RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Weekly E-zine Vol. 6, No. 24, 11 June 2003, Circulation: 987,392+ (c) 1998-2003 RootsWeb.com, Inc. http://www.rootsweb.com/ Editor: Myra Vanderpool Gormley, Certified Genealogist Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com Certification: http://www.bcgcertification.org/certification/ RootsWeb Review is a free weekly e-zine * * * See Section 9 for subscription guidelines and instructions Do not send any changes to the editor http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/ * * * DO NOT REPLY TO THE E-ZINE'S MAILING ADDRESS. Your reply will not be received by editor * * * Find your ancestors: Post genealogical queries on all relevant surname, locality, and topic message boards and mailing lists: Message Boards: http://boards.rootsweb.com/ Mailing Lists: http://lists.rootsweb.com/ WorldConnect: http://wc.rootsweb.com/ ================================================================= In This Issue: 1. NEWS AND NOTES. 1a. June Volunteers; 1b. Clear-Cutting the Forest; 1c. RootsWeb Lapel Pins; 1d. Online Summer School; 1e. TIPS FROM READERS: "Sharing the Wealth"; 1f. ERRORS FOUND IN RECORDS: "Dropping Letters"; and "But, What Will the Grandchildren Say?" 2. Connecting through RootsWeb: "Seeking More Than Names to Hang on Family Tree" 3. New Webpages at RootsWeb 4. New RootsWeb Mailing Lists 5. New User-contributed Databases 6. New and Updated FreePages and HomePages at RootsWeb 7. RootsWeb Review's Bottomless Mailbag: "The Joy of Comparing Notes"; "Family More Than Bloodlines"; "Not Just Any HUSBAND"; and "Tracing Given Names" 8. Humor: "Baaaaaaad Names" 9. RWR Reprint and Submissions Guidelines; Archives; Addresses; Subscription Modification Instructions ================================================================== 1. NEWS AND NOTES. 1a. JUNE VOLUNTEERS. Since the end of the first Volunteer Appreciation Month, RootsWeb.com has continued to show its gratitude to volunteers by completing a new spotlight each month. For the month of June, RootsWeb spotlights the Cornwall Online Parish Clerks who collect, transcribe, and share genealogical records from Cornwall, England. For more information on this and other spotlights, please visit our Volunteer Spotlight Page. http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/spotlight/ 1b. CLEAR-CUTTING THE FOREST. When searching the combined WorldConnect/ Ancestry World Tree database, you may come upon duplicate listings or even duplicates of complete files. Similar, overlapping, and duplicate files submitted by multiple persons are not considered duplicates -- each submitter owns his own GEDCOMs, and files submitted by different people may well contain the same individuals or family lines. However, duplicate GEDCOMs from a single submitter can result if someone updates an existing WorldConnect account and fails to use the original user code to identify the account as the same file being updated. Another source of duplicate accounts is when a researcher submits his or her GEDCOM to both WorldConnect (via RootsWeb) and Ancestry World Tree (AWT) on the Ancestry side. Since the databases are combined there is no need to submit the same GEDCOM both places. By far, the most common source of duplicates occurs when the submitter of an Ancestry World Tree updates his file and fails to remove an existing file before doing so. Unlike on WorldConnect, the old AWT file will not be overwritten automatically by the updated one. So what do you do when you find duplicate files submitted by a single person? First, copy the e-mail contact address of the submitter and send a message making him or her aware of the duplicates. The submitter may not realize more than one file exists. Point the submitter to the instructions for removal of duplicates previously published in the RootsWeb Review. ftp://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/review/20030409.txt It is up to individual submitters to remove any duplicates and they may or may not do so. What you can do to help minimize the problem of duplicate files and entries coming up in search results is to refine your own searches by using the Advanced Search feature of WorldConnect. http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi Try limiting your search to more recently updated files, for example. Also double check to be sure that you have not added to the problem by uploading duplicate files. Above all, practice tolerance -- WorldConnect/Ancestry World Tree will never be totally free of duplicate entries and files. Learn how to work around the problem by refining and limiting your searches to maximize your enjoyment in using this valuable research tool. 1c. ROOTSWEB LAPEL PINS. RootsWeb.com users now have the opportunity to publicly show their support of the website. Let everyone know that you are a "Proud Supporter of RootsWeb.com" by purchasing a RootsWeb.com lapel pin. This inexpensive collector's pin is available in a limited quantity and is available today! Click here to buy your RootsWeb.com Lapel Pin before they are sold out. http://www.ancestry.com/rd/prodredir.asp?sourceid=6776&key=p3261 1d. ONLINE SUMMER SCHOOL. Here's some upcoming Online Genealogy Classes at MyFamily.com. Each class costs $29.95 and includes: --Four weeks of lessons and interaction with a genealogy expert --A 30-day subscription to Ancestry.com including more than 1.8 billion names and online census images --Tips and advice on how to find ancestors online --Lessons through site interaction and worksheets, and more. Beginning Genealogy Computer Class starts 16 June. http://ancestry.myfamily.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=3562&sourceid=481 Irish Research Class starts 17 June http://ancestry.myfamily.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=3560&sourceid=481 Slovak Beginning Research Class starts 17 June 2003 http://ancestry.myfamily.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4477&sourceid=481 Genealogical Research on the Internet starts 19 June http://ancestry.myfamily.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4437&sourceid=481 English Family Trees starts 19 June http://ancestry.myfamily.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=3567&sourceid=481 Multimedia Family History Class starts 24 June http://ancestry.myfamily.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4212&sourceid=481 For more information and upcoming online lessons, please see: http://www.myfamily.com/isapi.dll?c=home&htx=gentraining 1e. TIPS FROM READERS. Sharing the Wealth By Carol Radcliff radcliff@mercuryspeed.com One never knows when a little light might turn on upstairs, as one did for me when a thought suddenly dawned (ha ha) on me at about 4:40 a.m. recently. I had been bashing my head against a brick wall for some time trying to research my husband's Irish roots without spending any money. In my pre-dawn musings, wondering how I could get my hands on more old newspaper and directories, I realized how I could be of service to some other family genealogists, hitting their brick walls somewhere. This was my thought: If I turn over all those old family newspaper clippings that I had inherited from my husband's family, that on the flip side there could be some wonderful marriage and birth notices, obituaries, and court reports that were not important to me but could be for someone else. How simple, and also how selfish of me not to have thought of it before! I am in the process of trying to decide how to post them to RootsWeb. So everyone -- check your old newspaper clippings for valuable family genealogy information. Who knows your information may be just what I am waiting for! [Editor's Note: RootsWeb welcomes user-contributed databases for various categories, including newspaper indexes. http://userdb.rootsweb.com/contributors.html ] 1f. ERRORS FOUND IN RECORDS: Can You Top These? Dropping Letters By Bev Webb cinnamon38@adelphia.net I searched high and low for my grandfather's family in Buena Park, Orange County, California in the 1900 census. I knew he was born in April of 1899 in Buena and that the family did not move to Washington state for several more years. I figured the name ABACHERLI would be unusual enough to make the search easy -- wrong. There was no family by that spelling or even close to it that got a "hit" using the Soundex. So I started a line-by-line search of the microfilm. And then I found him! The name is Swiss/German and the first "A" is soft. It is pronounced "a-BACH-early." The enumerator probably never even heard the "A" and listed the family as BACHERLI. Using the Soundex I would never have thought of going with a "B." So there he was with his infant brother, his mother, Florentine (Tina), listed as head of the household (farm), Tina's mother and Tina's younger sister with a lot more info than I'd ever had. But, where was Tina's husband, John? I still haven't found him in 1900. * * * But, What Will the Grandchildren Say? By Susan Cullivan scullivan23@yahoo.com For several weeks, I've been reading letters about the inaccuracies in "primary sources." including certificates of birth, marriage and death. Imagine my horror when confronted with the irony of an inaccuracy in my own marriage license -- received only a few days before my own recent wedding. I pleaded with my fiancé to have his birthplace corrected (they used his father's instead) because of possible genealogical implications. Living 750 miles away from the courthouse added to the difficulty, but he was able to get his father to obtain a corrected document -- all because I dreaded a descendant one day saying, "But grandpa said he was born in ___." 2. Connecting Through RootsWeb. Thanks for sharing your stories. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Seeking More Than Names to Hang on Family Tree By Susan Wallace zoshka2@yahoo.com Last year I began researching the branch of his family that my father never pursued because, as my cousin said, my grandmother’s father was a bum who had abandoned his children when his wife died, putting them in foster homes while he went West. I was not so much interested in the "bum" as much as I wanted to find out why my grandmother was the way she was. She was a stern, religious, woman and as an active child I was afraid of her, but I remember sitting next to her while she churned butter and eating the wonderful meals that came from her wood stove. If I were really good, she would allow me to go with her to get eggs from the chickens or brush her long hair when she let it down at night. She once took me aside saying, "Susan, if the Devil tempts you, say to him, 'Devil, get thee behind me!'" She also gave me a slinky red satin evening gown to use for dress-up. No one knows where she got it, as it was not something that she would wear. Grandmother’s life as a foster child in the late 1800s was not much better than that of a slave. As an adult, she had visions of a higher station in life than she occupied. She added an "e" to the end of her name making it "CROWE," said that her middle initial stood for Marie, not Mae and told people that her mother was French. Her calling card was not the flowery Victorian style, but just a plain white card with a flowing white dove and her name. She was not a pretty woman and didn’t marry until she was 33, although my grandfather was worth waiting that long. Her father lived in the same town with his second family, but was not at her wedding. She had four sons, the first living only a day. My father was the second and she spent years coddling and spoiling him in the fear that she would lose him also. She lied about her age on the census. She and Grandpop bought a farm with her savings from being a cook. Tobacco and alcohol were not allowed in her home and the family marched over the hill to Keller Church every Sunday. When my grandfather brought home a hood and sheet in the 1920s, she told him to get them out of her house and he had better not be associating with *those* people. A friend of the family who contacted me via a message board said that anyone passing by her house would be invited for cake and conversation. On a trip to St. Louis, which has excellent genealogical research sections in its libraries, I found my grandmother’s family on the 1880 census in Ancestry.com. This was a revelation. I had only known of my grandmother having two full sisters. Here a third was listed and another half sister from her mother’s previous marriage. In another book, I found the report of her mother, Lucy’s death that same year. No cause was listed and the maiden name was given with a question mark. Her county of birth was also listed. I could only imagine how that poor woman felt leaving five little girls, ages 1, 3, 6, 8, and 11 motherless. I could only imagine how the little girls felt. William Crow’s helplessness at his sudden burden must have been overwhelming. He was a farmer and only had one good arm from a Civil War wound. I am still searching to answer many questions. Did Lucy die in child birth? If so what happened to that child? Where did my grandmother live? between 8 and 33? What happened to my grandmother’s other sisters? How did Lucy get to West Virginia from Prince Edward County, Virginia? Where were Lucy and William married? With the help of RootsWeb and Grandmom’s family I may have even found a connection that takes one line back to the 1500s. However, it’s not important to me to say that I have 10 names or 10,000 on my tree. What is important to me is getting to know these people, how and why they lived the way they lived. ======================= Paid Advertisements ======================== Find Old School Friends, Lost Loves or Anyone @ Reunion.com Send e-mail, post on discussion boards, view pictures and more. Find out what your old friends are doing today! http://affiliates.reunion.com/affiliatewiz.asp?BannerID=41&AffiliateID= 2013&Task=Click * * * Save up to 80% on inkjet cartridges & refill kits at Myinks.com. Rootsweb.com Members Special: get an added 10% off your order! Free Shipping on orders $50+ to U.S. and Canada. Excellent service. Print out your family pictures with our quality inks and papers. Deep discounts. Top-quality products. Fast shipping. Order now! http://www.challengerone.com/t/l2.asp?cid=5296 ==================== End of Paid Advertisements ===================== 3. New Webpages at RootsWeb To Request a Free Web Account: http://accounts.rootsweb.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------- Some of these pages might not yet be accessible. They are created by volunteers, so if one that interests you isn't up yet, please check again in a few days or next week. http://www.rootsweb.com/~[accountname] Note that the ~[tilde] before the Web account name is required. Example: The Rappahannock County, Virginia website can be found at http://www.rootsweb.com/~varappah/ U.S.A. arlovely -- Lovely County, Arkansas azfgs -- Arizona Family Group Sheets Project cofamgs -- Colorado Family Group Sheets Project gabutts2 -- Butts County, Georgia iafgs -- Iowa Family Group Sheets Project intcags -- Tippecanoe County Area Genealogical Society (Indiana) kyfgs -- Kentucky Family Group Sheets Project kyncgr -- Nelson County Genealogical Roundtable (Kentucky) machalif -- Town of Halifax, Plymouth County, Massachusetts machull -- Town of Hull, Plymouth County, Massachusetts macpembr -- Town of Pembroke, Plymouth County, Massachusetts mohenry2 -- Henry County, Missouri mohowel2 -- Howell County, Missouri msharri2 -- Harrison County, Mississippi msprchs -- Pearl River County Historical Society (Mississippi) ncpamlic -- Pamlico County, North Carolina ndghstwn -- North Dakota Ghost Town Project pafgs -- Pennsylvania Family Group Sheets Project pavets -- Pennsylvania Veterans Project scmrcdar -- Martintown Road Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (North Augusta, Aiken County, South Carolina) utjgs -- Utah Jewish Genealogical Society vapage3 -- Page County, Virginia varappah -- Rappahannock County, Virginia witwphs -- Town of West Point Historical Society (Columbia County, Wisconsin) 4. New Mailing Lists at RootsWeb Request a New Mailing List: http://resources.rootsweb.com/adopt/ ----------------------------------------------------------------- The following are Mailing Lists, not websites. For more information and an index to the more than 26,900 RootsWeb-hosted genealogy Mailing Lists and easy subscribing options go to: http://lists.rootsweb.com/ NEW SURNAME MAILING LISTS ACKERLEY BALDUS, BAMPTON, BUNNING CLARK-NEWENG -- The CLARK surname in all six New England states (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont) DEYLE FITZLER, FOREHEAD, FREN GERACE, GIMBLETT, GUNSCH HADWEN, HEUPEL, HOCHHALTER, HOHNSTEIN JELLE KICKLIGHTER LEIBY, LIP PAVATA SANTACRUZ, SCHNABEL, SERONG, SHIDLER, SILLIFANT, STERKEL VIKING-UK -- The VIKING surname in the United Kingdom and Ireland WINKET NEW REGIONAL MAILING LISTS AUS-NSW-RIVERINA -- Riverina District, New South Wales, Australia (including Albury, Balranald, Berrigan, Deniliquin, Finley, Griffith, Hay, Hillston, Jerilderie, Leeton, Narrandera, Wagga and West Wyaling) ENG-LAN-MOSSLEY-SADDLEWORTH -- Mossley and Saddleworth, Lancashire, England ENG-LAN-WARRINGTON -- Warrington, Lancashire, England ENG-STS-Leek-Lowe -- Leek and Lowe, Staffordshire, England ESPANA -- Spain (primary language will be Spanish) -- Genealogy list SW-TN -- Genealogical interest in Southwest Tennessee (consisting of Shelby, Tipton, Fayette, Hardeman, Haywood, Chester, McNairy, Hardin, Decatur and Henderson counties) NEW ETHNIC AND SPECIAL INTEREST MAILING LISTS DEGREE-OF-POCAHONTAS -- Genealogical or historical interest in the Degree of Pocahontas and how it affected the lives of our ancestors. The Degree of Pocahontas is the women's affiliate of the Improved Order of Red Men FRATERNAL-ORDER-OF-EAGLES -- Genealogical or historical interest in the Fraternal Order of Eagles and how it affected the lives of our ancestors GALLANTRY-AWARDS -- Identify and expand upon the gallant acts of recipients, and to gather data on the awards themselves. It will be used by descendants and relatives of gallantry award winners IMPROVED-ORDER-OF-RED-MEN -- Genealogical or historical interest in the Improved Order of Red Men/Sons of Liberty and how it affected the lives of our ancestors KNIGHTS-OF-LABOR -- Genealogical or historical interest in the Knights of Labor and how it affected the lives of our ancestors ORDER-OF-THE-EASTERN-STAR -- Genealogical or historical interest in the Order of the Eastern Star and how it affected the lives of our ancestors STLGS-NEWSLETTER--St. Louis Genealogical Society's monthly newsletter WRITING-LIFESTORIES-AND-FAMILY-HISTORY -- For anyone who would like to write his or her life stories or family history in narrative form 5. New User-Contributed Databases at RootsWeb http://userdb.rootsweb.com/submit/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Who Has the Data? Does your state, province, county, parish, church, old military unit or alma mater have material with a few names or thousands of names available that you think would be of interest to genealogists and historians? Do you have a list of names or a database that you think would be of value and interest to others? In most cases, RootsWeb would be proud to host it. Such user databases are other than your family tree since family trees can be posted at WorldConnect: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/ See the guidelines, tutorial and examples of data formats for user- contributed data. Large or small files are welcome. http://userdb.rootsweb.com/guidelines.html * * * The following user-contributed databases have come online recently. They are searchable, but not browseable. ITALY. Sicily. Births, 1884, Cerda. 269 records; Ingrid Keltz http://userdb.rootsweb.com/italy/ U.S.A. ARIZONA, Cochise County. Douglas High School Alumni, 1926, Douglas. 46 records; Mary Ann Savignano http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ CALIFORNIA, Alameda County. Berkeley High School Alumni, Winter Class of 1933, Berkeley. 291 records; Elizabeth Jay Davis http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ CALIFORNIA. Fresno County. Roosevelt High School, 1958 Alumni, Fresno. 560 records; M. Hilpert http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ CALIFORNIA. Solano County. Vallejo Senior High School, 1935 Alumni, Vallejo. 173 records; M. Hellam http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ CALIFORNIA. Solano County. Vallejo Senior High School, 1935, Faculty. 31 records; M. Hellam http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ CALIFORNIA. Sonoma County. Santa Rosa High School, 1937, Faculty 51 records; M. Hellam http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ FLORIDA. Orange County. Orlando Senior High School, 1948, Orlando. 1,262 records; S. Wiser http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ KENTUCKY. Mercer County. 1810 Census. 1,446 records; Pam Durstock http://userdb.rootsweb.com/census/index/ MISSISSIPPI. Mississippi Marriage Index Data (partial). 194 records; Raymond Montgomery http://userdb.rootsweb.com/marriages/ NORTH CAROLINA, Durham County. Ephesus Baptist Church Cemetery, Durham. 154 records; E. Kerley http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ NEW YORK, Bronx County. St. John's College Graduates (now Fordham University), 1865, Bronx. 17 records; Mary Sheil Johnson http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ PENNSYLVANIA. Fulton County. 1920 Census. 2,728 records; Scott L. Byrd http://userdb.rootsweb.com/census/index/ VIRGINIA. Alumni listings for: Onancock High School (1903), Spotsylvania High School (1989), Courtland High School (1987), Warsaw High School (1938), Culpeper High School (1928-1929), and State Teachers College (1937); 462 records; Paula L. Delosh http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ VIRGINIA. Marriages, 1853-1854, Norfolk. 270 records; Stacy Neese http://userdb.rootsweb.com/marriages/ WISCONSIN, La Crosse County. Marriages, 1851-1867. 1,952 records; La Crosse Area Genealogical Society http://userdb.rootsweb.com/marriages/ WISCONSIN. La Crosse County. Marriages, 1859-1863. 696 records; La Crosse Area Genealogical Society http://userdb.rootsweb.com/marriages/ WEST VIRGINIA, Webster County. Allen Cogar Cemetery. 45 records; Yvonne Shepard http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ U.S.A. Alumni Lists: Magnolia High School Graduates, 1976, Magnolia, Montgomery County, Texas; 95 records; Patricia Schiro http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ U.S.A. Book Indexes: Aaron Burt Store Ledger, ca 1761, Northfield, Massachusetts; 905 records; Melissa Burt http://userdb.rootsweb.com/bookindexes/ 6. New and Updated Personal Freepages and Homepages at RootsWeb --------------------------------------------------------------- Note: Comments and questions about any of these independently authored webpages should be directed to their respective compilers/webmasters. When your new, updated, or substantially revised personal pages located at RootsWeb (they will have "freepages" or "homepages" in the URL) are up and ready for visitors, please send the URL (Web address), along with a brief description, including the major pertinent surnames and what is available on your site, to: Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com CANADA. British Columbia. The Campbell River Genealogy Club is now the Campbell River Genealogy Society and its website has been updated. It includes databases such as the 1901 census for the area and lookup volunteers for its library resources. http://www.rootsweb.com/~bccrgc/ JOHNSON, TAIT. A searchable database of narratives, pedigrees and descendant lists of Johnson and Tait ancestors. Other surnames: ANDERSON, BENGTSSON, BETTS/BETTES, BRUSH, CONKLIN, COREY/CORY, DENTON, DIBBLE, FLEET, KELSEY, OLOFSSON, MORGAN, PINNEY, SAMMIS, SVENSSON, WALL, BLAND, GIFFEN, HORNE, HOULSTON, MEREDITH, OGDEN, PYLE, REA/RAY, SMITH, and WAY. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~arizona/ LANDERS. Genealogical information pertaining to the Landers families of Franklin and surrounding counties in northwest Alabama. Other surnames include WILLIS, GUYTON, KIMBROUGH, LANDERS, and POSEY. Site will include Civil War Records, Pension Records, War of 1812, and various other records pertaining to these families, plus favorite old photos and other information. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~landersofalabama/ SCOTLAND. 1841 Perthshire Free Census Project. A website detailing by parish the progress that is being made in making the Perthshire 1841 census records available on the Web. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~perth1841/perthshire.html STEWART. Stewarts of Ardnamurchan 1795-1932 who came from the Ardnamurchan area with some later movement to the Glasgow area. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~ardnamurchan/ 7. FROM ROOTSWEB REVIEW'S BOTTOMLESS MAILBAG [Editor's note: The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the editor or of RootsWeb.com]. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Joy of Comparing Notes By Rosie Fuller sunkist@attbi.com My best and childhood friend Carol and her sister Sharon introduced me to the genealogy hobby. I have been bitten, hard. Last year Sharon asked me if I might like to make a weekend trip to Salt Lake City for some research. I jumped at the chance as she had been there many times and could show me the ropes. As we sat in the airport waiting to board our plane, we naturally talked and compared notes on our brick walls and who did what to whom, and exchanged search horrors and laughter. She mentioned that she had a Mary RICE of Louisville, Kentucky who had married a HOLLIS and that was a real challenge for her. What? I have a HOLLIS who married a Mary RICE in Louisville, Kentucky. Yep, my childhood friend is a (very) distant cousin -- it is such a small world! * * * Family More Than Bloodlines By Myrna J. Coubrough myrna@coubrough.com I enjoy reading the letters from other readers, and usually just take them all in. However, having just read the letter titled "Ruffled Feathers" (RWR6:23, 4 June 2003), I really feel that I must comment. The writer was apparently annoyed at finding her information in unauthorized use on the Internet. The point has been made before that the only way to make sure no one uses your information inappropriately is not to share it with anyone. I think this defeats the whole purpose of genealogy, but what really bothered me was her final comment that the only people who belonged in her tree were those whose blood flowed in her veins. If that were the case for me, I would have a very small tree. I have no children of my own, and my father was adopted as an infant. Beyond the fact that they were French-Canadian and Catholic, we have no leads whatsoever on whom his birth parents were. On the other hand, my father's adoptive parents were the only family he ever knew, and they considered him one of them. They meant my Dad grew up in a real family, instead of the orphanage he had been consigned to before his first birthday. In my opinion, "family" is a word that means much more than just the blood flowing in one's own veins, and it would be a great disservice to adoptive families everywhere if all genealogists ignored them. * * * [Editor's Note: As many readers pointed out, unless one has researched all of our family lines back as far as possible how can we say with any authority that we are or are not related? Moreover, there are no rules or laws that require you to be connected in any way to a family before you can research and compile its genealogical data.] * * * Not Just Any HUSBAND By Pat Chinner Wood haroldandpatcwood@sasktel.net Doing research on the HUSBAND surname has never been easy because of its other meaning of spouse. But I finally found my great-great- grandfather Alpheus HUSBAND with his wife Eliza and five children in Ontario, Canada census of 1881. Very little information could be found about these children, but I finally found Alexander had joined the Canadian Forces for World War I. After much searching I learned that he died without a family in Webster's Corners, British Columbia. Alas, his obituary just added one more question: What was his sister from Vancouver's married name? The obituary just says a sister in Vancouver and a brother in Armstrong. He had only one sister, Edith, who was born in 1880. The brother mentioned was my great-grandfather Frederick Alfus HUSBAND. The sister and her family are still a mystery. * * * Tracing Given Names By Marcia Randall Jensen MMkrjensen@aol.com There are several unusual first names in my family that appear to pop up in clusters during one era or another. For example, my grandmother was Eula Aline JENNINGS. I have been unable to find the source of the name Eula but I have found very distant and unknown cousins who have the name. I also have found the name Eula among others whom I suspect were of Scotch-Irish (Ulster Scots) descent. Another unusual name is Sophronia. It pops up in mid- to late-19th- century southern Illinois with enough frequency that I suspect it may have been a popular culture reference. Remember how so many little girls were named Jennifer in the early 1970s after the book/movie "Love Story" came out? Does anyone have a source or derivation for the names Eula or Sophronia? * * * [Editor's Note: Eula is a shorten form of Eulalia -- the name of a 4th- century martyr. The name was common in Spain and France, but also found in England, especially in Cornwall. Sophronia was the name of several Charles Dickens' characters and is believed to be his creation. The name is often spelled Sophrona in America. According to a search in POPULAR GIVEN NAMES, U.S., 1801-1999 http://users.erols.com/dgalbi/names/us200.htm Sophrona was a fairly popular name for girls born from about 1811 to 1850. Eula was somewhat popular for girls born in the 1891-1920 time period -- based upon the 1880 and 1920 U.S. censuses.] 8. Humor: Baaaaaaad Names -------------------------------------------------------- Thanks to: P. A. Almquist bambi@shreve.net After reading about the name of Luta Fisk in the June 4th issue of RWR, I had to write and tell you about the names of my mother and my aunt. My maternal grandfather, Elmer Presley HARDIN, named his only two daughters Rena Elzina (my mother) and Nannie Elfa (my aunt). As a minister, he often was called on to present his family. When told the names of his daughters, one man asked my grandfather, "Were you naming goats or children?" 9. Submission Guidelines, Reprint Policy, RWR Archives ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The RootsWeb Review does not publish or answer genealogical queries, and the editor regrets that she is unable to provide any personal research assistance or advice. RootsWeb Review welcomes short (500 words or less) articles, humor, stories, or letters, and reserves the right to edit all submissions. All mail sent to the RootsWeb Review editor is considered to be for publication; send in plain text (no html, stationery, or attachments) to: Editor-RWR@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: Previously published in RootsWeb Review: Vol. 6, No. 24, 11 June 2003. RWR Archives: http://e-zine.rootsweb.com/ * * * SUBSCRIPTIONS: Do not send any subscription requests to the editor. We have special e-mail addresses for this purpose. Send your requests to: RWR-off@rootsweb.com -- this removes you from the RWR Mailing List. RWR-on@rootsweb.com -- this adds you to the RWR Mailing List. * * * ROOTSWEB REVIEW ADVERTISING CONTACTS: Ad Sales Operations Mgr. Shana Davis sdavis@myfamilyinc.com U.S. West Coast: Sacha Yenkana syenkana@myfamilyinc.com U.S. East Coast: Dan Arnold darnold@myfamilyinc.com * * * *