3:50, 13 December 2000] The information about Ernest Walter SILLITOE (it's definitely not LILLITOE) and his Bible was also passed to me. Have been collecting data for my SILLITOE ancestors in Sudbury, Suffolk for some time, and had records for Ernest's ancestors going back to mid-1700s. Now have records for over 600 SILLITOEs and spouses from Sudbury area. As one contributor surmised, there was frequent migration from Sudbury to London, particularly in the 1800s. Lesley Jones lesley.a.jones@btinternet.com I just had to write to let you know how much I enjoy reading the stories of those who have found lost relatives and ancestors by reading something on RootsWeb. I especially love the stories whereby someone has been able to extend their family many generations back by some fluke. So far, I have found a couple of distant cousins and one of them had written a book on my father's mother's side (MERSCHMAN) going back to the 1600s. I now have a copy. This gives me an idea of what life must have been like back then as well as insights into some family traits. It also gives me a greater sense of family. Thank you RootsWeb! Amy Bond abond2000@home.com Just a note from the wild and wooly Washington coast to let you know how much I look forward to your weekly digests. There is always something interesting, and it is always good-natured. You are appreciated! Pierre Stephenson splugy@aone.com [13 December 2000] I was doing a search for my surname BROPHY and with it came up the newsletter of 27 February 2000 [Somebody's Links, Vol. 2, No. 5] -- pictures found in Ft. Worth, Texas of my BROPHY family. Thank you for inserting it. I have e-mailed the person and she is sending the pictures of my family to me. Thanks again. Cathy Wagner rwagner@xcelco.on.ca [Search multiple databases at RootsWeb and at Ancestry.com from RootsWeb's main page at http://www.rootsweb.com/ and find links to searches in additional RootsWeb-hosted databases at the same page. You can also search the databases of all back issues of RootsWeb Review, or of Missing Links and Somebody's Links, at http://e-zine.rootsweb.com/ (to choose the database to be searched, click on either RootsWeb Review or Missing Links).] * * * * * HUMOR. Thanks to Joan Young JYoung6180@aol.com for permission to reprint her Christmas story, which she originally posted on 3 December 1998 to the mailing list PADUTCH-LIFE-L@rootsweb.com. MY LAST REAL CHRISTMAS TREE or PING-PING-PING I don't have a real Christmas tree anymore -- I always said I would never have an artificial tree and my husband and I were the type to go to a Christmas tree farm and chop down our own. You never saw such pretty trees in all your life. But then came the year of our last ever real chop-it-down-yourself Christmas tree. We had chopped a gorgeous Blue Spruce and brought it home and left it outside to stay nice and fresh. It was quite cold that year and our tree stayed fresh until we brought it in a few days before Christmas and decorated it with all our traditional decorations. It looked magnificent. One morning as I walked past the tree I heard a slight noise -- it was a pinging sound. I looked closer at the tree and had to rub my eyes to make sure I wasn't having a nightmare. There "to my wondering eyes did appear" not a sleigh or reindeer but spiders -- not one or two, but hundreds of big, black, hairy, jumping spiders. I later found a book on spiders and found these critters under the heading "Jumping Spiders." They are "Phidippus Audax: Common in North America. Large, heavy bodied and conspicuous. These spiders are found on vegetation, stones, and sometimes inside houses [yeah, right]. In captivity, they are active and have good appetites. One captive Phidippus ate more than 40 fruit flies in succession." So now you know what I was up against. Not only were these Phidippi big, hairy and active, but also they were hungry. Apparently, there had been a nest of these spiders in the tree and when the tree was brought into the warm house they hatched out and were merrily jumping from ball to ball and mini-light to mini-light -- ping-ping-ping! I headed for the nearest can of bug spray and sprayed those Phidippi until I could no longer breathe, but they didn't seem to mind at all. We had a string of lights on the tree with "chimney" bulbs and they just hopped down inside the chimneys to escape the onslaught of the spray. Then, when the coast was clear (the can was empty), they began jumping off the tree and onto the ceiling and walls. It took until after Christmas to rid the house of the spiders and that was when I made my first and last New Year's resolution -- no more real Christmas trees. * * * * * ROOTSWEB REVIEW and MISSING LINKS do not answer or publish queries. You can subscribe to the relevant surname and locality mailing lists (complete index at http://lists.rootsweb.com/ )and then post queries to those lists. You can do searches of all of RootsWeb's resources by starting at RootsWeb's main page http://www.rootsweb.com/. You will also want to search the WorldConnect database frequently, as new material is added daily (that database now contains more than 51 million entries). Any letter, story, or article submitted for consideration for publication in MISSING LINKS or ROOTSWEB REVIEW should be sent as a plain text e-mail message to rwr-editors@rootsweb.com 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. 51, 20 December 2000. RootsWeb: http://www.rootsweb.com/ BACK ISSUES OF ROOTSWEB REVIEW and MISSING LINKS are fully SEARCHABLE. Search all or download a specific issue by following the links at http://e-zine.rootsweb.com/ 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