ROOTSWEB REVIEW: RootsWeb's Genealogy News Vol. 4, No. 5, 31 January 2001, Circulation: 768,919+ (c) 1998-2001 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 News and Notes from RootsWeb (New Searchable Databases; Who Has the Data?; RootsWeb in the News; Valentine's Day Cards from RootsWeb; RootsWeb Affiliates Program; Ask a Genealogist; Shaking Your Family Tree; RootsWeb's Guide to Tracing Family Trees; Ancestry Tip) 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 RootsWeb's WORLDCONNECT contains more than 56.3 million names and new GEDCOMs are added daily. Search WorldConnect and upload your own GEDCOM(s) to http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/ * * * * * 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 ALABAMA, Limestone County. BAS(S)HAM (surname) Cemetery Listings 65 records; Joan (Bassham) Rooney http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ GEORGIA, Hall County. Miller Cemetery. Surnames JONES, CHANDLER, THOMPSON, MORRIS; 15 records; Vicky Jones Chambers http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ ILLINOIS, Shelby County. St. Patrick Cemetery 436 records; Jack Hardesty http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ IOWA, Cherokee County. Cedar Cemetery Records 664 records; Terry Kneen http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ KENTUCKY, Knox County, Flat Lick. Jackson Cemetery 10 records; Debbie Valentine-Rickett http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ KENTUCKY, Meade County. Johnson Cemetery 44 records; Thelma Pack Whelan 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 other than your personal family tree (personal genealogies are best posted at WorldConnect http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/ ) 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 * * * ROOTSWEB IN THE NEWS: Ancestry.com and RootsWeb.com garnered the highest Nielson ratings for "the largest unique audience among Web surfers" of genealogy sites for October 2000. The top 10: 1. Ancestry.com 2. RootsWeb.com 3. Genealogy.com 4. Familytreemaker.com 5. FamilyHistory.com 6. FamilySearch.org 7. CyndisList.com 8. Genealogy.org 9. Gendex.com 10. Surnameweb.com RootsWeb co-founder, Dr. Brian Leverich (Dr. B) pointed out that "RootsWeb actually hosts the number 2, 7, and 8 sites, and Ancestry hosts 1 and 5." Dr. B noted further that "we host the mailing lists and all *that* traffic, which isn't even included in these rankings," concluding for all of us, "Winning is cool." But that is ancient history, even if the word is only now getting around. Current events are even more cheering. On Sunday and Monday, 28 and 29 January 2001, RootsWeb broke its own record for number of page views per day -- a record 4,408,404 on Sunday followed by a new record of 4,513,077 on Monday, according to Charles Merrin and Doc Schneider, who keep track of such things. * * * FREE ELECTRONIC VALENTINE'S DAY CARDS. Cards for all occasions are available for you to send to online family and friends at http://postcards.rootsweb.com/ New this week: Valentine's Day Cards http://postcards.rootsweb.com/val.htm * * * ROOTSWEB AFFILIATES PROGRAM WILL CLOSE AS OF 1 FEBRUARY 2001. http://www.rootsweb.com/~affiliate/ Links to the RootsWeb Mall or RootsWeb affiliate vendor should be removed. If you would like to continue your support through MyFamily.Com, please link to the Shops at MyFamily: http://shops.myfamily.com/ * * * ASK-A-GENEALOGIST AT ROOTSWEB. Learn how to find your ancestors by reading the advice of the genealogists, who this week answer questions about U.S. President George Bush's family tree, English parish records, finding exact information about a family, census records and brick walls, finding records about physicians, searching mailing lists for mention of something you once saw, message boards, index reliability, Soundex index, newspaper search, and searching beyond the Internet. http://rwguide.rootsweb.com/ask-a-genealogist.html Before posting a new query, please read the GUIDELINES at http://rwguide.rootsweb.com/askguidelines.html Perhaps your question has already been answered -- check at http://rwguide.rootsweb.com/askarchives.html * * * SHAKING YOUR FAMILY TREE (SYFT) by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG. Record audiences are tuning in to watch "Canada: A People's History," the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's 16-part television documentary series. Learn how history can help you find your roots in this week's Shaking Your Family Tree column. 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/ Canadian, French-Canadian, Acadian and French Connections http://www.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/lesson24.htm * * * THE IMPORTANCE OF ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS -- ANCESTRY'S IMAGES ONLINE You have searched RootsWeb's WorldConnect family trees. You have visited mailing list archives and GenConnect boards. You are ready to set out on your own search for original documents to prove or disprove what you have learned from others. Nothing can replace original records in the search for your family's history. What better place to start than Ancestry's Images Online? Not long ago, finding original records such as the U.S. Federal Census Images online at Ancestry.com likely would have meant traveling to distant archives or libraries. Now you can view and print original census images of unsurpassed quality, linked to indexes, from the comfort of your home. To learn more about Images Online, see: http://ancestry.com/search/io/about/main.htm ** PAID ADVERTISEMENTS ** 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/ A 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 "Tea: The Brew of Empires," "Winged Messengers," "Office Life before 1920," "The All-American Spirit," "Unraveling the Stars," "Premature Burial -- Saved by the Bell," and many others. HISTORY MAGAZINE articles cover the social conditions that affected the lives of our ancestors. Get a FREE copy and 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 20716 ***************************************** 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 * * * BRITISH/IRISH ANCESTORS? Professional genealogists around the world use Big Family. Efficient and cost-effective service for all UK and Irish certificate orders. Order direct online at http://www.bigfamily.co.uk for birth, death and marriage certificates from England, Ireland, Scotland or Wales. For local research, request a quote from our network of experienced researchers covering all areas. Enter details at http://www.bigfamily.co.uk/ResReq.htm Payments via secure server online. * * * 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 * * * CLICK HERE TO WIN $10,000 INSTANT CASH! Qualify to win $10,000 Instant Cash Register with JobsOnline for more information. JobsOnline is one of the Internet's leading sites for employment information and career resources. Search its extensive database of more than 200,000 job postings to make your next career move. Use the site's valuable career resources to assist you in your job search -- or to succeed in your current position. Post your resume, review salary information, and take a job aptitude test -- all for FREE. Register now and also receive a FREE Welcome Package valued at hundreds of dollars! http://www.jobsonline.com/sales/doorwayic.asp?company=myfamily1 [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. My father, his brother, and his sister were abandoned as young children several thousand miles from where they were born. We had given up on finding any relatives. I posted a query on the RootsWeb message board for the BENJAMIN family but heard nothing. A kind volunteer in Ohio looked up and sent me my grandmother's death certificate. It listed her parents' place of birth as Kentucky. The volunteers on the county page not only looked up their marriage for me but also checked census records for four generations. With the names the volunteer provided I found the first living relatives. They were able to explain why my father was brought from Ohio to California and left there. They also gave me stories and pictures. Within a few days I finally had the answers we had been looking for. Then, a year after posting on the message board, I heard from a second cousin, who supplied the other side of the family. The volunteers who did the look-ups and the ones who keep things running smoothly on the message boards have provided me not only with the past but also with living relatives. I can never thank them enough. My eternal gratitude to the folks at Pulaski County, Kentucky. Roxann Tipp, Shasta Lake, California ROXANNTIPP@cs.com * * * RootsWeb has been the conduit through which I have found great success in my family history. Oh, yes, I have followed the procedure of looking up my own and my husband's ancestors on all the freely available material -- birth, death, and marriage records, probate records, employment records, census records, etc. However, it is to RootsWeb and everyone there that I write to express my gratitude. In mid-1999, I decided that with my self-taught, basic computer skills, and with the information I had collected over the previous three years, it was time to build a Web Page. I fiddled around with some pages, included relevant family information and thoroughly had a ball producing what I thought was acceptable, user-friendly content. All this took some months, all the time gaining computer proficiency. When RootsWeb announced FreePages http://freepages.rootsweb.com/ I was over the moon with joy -- as much space as required, *plus* the FREEPAGES-HELP mailing list. The knowledge boost from this extremely helpful group of subscribers (*and* Ms. Piglet and Clare and others from RootsWeb who repeated answers to the same questions over and over) was wonderful. The beauty of no space limit meant that I could publish many family photographs, so that others could see pictures of their "cousins." So in November 1999 with the help of FTP (File Transfer Protocol) software and a RootsWeb counter to boot, "Helen's Family Pages" were published. It is since publication of my Web pages that I have met "cousins" who were trawling around the World Wide Web looking for connections. Phil "Thommo" THOMSON in his 70s, happened to mention one day to a friend that he would like to find his PAVLICH family. His friend went straight to RootsWeb, located my site, and the connection was made. Thommo has provided information that I probably never even would have tried to find, and in the process added many more members to the family tree. Laura was looking on the RootsWeb site for a link to her family and while not really interested in adding PAVLICH information to her own tree, she was able to give me details of her own relative who had married into the PAVLICH family. Researching the U.S.A. from Australia is a little difficult but, through a researcher in Detroit, I found my previously unknown grandfather's family and was able to add their information to the MENDELSOHN line. After publishing MENDELSOHN details on my FreePages Web page, I have been contacted by family members who were not in contact with each other. The icing on the cake for me was recently when I was contacted by my second cousin Mary, of the Glasgow, Scotland O'BRIENs. For me, gathering information on this line has been steady, and I was hopeful of perhaps contacting living relatives some time soon. Mary was also looking for O'BRIEN connections on RootsWeb and checked the Lanarkshire, Scotland mailing list archives, found my posting of August 2000 which included my Web page URL, and the rest is history. Our grandparents were siblings. Sadly, my mother, Esther, and Mary's father, John, never knew one another. The best thing of all is that I will meet Mary sometime soon as she also lives in Australia! A very big thank you to the RootsWeb staff, and thanks for the ongoing "keep it free" policy. Helen Lane helenl@malleenet.net.au * * * * * 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 wish to discuss issues related to U. S. federal and state censuses as well as international censuses, send SUBSCRIBE request to CENSUS-RESEARCH-L-request@rootsweb.com NEW SURNAME MAILING LISTS, GENCONNECT BOARDS, AND CLUSTERS Antill Ballinger-UK, Bayston, Belson, Bleck, Boole, Botting, Brasseur Ciampi, Cirafisi, Cutillo Dias Foglesong Gabany, Goodner, Gowder, Gutowski Jirmann Kiblinger, Kirkbride, Klembus, Knepp, Kubitzki Lannoye, Larcome, Laseman, Lemense, Limerick, List, Luersen, Lymbery MacCrimmon, McKeenan, Mogg, Mruk Opher, Orcholski, Overmyer Quander Rambow, Reckless Skoulding, Souster, St-Ores, Stovin, Starjak, Stoven-Name-Society, Sudlow, Summerell Taylor-Moses (descendants of Moses and Elizabeth TAYLOR), Traficant, Trussell Varndell Wheatcraft, Wildenhaus, Wittenberg NEW REGIONAL MAILING LISTS ENGLAND ENG-SURNAMES -- Surnames in England IRELAND IRE-SURNAMES -- Surnames in Ireland ITALY ITA-ABRUZZO -- Abruzzo, Italy SCOTLAND SCT-SUTHERLAND -- Sutherlandshire, Scotland (Highland Area) SCT-WIGTOWNSHIRE -- Wigtownshire in southwest Scotland ETHNIC AND SPECIAL INTEREST MAILING LISTS AUS-SMITH-LOST -- Early records in Australia were sparse. In Tasmania there were very few records kept and it seems as though all the SMITHs went there. Many Australian researchers "lose" their SMITHs. We only have 200 years of records; they can't remain "lost" forever. AUS-WA-SHIPS-TIMELINES -- History of the ships used to transport convicts and others to Australia during settlement CENSUS-RESEARCH -- to discuss issues related to U. S. federal and state censuses as well as international censuses. GERMAN-RUSSIAN-HERITAGE -- Historical, cultural and other not- directly-genealogy topics having to do with German-Russians SOUTHEAST-PIONEERS -- Pioneers in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. TSALAGI-MB -- Mixed blood Cherokee * * * * * 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 McLennan County, Texas, go to http://www.rootsweb.com/~txmclenn/ IRELAND irldon -- Donegal MALAYSIA mysskgkp -- Saampun Kita (for Kedayan people of Borneo) U.S.A. cachs -- Cloverdale Historical Society (California) gatoombs -- Toombs County, Georgia iahamilt -- Hamilton County, Iowa kyhickma -- Hickman County, Kentucky mecarrow -- Arrowsic, Maine (city) ncdare -- Dare County, North Carolina nhcgilma -- Gilmanton, New Hampshire (city) nvelko -- Elko County, Nevada nvnye -- Nye County, Nevada okahs -- Arbuckle Historical Society (Oklahoma) txcochra -- Cochran County, Texas txdallam -- Dallam County, Texas txhartle -- Hartley County, Texas txhockle -- Hockley County, Texas txlamb -- Lamb County, Texas txmclenn -- McLennan County, Texas txorphan -- Orphan Counties (Texas) txterry -- Terry County, Texas txvzcl -- Van Zandt County Library (Texas) SOME NEW HOMEPAGES AND FREEPAGES BETSINGER. Clearinghouse of BETSINGER information including genealogy of several families going back to New York, early to mid-1800s. Also MOWER, VANDERWALKER, PRATT, PHELPS, and BLAZIER. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~iowa/ BROWNING, CAIN, CHAPMAN, CHESHIRE, KATTERMAN, FRED, SEXTON, SPRADLING and WILMOTH. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~smith/ NORTH DAKOTA. Gackle, North Dakota genealogy with obituaries and genealogical information about the Germans from Russia of this part of Logan and Stutsman counties. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~cats61/gacklend/ PARK. Names of Dodge County, Georgia pioneers and descendants. http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~park/ SHIRLEY CONKLIN FARONE'S WEBSITE. Mostly Jefferson County, New York-oriented. Includes some CONKLIN diaries, 40 old WALLACE letters, religious poetry, CHAPMAN autograph books, transcripts of a Jefferson County, New York scrapbook on marriages, and SWEET Patriot War of 1838 information. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~twigs2000 * * * * * 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/ A new GenConnect board for the genealogy of the Moravian Church http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/gc/Special/MoravianChurch/ The Unitas Fratrum was begun in 1457 in Bohemia and Moravia. Persecuted before the Reformation, they finally found religious freedom in Germany in 1727. Dedicated to world mission, the "Moravians" purchased their own ships to transport missionaries to the New World. They chose Bethlehem, Pennsylvania as the center of North American activity in 1741. About 20 years later, they purchased a large tract of land that surrounds Winston- Salem, North Carolina. Active among Native Americans and fellow colonists, Moravians are well known for their detailed records. * * * * * 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 26 January 2001 issue is available online at http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/newsletter/2001/jan/jan26.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 * * * * * USGENWEB CENSUS PROJECT by Maggie Stewart MaggieOhio@columbus.rr.com Coordinator, USGenWeb Census Project http://www.rootsweb.com/~census/ A team of volunteers in three separate areas of the USGenWeb Project worked together to create a memorable gift for the current and future researcher. Nancy Waite grandmahorses@uswest.net was working with Shirley Wren on transcribing the 1870 Amite County, Mississippi census for the USGenWeb Census Project. In Nancy's words, "This census is dedicated to Shirley WREN. Shirley had originally been assigned to this transcription. We became close Internet friends in the last few months of her life. She worked on this transcription right up until the day she was taken home." Once the transcription was completed and placed in the Amite County MSGenWeb Archives, Nancy found two folks to proofread her transcription, John E. Cain jecain@worldnet.att.net and Mary Duck Pallon maryp@cableaz.com. John E. Cain is the county coordinator of the Amite County, Mississippi USGenWeb page at http://www.rootsweb.com/~msamite/index.htm The donation of the 1870 Amite County, Mississippi, census images for permanent, free display in the USGenWeb Archives was made possible through the generosity of Nancy Waite and the efforts of John Cain in the preparation of the images. The USGenWeb Census Project just posted and sent to the MSGenWeb Archives a copy of the proofread transcription and a surname index that lists not only the text page but also the census image for each person. * * * * * 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 Great to see your publicity for Australia Day, as a descendant of a First Fleet convict I am delighted to see it and the associated links. However as I sit here on Friday 26th January, the Australia Day holiday, let me assure you that in recent years, most of Australia celebrates the Australia Day holiday on the actual day (there was a feeling that it had simply become another long weekend on which few people gave any thought to the significance of the holiday). Jon Martin, Melbourne J.Martin@genetics.unimelb.edu.au [The foregoing was among the many dozens of messages the editors received from Down Under last week in response to the Australia Day notice in RWR 4:4. In our defense, our source was the widely used and well-respected "Chase's Calendar of Events." See http://www.chases.com/cgi-bin/view_trial.cgi?evt_id=E000317 It soon became clear that there is some confusion about the day even among Australians. For the history of Australia Day, see http://www.nadc.com.au/austday/history.html Thanks to all. Eds.] Recently I was able to send some information to a lady who had asked if it was possible for me to check for census records and anything else that pertained to her ancestor. I live only 30 minutes from our state library, so was glad to check for her. I was able to send her quite a bit of information -- information that really added to her files. Her reply was most gracious. She said if I would send her my snail mail address, she would send money, roses, or a check to my favorite charity -- anything short of murder. I had to laugh when I read the part about not committing a murder. Naturally I declined any offer of reimbursement -- just suggested that she help someone else when she could. To me that is what genealogy is all about. Help others when we can. Betty Gregory BGreg3116@aol.com In the 17 December 2000 issue of "Somebody's Links" Somebodys-Links-Newsletter-L@rootsweb.com was a notice posted by Ruth Ashbaugh of Perry County, Ohio, that she had a Bible to place with a proper relative. It is the family Bible of Joseph and Mary Ann (RUTLEDGE) BLACKBURN, my great-great-grandparents. Mine was the closest relative request and just before Christmas Mrs. Ashbaugh told me that she had selected me to receive it. I am still in shock over finding such a treasure. My sincere thanks to Mrs. Ashbaugh and to you for making such miracles possible. Richard Connell, Winter Park, Florida rconnell@cfl.rr.com I didn't really "lean into" using the PC to look up surnames as I was having so much fun just reading "RootsWeb Review" and "Missing Links" as they came in. I thought to myself, "those folks are having such a good time finding their missing family history!" But I felt out of my depth as far as using the PC went. Finally, I took the plunge and looked up dozens of the links in "RootsWeb Review," etc. What a lot of information is out there just waiting to be hooked and pulled in! What fun! So far, I've found a great-aunt, a sister to one of my grandfathers whose existence we never knew about. And it looks as if there are dozens of her relatives in Nebraska. I've also searched for three more surnames and with what I've found I can keep busy tracking down leads for months. RootsWeb is a "blooming wonder" and all one has to do is come along and "pick a bouquet" (of information). I've made many contacts, all nice people, very helpful, and I've managed to help some, too. What could be better? So I'm on my way, learning a lot and have lots more to learn. Lucille G. Murray dmurray@lightspeed.net How wonderful it was for me to go on your Web site and find my ancestors. I can never explain the thrill of finding out names that I didn't know existed. It gave me a sense of pride that I will always cherish. Most of all, it was given to me free. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Shirley L. Vicich bvsev@bellsouth.net * * * * * HUMOR. Thanks to James Pylant, Editor, "Genealogy Magazine" 25 January 2001 at http://www.genealogymagazine.com/ Ancestors Say the Darndest Things! "A letter arrived last week at Newton, Hamilton county, for Mrs. Lucinda Hawn. The postmaster asked an old gentleman by the name of Hawn if he knew any woman by that name. He replied that he did not. The old man went to his home, some three miles away, and asked his wife is she knew a woman anywhere by the name of Lucinda Hawn? `Yes,' she replied, `that's my name.' `Well, well,' said the old man, scratching his head, `I have called you mother so long -- nearly forty years -- that I had really forgotten your first name. There is a letter in the post office for you at Newton.' So back he went, got the letter, and now knows his wife's first name." -- CINCINNATI GAZETTE (Reprinted in THE WEATHERFORD [Texas] EXPONENT, Sat., 28 April 1877.) * * * * * 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 56.3 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. 4, No. 5, 31 January 2001. 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