ROOTSWEB REVIEW: RootsWeb's Genealogy News Vol. 3, No. 52, 27 December 2000, Circulation: 739,842+ (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 Some Thoughts for the New Year o The GI and the Evacuee o News and Notes from RootsWeb (New Searchable Databases; Who Has the Data?; WorldConnect; Electronic New Year Cards from RootsWeb; Ask a Genealogist at RootsWeb; Shaking Your Family Tree; RootsWeb's Guide to Tracing Family Trees) o Connecting through RootsWeb (Father Found; Homing Instinct; Homing Instinct or Remembering; Post-Adoption Reunions) o New Genealogy Mailing Lists o New Genealogy Web Pages o GenConnect o USGenWeb Archives o Letters to the Editors o Humor (A Bit of Blarney) o Reprint Policy; Back Issues; How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe RootsWeb's WORLDCONNECT contains more than 51.8 million names and new GEDCOMs are added daily. Search WorldConnect and upload your own GEDCOM(s) to http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/ * * * * * A FEW THOUGHTS FOR THE NEW YEAR by Nicol Wieme nicolgw@rochester.rr.com http://www.nicol.wieme.com I hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday season and a prosperous new year. I just wanted to remind everyone that this is the time of year when all the newbies arrive with their unbridled enthusiasm as well as their lack of netiquette. Let us all remember: -- how exciting those jokes were to forward to friends. -- when we assumed that all Smiths were related. -- when we didn't know that all CAPS are considered shouting. -- when we never heard of list vs. digest mode. -- when we first found that spell-check button. -- when we realized just how important an "Accurate Subject Line" really is. -- when we accidentally sent that dirty joke to the list. -- when we read that dirty joke on a list. -- when we couldn't unsubscribe from a list no matter what. -- when we felt it was our civic duty to forward all virus warnings as instructed. -- when we believed all those hoaxes sent to us. -- when we made our first online discovery. -- when we felt confident enough to assist someone new. * * * * * THE GI AND THE EVACUEE by Barbara Bcwhiteclo@aol.com This is not a story of a successful search, but a tale of a meeting between two lonely people. In 1942/43, I was an evacuee from the bombing raids in London, living in Andover, Hampshire. My teacher told me I would be going to a Christmas party to be held for evacuees in the town, hosted by the American servicemen based nearby. No one else in my school was an evacuee so I would not know anyone there. It was held in a local hall, which was brightly decorated. There were party games, children and servicemen joining in together, and wonderful party food (bear in mind we had tight rationing and any cake or confectionery was a rarity) and I ate my first-ever doughnut -- delicious! Then each of the men chose a present for a child and brought it to him or her from the Christmas tree. My GI helped me to tear off the wrapping and saw my delight, and we smiled and hugged in pleasure. It was a sewing box, full of threads and some kits, needles and scissors. I loved it. He talked to me about his Mom who sewed and hoped I would enjoy using it. I never knew his name, but I often wonder about that kind young man. Did he get home to his Mom? I wish he knew what that gift he chose for me started. I never stopped sewing, and am now a quilter and embroiderer. Did your father, grandfather, or brother serve in World War II, and was he based on Salisbury Plain area? He might be the man who made such an impression on a lonely little girl. * * * * * 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 LUSITANIA. Passenger and Crew List, May 7 1915 2,000 records; Judith Tavares http://userdb.rootsweb.com/passenger/ NEW YORK, Ellis Island. The Lost Children of Ellis Island 422 records; Cathy Horn, NYPC Genealogy & Computers Group http://userdb.rootsweb.com/passenger/ NEW YORK. RMS Cameronia, Scotland to New York, 23 July 1915 194 records; Jane Ritzenthaler http://userdb.rootsweb.com/passenger/ NEW YORK. SS Alice Wilson, Ireland to New York, 4 August 1851 334 records; George T. Burke http://userdb.rootsweb.com/passenger/ NEW YORK. SS California, Scotland to New York, 14 October 1911 509 records; Jane Ritzenthaler http://userdb.rootsweb.com/passenger/ NEW YORK. Selected Passenger List Information, Italy to U.S.A. 2,939 records; David Heathcott http://userdb.rootsweb.com/passenger/ * * * 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 * * * WORLDCONNECT: Changing Your User Code http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/ Q. Is it possible to change my user code for WorldConnect? A. Because the WorldConnect user code is a part of the URL (address) of your WorldConnect account, the only way to change it is to upload a new GEDCOM using a new user code and password. You may use the old password or select a new one. Once this is accomplished, you will want to remove the original (duplicate) account by going to the set-up page at http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igmuser.cgi , entering the user code and password of the original account, and clicking on the Standard button. Scroll to the bottom of the Standard set-up page and click on the "remove account" button to delete the duplicate (original) account. RootsWeb's Guide to Tracing Family Trees: Using Technology to Dig up Roots (GEDCOM and Software) http://www.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/lesson3.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 YEAR'S DAY CARDS: 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 Perhaps your question has already been answered -- check here: http://rwguide.rootsweb.com/askarchives.html * * * SHAKING YOUR FAMILY TREE (SYFT) by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG. It is a rare family that does not have at least one ancestor or relative who was adopted -- formally or informally. See "Adoption and the Genealogist" 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/ Italian and Hispanic Ancestors http://www.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/lesson22.htm ** PAID ADVERTISEMENTS ** 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 ********************************************* 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/ ********************************************* 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/ 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/ ***************************************** FREE TWICE-MONTHLY E-MAIL NEWSLETTER Dozens of Books & CDs at Publisher-Only Sale Prices in Each Issue Visit http://www.heritagebooks.com/ & click on "Free Newsletter" HERITAGE BOOKS, INC. 1540 Pointer Ridge Place, Bowie MD 20715 ***************************************** 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 ** CONNECTING THROUGH ROOTSWEB. Thanks for sharing your stories. FATHER FOUND by FRBlackburn@webtv.net I was born in 1942 in Florida. My mother wouldn't say much about my father. He was supposed to have died about the time of my birth. Being an only child, when mom and her sister died I was left with no known living relatives. After two years of looking through RootsWeb -- that's three hours per night, three nights per week -- I had made up my mind to stop the search. I intended to discard all the saved files and forget it. However, I saw that RootsWeb had a new site and, as I had about a half an hour before a show came on that we wanted to watch, I thought I would make one last try and then discard it all. We never saw the show. I found my father on what would have been his 100th birthday. I now have first and second cousins and information on almost all of my father's relatives back to about 1740. My father died in 1975 about 500 miles from where we live, had I only -- oh well. It was quite a shock to have a family after 57 years. I have RootsWeb and the people who donate their time to RootsWeb to thank for having made this all come about. HOMING INSTINCT by Ken McCrea Ken@GermanNames.com In Jeffrey G. Schism's article "Homing Instinct" [RootsWeb Review, Vol. 3, No. 51], the final line "Your ancestors likely chose places to live that were similar to the places they came from," describes how I finally located a missing brother who "went to Australia." Richard HALL (circa 1771-1843) lived in the east end of London. He had three sons, Henry B. HALL, George R. HALL (both became steel plate engravers and emigrated to New York City in the 1850s), and Thomas HALL, who according to a single-page genealogy done by a relative in the 1940s, went to Australia. HALL is a common surname and finding someone named Thomas HALL somewhere in Australia in the 1800s could be quite a challenge. Starting with the information that his brothers went from London (the largest city in England) to New York City, it seemed logical that the starting point for my search should be the largest city in Australia. A little library work indicated that this was Melbourne. Using sources in the LDS library in Salt Lake City, I found a Thomas Wycks HALL who had lived in Melbourne, but later moved to the smaller town of Kyneton, not far from Melbourne, where he died in 1888. His death certificate indicated that his father was Richard HALL. Now armed with a middle name I was able to identify his baptism in Bethnal Green, England in 1813, confirming that this was the right person. Wanting to contact descendants, I sent a letter to the postmaster of Kyneton asking him to forward the letter to someone named HALL if there still was one in the town (this was before the Australian phone listings were online). The postmaster, apparently not knowing anyone named HALL, sent my letter to the local newspaper, which published it. Within a month I had a letter back from a distant HALL cousin in Australia, located using the "homing instinct" theory. HOMING INSTINCT OR REMEMBERING by Betsy Webber, South Paris, Maine betsy@megalink.net I was delighted to read Jeffery G. Scism's article, "Homing Instinct." I believe that we humans possess the ability, but it has been difficult to describe without seeming mystical or strange to some ears. Thirty-one years ago my husband and I moved from Massachusetts to a town in Maine. On the first journey there, I had the strange feeling I had been there before. I remember looking out the car window and saying aloud, "I feel like I am coming home." This seemed strange to my husband who knew I was born in Massachusetts and raised in New Hampshire. To explain this strong and definite reaction, I lovingly accused my Native American ancestors of gifting me with the ability to "remember." The feeling didn't leave me in all the five years we remained in that town. In 1999 I made an amazing discovery with the help of a person who would prove later to be a cousin -- our grandparents in common had lived in the Maine town. It seems that I was truly coming home. A part of my father's family had lived in the town to which my family and I were moving, and our new home was only a few hundred yards from one of the family homes built in the 1800s. My children and I were walking the same ground our ancestors had walked a hundred years before. In the next town over where my husband had his business in an old mill building I had the same strange feeling. In the year 2000, I learned that this was the immediate vicinity where my Native American grandmother had lived and grown up. The burial ground for the family is right behind the mill. So, was it the Homing Instinct or the gift of Remembering for me? Perhaps they are one and the same. I feel as if I was brought back into the fold from years of wandering. POST-ADOPTION REUNIONS by Marilyn Valkenburg mvlknbrg@incentre.net [21 December 2000] I've been reading this week's submissions about connecting with birth families with both smiles and tears. Both of our wonderful children were adopted at birth, our daughter in 1979 and our son in 1982. We never tried to hide the fact that they were adopted, always told them that their birth mothers must have loved them very much to be able to make the sacrifice of giving them up, and said that when they were old enough, we would help them in whatever ways we could to find their birth families, if they chose to search. Our daughter was always curious, but hesitant about searching. When our son turned 18, he told us he would like to register with the Alberta Post-Adoption Registry to try and locate his bio-mom. This seemed to be the catalyst that got our daughter(now a wife and mother herself) interested in searching too, so they both registered at about the same time. Over a relatively short period of time (less than three months), our son was reunited with his birth mom, my husband and I have met her and her new four-month old son (her first since our son), we all connected in an extremely positive manner, and I can see nothing but good coming from these new relationships -- just more people to love, with another whole extended family we are all looking forward to meeting. Those are the smiles. My tears in this situation come from the fact that my wonderful, sensitive, responsible, smart, funny, good-natured, beautiful daughter has not had any response from the Registry, other than non-identifying information -- nobody from her birth family has registered. She was told that her birth name was RUNGE, her bio-mom came from Saskatchewan, her birth father was a hemophiliac, and she knows she was born in Edmonton, Alberta, in August of 1979, but she has little else to go on. She and her husband have considered doing a private search, but are very reluctant to intrude, unwanted, on others' lives. It's really difficult to see her feeling rejected like this, and to feel helpless to do anything to help. After reading today's letters about successful connections through RootsWeb, it occurred to me that there may be someone who reads this newsletter who is doing research on the RUNGE family, and that I just might be able to do something to help. At the very least, if this story helps happily reunite even one family that otherwise might not have gotten around to registering, then it is not in vain. Wishing everyone happy searching in the new millennium! * * * * * 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 Danish daily life and traditions, send a SUBSCRIBE request to DNK-TRADITIONS-L-request@rootsweb.com NEW SURNAME MAILING LISTS, GENCONNECT BOARDS, AND CLUSTERS Alessio Bargy Chessman, Coovers, Crawshaw DeSaulles Eveler Fritter Galik, Garry Hugo, Husick Jette Kourajian, Kozub Malcolmson, McCumesty, Medcalf Nijholt Panozzo, Pittendreigh Restieaux, Roles Saintonge, Sciurba, St-Onge, Stier Willhelm NEW REGIONAL MAILING LISTS AUSTRALIA AUS-VIC-NORTHWEST -- Northwest of the State of Victoria DENMARK DNK-TRADITIONS -- Daily life and traditions LATVIA LVA-SALDUS -- The region of Saldus U.S.A. IL-TEUTOPOLIS -- Teutopolis, Effingham County, Illinois NY-BUFFALO-EASTSIDE -- Old East Side neighborhood, Buffalo, Erie County, New York OK-CHURCHES -- names, locations, and members of churches OK-DISASTERS -- disasters and ancestors in them OK-NEWSPAPERS -- newspapers and information from them OK-RAILROADS -- ancestors associated with railroads ETHNIC AND SPECIAL INTEREST MAILING LISTS PAF-5-USERS -- For users of Personal Ancestral File 5.x PHILLY-MUMMERS -- Mummers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania TRANSCRIPTIONS-EIRE -- To share, exchange, acquire or request genealogical data, books, transcriptions, etc. relevant to the Irish Republic of Eire, subject to the correct observance of copyright. * * * * * 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 the Alabama Cemetery and Volunteers list, go to http://www.rootsweb.com/~alcemete/ NEW SOUTH WALES (Australia) nswcdhs -- Casino and District Historical Society Inc. nswcdfhg -- Casino and District Family History Group Inc. U.S.A. alcemete -- Alabama Cemetery and Volunteers michippe -- Chippewa County, Michigan nhctamwo -- Tamworth, New Hampshire (city) wvlincol -- Lincoln County, West Virginia SOME NEW HOMEPAGES AND FREEPAGES CANNON in Ireland. Includes maps showing the distribution of the surname in Ireland in the mid-1800s as listed in the Griffith Valuation. [NOTE TWO-LINE URL] http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~dgarvey/McAndrew/ griff_cannon.html FERGUSON. Also COCHRAN, HARRIS, HOGAN, VANDANDAIQUE, YOUNG, EVERMAN, PRICE, LOVAN, TILLY, PALMER and others. Letters and postcards written to my great-grandfather Dave FERGUSON, by friends, relatives and acquaintances, during 1890s through 1920s, and saved in his homemade desk, along with numerous pictures, lists, etc. http://www.rootsweb.com/~okkingfi/ferguson/index.html ROSE. The ROSE Tree. Also CLEVELAND, ARGO, SMITH, SEWALL, RICHARDSON, BROWN, FITZGERALD, DUMMER, and JOSSELYN. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~bouquet/ TINLIN TINLINE TINLING home page http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~tinlin/ TODD. The TODD family of Caroline County, Maryland. Also LAYTON, ANDREW, BEAUCHAMP, CHAFFINCH, FLUHARTY, HUBBARD, MANSHIP, TURNER, and WILLIS. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~carolines/ * * * * * 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 (please send submissions to Maggie at arc_rwr@yahoo.com ) http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/newsletter/index.htm The December 23, 2000 issue is the last issue of the year 2000 and was sent to 4,083 subscribers. 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] What interested me most about Geoff's article was his reference to http://www.mapquest.com , a most impressive site. But if you are looking for a road or village in the UK may I recommend http://uk2.multimap.com/ . At this site you can see Dunlace Road and the church and the marshes and get a much better feel for the area. Another example; if you enter "Marhamchurch" as a place and zoom in to 1:25000 you will find my name as a farm, which never developed into a place name but has inherited this name from owners, unrelated to myself, in earlier centuries. This detail was quite precious for me. Gilbert Rattenbury rattenbury@postmaster.co.uk A few days before Christmas I had printed an ancestry chart to send to one of my mother's second cousins. While reading through this research I had done six or seven years ago, the name MORTLEMAN flew off the page and I wondered? One of my grandfather's brothers had this as a middle name. Could it be a surname? I went online and checked Ancestry.com and RootsWeb's various databases. Yes, indeed it was, and there were connections to Harwich, Essex, UK, where I knew one of my great- grandmothers had been born back in 1834. I sent a tentative e-mail and found a distant cousin who did indeed confirm that Eliza GROVE's maiden name had been MORTLEMAN. Her daughter had given one of her sons this as a middle name. So it does pay to wonder IF. Was just the best of Christmas presents. Marg Morters margm@afscc.com Central Coast Family History Society Gosford, New South Wales, Australia Thanks for the wonderful newsletters. It took me a while to appreciate and fully read them but the many heart-warming, relevant stories of genealogical success and how lives have been affected, has me looking forward to reading every newsletter I get, all parts of it. Again, thanks, Mel McGuirk heypal@socal.rr.com As a new family genealogy researcher, I hadn't really appreciated what a gift I received until reading items in your wonderful newsletter. After the first KOOPMAN family reunion ever during this last summer (here in California), several "30-somethings" were asking questions which I couldn't answer about old pictures of their relatives I had brought along. I realized my knowledge was woefully inadequate. On the evening we returned I decided I needed to know more, but with everyone in my parents' generation dead, I decided to turn to the Internet. I typed in KOOPMAN. Searching through the hundreds of entries and long into this bleary process, I was surprised to see the unusual first names of both of my parents. Someone in New York had done an extensive family tree of my mother's family, CARPENTER. It only linked up with KOOPMAN because of my parents' marriage. My father's family were immigrants from the Netherlands, and I was curious about them because no one knew anything, such as where in that country they came from or what they did when they got here or whether my grandfather had siblings (I still don't know much about these questions). I had been aware that my mother's family were educated farmers, but had no idea that her family had been in this country for generations. I have been unsuccessful in contacting the researcher who put this family tree together, but am very grateful for its existence and the wealth of information it has given me -- instant gratification, an unusual occurrence I have come to realize. Elizabeth (nee Koopman) Herb drh261@aol.com * * * * * HUMOR. Thanks to Jerry Stafford jstafford@twmi.rr.com A Bit of Blarney It was the morning after our granddaughter, Chelsea, was born. As I was trimming my full white beard and not being fully awake, I forgot to attach the depth guard to the beard trimmer. When I looked into the mirror, I was shocked to see that I had cut a one-inch-wide strip on the left side of my face, from my chin down to the lower neck region, all the way down to the skin. It looked very stupid, but I was determined not to shave off the whole beard. Arriving at the office, after leaving my wife laughing, I went directly to an early meeting, receiving many curious stares on the way. With several people present, the department manager asked, "What happened to you?" Now I have no idea where this came from, but I explained to all: "This is an old Irish custom. In some small towns, when a child is born, the grandfather cuts a strip in his beard, a strip down the left side indicates a granddaughter was born, one down the right side indicates a grandson. This way, all the townspeople know about the birth and which sex the child is." Although no one present had ever heard of this custom, to my amazement, they all accepted the story and offered their congratulations. The story ran through the office very quickly and for the next few days friends and complete strangers would pass me in the hall, smile and say, "Congratulations." To this day, no one knows the true story, unless, of course, they read RootsWeb Review. * * * * * 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 51.8 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. 52, 27 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