ROOTSWEB REVIEW: RootsWeb's Genealogy News Vol. 4, No. 7, 14 February 2001, Circulation: 777,703+ (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?; WorldConnect: SSDI; Free Electronic Cards; Ask a Genealogist; 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 RootsWeb's WORLDCONNECT contains about 57.7 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 AUSTRALIA, Queensland. Crows Nest Shire Council Cemeteries 4,345 records; Margaret McNamara informed RootsWeb; Crows Nest Shire Council http://userdb.rootsweb.com/aus/ AUSTRALIA, Victoria. Book Indexes 5,923 records; Lucy Nutall http://userdb.rootsweb.com/aus/ NEW ZEALAND. MOOLTAN Ship Passenger List, SCT-NZ 152 records; Cedric Lansdell (Dell) Purdie http://userdb.rootsweb.com/aus/ NEW ZEALAND. Early Settlers of Taieri, NZ (ship passengers) 68 records; Cedric Lansdell (Dell) PURDIE http://userdb.rootsweb.com/aus/ U.S.A. CALIFORNIA, Calaveras County. Marriages, 1915-1951 2,030 records; Herbert A. Good http://userdb.rootsweb.com/marriages/ CALIFORNIA, San Diego County. Marriage Index, 1912-1919 16,400 records; Kevin Currin http://userdb.rootsweb.com/marriages/ INDIANA, Greene County. Marriage Records (STALCUP, OSBORN, and POLLOCK surnames); 550 records; Meri Arnett-Kremian http://userdb.rootsweb.com/marriages/ MARYLAND, Baltimore. Marriage Records from GILLEN-CULLEN family Bible; 20 records; Raymond H. Barley http://userdb.rootsweb.com/marriages/ MICHIGAN, St. Clair County. Marriages, 1838-1866 and 1887-1898 7,800 records; Suzette Bromley http://userdb.rootsweb.com/marriages/ NEW YORK, New York. Marriage Index, 1919 "D" surnames 194 records; Eileen Connolly http://userdb.rootsweb.com/marriages/ NEW YORK, New York County, Borough of Manhattan. Marriage Index, 1930 "DODSON to DOUGHERTY"; 192 records; Eileen Connolly http://userdb.rootsweb.com/marriages/ OHIO, Portage County. Marriage Records, 1805-1865, "E" surnames 1,010 records; Sherryl Crockett http://userdb.rootsweb.com/marriages/ * * * 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 * * * WORLDCONNECT: First Names Only http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/ Q. I have just completed Volume I of my family tree, which goes back to 1800. During my research I came across several slave names (first names only) and their slave master's name, who were in the same group of slaves as my ancestors. In 1850, these slaves were in Alabama but the history for many of them, as my ancestors, goes back to Virginia. How can I list these names in your database? Can I include my name as a reference? Also, I would like to include my ancestors who were born prior to 1865. A. How to show slave names in RootsWeb's WorldConnect family tree program where there is only a given name and no surname largely depends on the genealogy software program you are using. For example, Family Tree Maker uses a double slash \\ following the given name to reflect the fact that there is no last name. Consult the manual or help file for your genealogy program for the suggested method for the program if you are using a program other than Family Tree Maker. You would then use your Notes to give any other information you like, such as your name and the slave master information. When you create a GEDCOM, the GEDCOM includes the data exactly as shown in your genealogy file. WorldConnect in turn displays the data found in the GEDCOM. See RootsWeb Guide 3, Using Technology: Software and GEDCOMs at http://www.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/lesson3.htm and RootsWeb Guide 25: African American, Native American, etc. at http://www.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/lesson25.htm * * * SOCIAL SECURITY DEATH INDEX (SSDI) http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/ Q. In the SSDI, what do the codes in the "Last Residence" box represent? A. Most of the codes in the "Last Residence" box represent locations and are listed as: 94590 (Vallejo, Solano, CA) or (Virginia). Occasionally you will find codes such as: (72), (FO), (PE), (VA), and (HC) that do not represent locations. These codes are included exactly as received from the Social Security Administration. They are internal agency codes and of no significance to genealogical researchers. For additional information about the SSDI, see: http://www.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/lesson10.htm http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/help/ssdi.html * * * FREE ELECTRONIC GREETING CARDS FROM ROOTSWEB. Greeting cards for all occasions are available for you to send to online family and friends at http://postcards.rootsweb.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 ship arrival in New York City, Swiss links, Confederate widow's pension, teenage stowaway in 1670, Ellis Island's Wall of Honor, name origin and history, first families of Virginia 1607-1624/5, census lookup, family traditions, orphanage records, small town cemetery, maps and former places, why is my state not at RootsWeb, How to Soundex, and putting photos online. 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. Read this week's column, "Valentines Found in Family Trees," at 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/ Marriage Records http://www.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/lesson5.htm ** PAID ADVERTISEMENTS ** ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A BOOK ON YOUR FAMILY? Visit http://www.genealogybookstore.com/ Family Histories, Reference, Military and Non-Fiction Books ---------------------------------------------------------------- ARE YOU WRITING A BOOK? Visit http://www.genealogybookstore.com/publishing/ Check our popular: "How To Write And Publish Your Family Book" ***************************************** ONLINE LIBRARY HISTORY & GENEALOGY Books & Manuscript Records 1. visit www.heritagebooks.com 2. click "Online Library" 3. read the brief description 4. click "Search" to explore HERITAGE BOOKS, INC. 1540 Pointer Ridge Place, Bowie, MD 20716 ***************************************** 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." 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Drawings are held weekly, so hurry for your chance to win! http://www.jobsonline.com/sales/doorwayms.asp?company=myfamily1 * * * 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 [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. SMALL WORLD by Philippa Schrader PhilippaS@aol.com I love reading the stories about the unlikely ways in which families reconnect and would like to share two of mine. My first success came through my subscription to the RootsWeb Bristol_and_Somerset list. I found a second cousin I didn't know existed. She had in her possession the only known photograph of my grandfather, James EDNEY, who died of the flu in Somerset, England in 1919, when my father was 11 years old. Unfortunately my father never got to know how much he resembled his father. I am English but living with my American husband in Rome, New York. I have a very basic Web site on which I posted a list of surnames of my family in England and my husband's in the United States. One day I received a phone call from an English lady asking about my interest in the MERRINGTON family of Bedfordshire, England. We exchanged information and realized that we were related. She then asked me to guess from where she was calling. As she was asking the question I, of course, thought somewhere in England. It turns out that she lives five blocks away from me in Rome! The world is definitely shrinking. ZEH FAMILY ANGEL by Dot Rhyne Arthur dotnfl@juno.com I showed my research to my husband's elderly cousin. She was fascinated that I would spend so much effort to research her family when it wasn't my own. I told her that I also look up information for people looking in Bay County, Florida. She asked if I could look up people in Michigan. I told her that with RootsWeb, all things are possible. She had never known her mother's family, the ZEH family from Monroe, Michigan. I left a quick message on the Monroe message board and forgot it. Less than a week later I hit pay dirt. The ZEH family lived in a large farmhouse which now belonged to my message correspondent. He was not related to the ZEHs but had a lot of pictures and information about them. I sent his phone number to Cousin Elaine, who promptly called him. He sent her a huge box of family history about the family she never knew. A true Angel was living in Michigan. Now she would love to find out why they never contacted her mother, only 40 miles away. Maybe that's another one for RootsWeb. GUIDED BY LAURA FISHER? by Julie Moyer-Parsons TwoMomsof3@aol.com I've been tracing my YORK line out of Maine and New Hampshire through eight generations. I just fell in love with Rose Anna YORK and her husband Collingwood FISHER's family of Washington state. They had seven children and lived and were buried right down the road from where I live, yet I had never heard about them from any relatives. I became entranced with finding out about them. I took care of their graves, documented what I could but was stumped for marriage information on the daughters. Rose's obituary in 1937 said that her daughter, Laura BERINER, was in attendance. I got nowhere searching out the BERLINER surname locally. While walking Rose's neighborhood cemetery of about 100 graves, I noticed a little headstone under a tree that had the name VERTNER on it. I didn't even stop to see who was there but got this idea that maybe when the newspaper printed Laura BERINER, maybe they misunderstood VERTNER. I looked at the SSDI and found that there was a Laura VERTNER born in approximately the same year living in my own town. I searched generally in the SSDI looking for same aged males who could be her husband and came to an Elwood VERTNER. He was listed in WorldConnect and I contacted the submitter, feeling crazy that I could try to make a match here. The submitter admitted that Laura was the wife of Elwood but there wasn't enough information to make a connection. She then sent via e-mail a picture of Laura, Elwood, and their child Wayne. I came throughout that day to think of that Laura's face as my Laura FISHER but having no other pictures and not seeing a resemblance to her mother, I still wasn't sure. Amazingly enough, the next day Ii found a great-granddaughter of Laura's brother, Frank, and she sent me her family group sheets. Imagine my giddiness when Laura FISHER was indeed Elwood VERTNER's wife. I couldn't believe that I made such a stretch and was right. Of course, nobody in my living family thought it was a big deal but I am still a bit stunned. I think my own little Laura FISHER may have guided me in the right direction. * * * * * MAILING LISTS. For an index to the more than 20,000 RootsWeb- hosted genealogy mailing lists, 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 a RootsWeb-hosted mailing list, send e-mail with only the word SUBSCRIBE (or UNSUBSCRIBE) in the subject and the body of the message to: [name of list]-L-request@rootsweb.com (for mail mode) or to [name of list]-D-request@rootsweb.com (for digest mode). FOR EXAMPLE, if you are interested in the northern half of Western Australia, send a SUBSCRIBE request to AUS-WA-NORTHERN-REGION-L-request@rootsweb.com NEW SURNAME MAILING LISTS, GENCONNECT BOARDS, AND CLUSTERS Abramson, Akright, Asselin, Attig, Auerochs Barrs, Belgrade, Belgrod, Bell-UK, Bercier, Bergie, Berle, Bermudez, Bollwahn, Brunkow, Buchta, Bufka, Bunter Cauty, Coonan, Coxe Delger, Denesha, Dubuc Esque Gahring, Green-UK, Guile Hallquist, Harcharik, Hoeckelberg, Horsburgh Kadow, Kuhnell Landsdown, Longbottom Mischler, Mitford, Mussina Okresz, Outman Pavcic Qualters Rigel, Rhys Saulnier, Schnider, Sivert, Stubi, Swales Tabaka, Tetzloff, Tostenrud Vanatta, VanZile Wescom, Whittard NEW REGIONAL MAILING LISTS AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA-GENWEB -- AUSGenWeb Project AUS-WA-NORTHERN-REGION -- Northern half of Western Australia, Northhampton in the west and Leonora/Laverton in the east CANADA CANADA-GENWEB -- CANGenWeb Project CAN-ONT-TIMISKAMING -- Timiskaming, Ontario, Canada ENGLAND ENG-HAMPSHIRE -- Wide format list for Hampshire, England ENG-SHEFFIELD -- Sheffield, England area GERMANY (DEUTSCHLAND) DEU-RUEGEN -- Island of Ruegen, VorPommern, Germany NETHERLANDS NLD-HOEKSCHE-WAARD -- Hoeksche Waard, Netherlands U.S.A. IT-INDIAN -- Indian Territory folks, where it's unknown if they have Indian blood IT-WHITE -- Indian Territory folks of white ancestry MT-CEMETERIES -- Montana cemeteries NEWYORK -- New York queries, when county is unknown ND-CEMETERIES -- North Dakota cemeteries ND-GHOSTTOWNS -- Ghost towns of North Dakota RI-CEMETERIES -- Rhode Island cemeteries SD-CEMETERIES - South Dakota cemeteries SD-GHOSTTOWNS - South Daoka ghost towns ETHNIC AND SPECIAL INTEREST MAILING LISTS AFFHO-MEMBERS -- Members of Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations ENG-LOST-CONNECTIONS -- To help each other and find those missing links HAMPSHIRE-LIFE -- People and history of life in Hampshire, England towns and villages TN-COUSINS -- Recurrences of nominally unrelated surnames in one's chart; how are they related? USGW-ACP-CART -- For CART census transcription program users * * * * * 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 Henry County, Kentucky, go to http://www.rootsweb.com/~kyhenry/ AUSTRALIA qldrag -- Remote Area Genealogists (Queensland) CANADA qcestrie -- Estrie, Quebec U.S.A. ganereg -- northeast region of Georgia idclark -- Clark County, Idaho idjeffer -- Jefferson County, Idaho kyadair -- Adair County, Kentucky kyclark -- Clark County, Kentucky kyhenry -- Henry County, Kentucky kykchgs -- Knott County Historical, Genealogical Society and Library and Museum, Inc. (Kentucky) ndsgs -- North Dakota State Genealogical Society nssar -- National Society, Sons of the American Revolution scdillon -- Dillon County, South Carolina txfreest -- Freestone County, Texas txssar -- Texas Society, Sons of the American Revolution txsw1812 -- Texas Society, War of 1812 wipgac -- Peninsula Belgian American Club (Wisconsin) MISCELLANEOUS pgcs -- Publishers Genealogical Coding Services SOME NEW HOMEPAGES AND FREEPAGES CANADA: Marriages in Ontario, 1841 to 1917. More than 1,500 transcriptions of marriages registered in Ontario between 1869 and 1917; all counties and many surnames are covered. Some marriages prior to 1869 are from parish records. Transcriptions taken from microfilm. http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~maryc/ontmarr.htm SOUTH DAKOTA. South Dakota History and Genealogy http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~sabthomp/southdakota.htm * * * * * 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 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 Humor in RWR 4:6, 7 February 2001] According to my Atlas, those coordinates are in Saudi Arabia, between Haddar to the NNE and Dam to the SSW in the middle of the desert. So, yes, the "Voice" was correct. The teacher would be eating alone. (Isn't it amazing what you'll do early in the morning before sufficient coffee?) John Wiley wileyjohnh@mindspring.com at about 33 degrees 59 minuets North, 84 degrees 29 minutes West I just wanted to send a note to say thanks for the chance to meet all you wonderful people last weekend during the GenTech Conference in Dallas. Through the e-mails and Web site, it is obvious that we can only see the "tip of your iceberg" in all the work that you do to keep RootsWeb as the number one free site for genealogical research on the World Wide Web. It meant a lot for me as a volunteer list administrator to be able to visit with you and bounce ideas during the final session on Saturday. I now have faces to go with the names Megan, Margaret, Elaine, Randy, Donna, and Linda [Betsy was there too]. I pray for a long continued relationship with RootsWeb and the association of great people like you. Thanks! Paul Jacobus, Webmaster for Weiland Cem., Hunt Co., Texas http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~jacobus/wieland/ The most amazing thing happened to me last night [8 February 2001]. I received a message from a gal who saw my post-em note on my aunt's SSDI information http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/ on RootsWeb. Teresa is a "lost" member of our family. She and her brother were adopted because my cousin and his wife both died. We lost contact with them and often wondered what happened to them. The last time I saw her she was a little girl of four years. She is 36 now, married with three children. She thought she had no family. I am gathering up lots of information on the family to send to her. I have photos of her father's mom, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I posted the note in September 1999 and forgot about it. Just wanted to let you know. All it took was one little post-em note. I'm thrilled! I am still so surprised at finding Teresa. I'm going to go back and post notes on ALL my family now! Kaylynn audriana@ginetworks.com I must let someone in your organization know that I have had a gold mine at my fingertips for many months (I subscribe to your newsletters) especially in the Missing Links category, and somehow, until tonight [7 February 2001], the great amount of help available through your pages escaped my notice. Perhaps in scanning the great amount of e-mail I receive, I missed one of the most important helps that I have been greatly in need of. I have a "missing link" that no amount of research so far has resolved. Kudos to your staff and from now on, it's "heads-up" when your news letters come in. Geneva G. Evans Waoite@aol.com * * * * * HUMOR: Thanks to secondservices@juno.com who found this on the JONES-L@rootsweb.com mailing list, where it had been posted by MSmith3030@aol.com . The census taker knocked on Miss Kimball's door. She answered all his questions except one. She refused to tell him her age. "But everyone tells their age to the census taker," he said. "Did Daisy Hill, and Loretta Hill tell you their ages?" "Certainly." "Well, I'm the same age as they are," she snapped. "As old as the Hills," he wrote on his form. * * * * * ROOTSWEB REVIEW and MISSING LINKS do not answer or publish queries. You can subscribe to the relevant surname and locality mailing lists 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 about 57.7 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. 7, 14 February 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