RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Weekly E-zine 30 June 2004, Vol. 7, No. 26, Circulation: 838,091+ (c) 1998-2004 RootsWeb.com, Inc. http://www.rootsweb.com/ * * * Editor: Myra Vanderpool Gormley, Certified Genealogist Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com Certification: http://www.bcgcertification.org/certification/ * * * =============================================================== IN THIS ISSUE: 1. NEWS AND NOTES 1a. WorldConnect -- Offsite Backup Solution 1b. Editor's Desk: Stuff Worth Knowing; Sites Worth Seeing: 1c. Tips from Readers: "Pssssssst! Want to Find Your French Roots?" 2. Connecting Through RootsWeb: "Translating a Russian Postcard" 3. New RootsWeb Mailing Lists 4. New Webpages at RootsWeb 5. New/Updated FreePages and HomePages 6. New User-contributed Databases 7. RootsWeb Review's Bottomless Mailbag "Altering History" "Problems with the Living" "Deserving to Know the Truth" "Skeletons in the Cupboard" "Causing Angst" "Warts and All" "Doctored Family Histories" "Finding Romance Via Genealogy" "Forget Spelling--Listen!" "Stones, Markers, and Tribute to the Cook" 8. Humor/Humour: "Not on the Yellow Brick Road" 9. Submissions, Subscriptions, Advertising, Reprints =============================================================== 1. NEWS AND NOTES 1a. WorldConnect -- Offsite Backup Solution In real estate, there are three things to be considered -- location, location, and location. It could just as easily be said when considering the preservation of your computerized genealogical data that the three things to be considered are -- backup, backup, and backup. Most genealogy programs provide for an automatic backup system on tape or disks as well as a backup copy of your files on your computer's hard drive. Each is important, but each is also subject to loss, failure, corruption, and/or destruction. We don't like to think of hard drive failures, loss of a disk, or even theft of a computer. We like to think these things only happen to OTHER people and not to us, but realistically, it is always possible that our backup tape or CDs will fail or that our hard drive might crash. Disasters strike genealogists all the time so you might experience a fire, flood, earthquake, tornado, hurricane, or some natural disaster that will cause the loss of the precious database that has taken you years to compile. Many of us, in the course of our research, have heard tales (long before the days of computer databases) of an old family Bible lost when a grandaunt's house suffered fire damage or about a family journal or diary lost in a flood or thrown out by accident by a well-meaning family member. Accidents and losses have occurred over the course of time, and that is no different today for our electronically stored data. The best possible backup copy of your data is one that is maintained away from your computer and even your home -- one that is carefully preserved in an online repository such as RootsWeb's WorldConnect. WorldConnect protects your data by preserving it online. The online trees are frequently backed up for the added protection of your files. You can download your own complete unedited WorldConnect database anytime, from any computer, using your account user code and password. Here's how: Retrieve your forgotten user codes and passwords from Password Central: http://passwordcentral.rootsweb.com/ Next, go to the main WorldConnect page: http://wc.rootsweb.com/ and click on the link that says: Start Here. Type in the user code and password for your account and scroll to the bottom of the set-up page. Click on RETRIEVE GEDCOM to download your family tree in GEDCOM format. You can then import the GEDCOM into your genealogy program to replace your lost or corrupted data. WorldConnect provides an excellent location for the offsite backup of all your genealogical data -- a location where your data is carefully maintained and preserved, and always accessible to you. * * * 1b. EDITOR'S DESK. Stuff Worth Knowing and Sites Worth Seeing SOMEBODY'S LINKS. Your editor receives many requests from readers wishing to reunite found family treasures with interested descendants. Recently Kathy Henderson wrote, "I am in possession of a photo album of pictures of the Thaddeus POTTER family of Dixon, Illinois, dating from about 1870. Seek the descendants of Nellie POTTER, born 1871 in Dixon, [Lee County] Illinois. For best results, post such found treasures on the Somebody's Links message board by going to the boards and use the FIND A BOARD option. You also should post on the appropriate surname (POTTER) and locality (Lee County, Illinois). http://boards.rootsweb.com/ While you're at the Somebody's Links message board, check to see if someone has found some of your family's lost memorabilia. REMEMBER THE ALAMO! Paula Kelley Ward of San Antonio, Texas writes, "Regarding 'Markers Without Remains' (RWR: 16 June), readers might be interested in this website, about the 'Cenotaph at the Alamo (Texas),' which is a memorial to those who died there." Handbook of Texas Online is an excellent website if you're researching in the Lone Star state. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/AA/gga2.html OUT-OF-THE-OFFICE. Going to be out of the office on vacation or business trip and want to let all your friends know you won't be replying to any messages for a time? You might decide to use an auto responder to answer your incoming messages while you are gone. While, this might work for business correspondence, don't forget your genealogy mailing lists. Please set your auto responder so that it does not reply to RootsWeb list mail -- either to the list posters or to the list address itself because list administrators and subscribers find these out-of-the-office messages annoying. In fact, most list admins will unsubscribe you from a list if they receive or are informed about auto-replies coming from your subscribed e-mail account. Solution? Unsubscribe from your mailing lists while you are away temporarily. Re-subscribe upon your return. * * * 1c. TIPS FROM READERS Pssssssst! Want to Find Your French Roots? By Xavier GUYOT in Orléans, Loiret, France http://membres.geneaguide.com/xguyot/k004.htm I have no connection with United States or Canada, but I am so interested in genealogy that I admire RWR's efforts to try to help people to progress in their research. I would like to share my experience with helping (generally North Americans) during the past years to find their ancestors and relatives in France, but I am sure the following advice can be enlarged to cover other countries. When you describe your family history or the few facts you have about your immigrating ancestor, use short phrases (easier to understand) and make the genealogical information very clear. Some suggestions: --Put only the family (surname) names in capital letters (the first/given names in normal letters) --Places: Include if you know them or can find them on a road map or atlas. Be aware of the "hierarchy levels" of the country you are interested in. Example: France is divided in régions, régions are divided in départements, départements group villages and cities My home town is Orléans, Loiret, Centre, France. Orléans is the city Loiret is the name of the département Centre is the région France is the country Most of the French people know their country's geography but the precise location helps in a glance to locate the area. When speaking about your own country, do not use the abbreviations AR (izona), which can be understood here as ARizona or ARkansas --Dates: Write them with the month in full words -- January, February, etc. -- don't abbreviate. The American date format is mm/dd/yyyy, but the date format in a lot of other countries, especially in Europe, is dd/mm/yyyy, so when you write "my ancestor was born on 04/07/1856" in your American mind that is 7th April 1856, but here in France it is read as 4th July 1856. -- Identify each individual clearly, putting each important piece of information on a separated line. Example: Jean DUPONT born date and place died date and place married date and place his wife same They have two children (as far as you know) --Joan --Anna Do this instead of the narrative style of "Jean DUPONT, born date and place, died date and place, married, etc., and their children were Joan, Anna, etc." The latter often causes confusion. If you have a few documents from the original country, (for example an old birth/baptism certificate in France) consider scanning it and sending to your correspondents. He/she can find details, which might seem of little worth to you, but can help greatly with the research problem, or it might provide a better read of the letters and figures than your translation or extraction. Always tell all the truth and give all -- even if it is only a few pieces -- of the information that you have. Explain how you got it and what research you have previously had done. Each piece of information can be useful, even if you think it has no value. Last, but not least, be polite. A "please" or "thank you" is not costful and will be appreciated. In addition, many people on the Web "play anonymous" (or it can be considered as such), but you should sign your first note with your full name and give at least your home country and state, if you do not want to give your full address Also, think about providing a detailed and relevant subject/title for all of your e-notes. Do not use "research," "help needed," or "my ancestors" for your subjects. Everybody has research needs and wants to find his ancestors. Rather write, "Looking for Jean DELACROIX, born in Normandy, ca 1780" or "Trying to locate the place X in France." With these tips, I hope you'll have a bigger success with your correspondents all over the world. Bonne chance! 2. Connecting Through RootsWeb. Thanks for sharing your stories. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Translating a Russian Postcard By Wendie Thomas My mother's cousin had loaned me a postcard-type picture of her father's grandparents -- a Mr. and Mrs. FULKENSTERN. More than likely it was a wedding picture. Our family could not read what was written around the picture because it was in Russian. As I racked my brain thinking how I get could this card translated, I had to take my mother to the motor vehicle department so she could pay for her yearly automobile license tags. As we sat waiting for our turn I heard a couple speaking in what sounded to me like a European language. I asked the lady if they could read Russian and was told no, but they pointed to a clerk at the counter who they believed might be able to help me. I went to my car and retrieved the picture postcard, hoping that the clerk could translate it. I didn't make it to the clerk as another couple sitting nearby told me they could read Russian and they gladly told me what was written on the picture: "Victor or Vacelie Peter or Petroff ROLLERA in the city of Ggankoy would take pictures in any weather and the negatives would be preserved." Now if we just knew where Ggankoy used to be. 3. New Mailing Lists at RootsWeb Request a New Mailing List: http://resources.rootsweb.com/adopt/ ----------------------------------------------------------------- Brand-new mailing lists can be found under OTHER/MISCELLANEOUS until moved to their proper categories. For information and an index to the more than 28,200 RootsWeb-hosted genealogy Mailing Lists and for easy subscribing (joining) options go to: http://lists.rootsweb.com/ NEW SURNAME MAILING LISTS BINGLE GODBEHERE, GOLDEY, GOOKIN JAHANEN MATZKE, METZKE, MOUGEOT OLEJNICZAK PARASHIS, POUCHER SATCHFIELD, STANTZ, SWIERSKI TRAYNHAM URIEGAS VALOIS, VEGA WHITER NEW REGIONAL MAILING LISTS ENG-STS-WALSALL -- Walsall, Staffordshire, England TX-TexasCity -- Texas City, Galveston County, Texas 4. New Webpages at RootsWeb To Request a Free Web Account: http://accounts.rootsweb.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------- Some of these webpages 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. For example, the Banbury, Oxfordshire, England website is at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~engcbanb/ Australia ausgsgdi -- Genealogical Society of Gladstone District (Australia) England engcbanb -- Banbury (city), Oxfordshire, England Poland: polwarmi -- Warmia-Mazury (Poland) U.S.A. gadar -- Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Georgia gadodge2 --Dodge County (Georgia) gamorga2 -- Morgan County (Georgia) gatelfai -- Telfair County (Georgia) ilgwrefs -- Illinois GenWeb Statewide References ndbenso2 -- Benson County (North Dakota) ndcaval2 -- Cavalier County (North Dakota) ndlogan2 -- Logan County (North Dakota) tx1982 -- William T. Saxon SCV Camp 1982 (Texas) wycgs -- Cheyenne Genealogical Society (Wyoming) 5. New/Updated Freepages and Homepages -------------------------------------- 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 IGNEY, GODBEY, UNDERWOOD, WEAVER, COYLE, REYNOLDS, COCANOUGHER, RUSSELL, JONES, and CARPENTER in Casey, Lincoln, Boyle, Washington, and Garrard counties of Kentucky. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~wvmystica/ 6. New User-Contributed Databases at RootsWeb ---------------------------------------------- Who Has the Data? Does your state, province, county, parish, church, old military unit or alma mater have material available that you think would be of interest to genealogists and historians? Do you have any compiled lists of names or databases -- other than your personal family tree because genealogies can be posted at WorldConnect: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/ -- that you would like to share and that you think would be of value and interest to others? In most cases, RootsWeb would be proud to host them. http://userdb.rootsweb.com/submit/ The following databases have come online recently. They are searchable, but not browseable. Browse: To view the entire contents of a file or a group of files. Search: To look for specific data or occurrence of text in a file. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. Washington. Continental Trust Company Officers and Directors, June 1921; 26 records; Paula Lucy Delosh http://userdb.rootsweb.com/groups/ ILLINOIS. Sangamon County. Springfield. Cathedral Boys High School Class of 1957; 71 records; John Petterchak for Cathedral Boys High School, Class of 1957. http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ MARYLAND. Cecil County. 1860 census for Tyson surname; 97 records; Laura Garrett Ladkau http://userdb.rootsweb.com/census/index/ MONTANA. Sweet Grass County. Sweet Grass County High School Alumni, 1909-2004; 3,568 records; Joan Shurtliff, Sweet Grass County GenWeb Volunteer http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ NEW YORK. Onondaga County. Skaneateles. 1900 census; 4,205 records; Submitted by Jim Dougherty; indexed by Laurie Winship http://userdb.rootsweb.com/census/index/ OREGON. Multnomah County. Portland. Jefferson High School Class of June 1929; 199 records; Patricia L. Dunn-Hanning http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ VIRGINIA. Fredericksburg (Independent City). City School Board and Teachers, August 1903; 13 records; Paula Lucy Delosh http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ Richmond (Independent City). Title Insurance Company of Richmond, Officers and Directors, July 1923; 13 records; Paula Lucy Delosh http://userdb.rootsweb.com/groups/ WEST VIRGINIA. Jefferson County. Charles Town. Charles Town High School Class of 1921; 8 records; Paula Lucy Delosh http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ GERMANY. Hessen. Bensheim. Catholic Church baptisms 1759 through 1856, Schader, Schaider surnames; 356 records; Gary Womack http://userdb.rootsweb.com/deu/ 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]. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Many readers replied to Lois Ahntholtz's "Expunging Family History" in last week's RootsWeb Review. Here are a few: Altering History By Hunter George in North Carolina Family history is just that, history. A person cannot and should not try to alter history. A daughter conceived by my great-great-grandfather and a slave is in my family history now, which opens a completely new branch of my family. He acknowledged this daughter and now it is part of public history. No one has chastised me for setting the record straight . . . Don't blame yourself for the problems others have within themselves. * * * Problems with the Living By Howland Davis Boy did that sound familiar! I suspect that any genealogist dealing with living relatives will have that problem or related ones. 1. I have an aunt who refuses to tell me anything about the father of her child who my uncle adopted. This is in spite of my begging, her grandchildren's request and my suggestion that she write out the information, seal it in an envelope and say "Not To Be Open Until "X" Years After My Death." Every so often she drops little tidbits so my knowledge slowly increases. Unfortunately her son, my first cousin, died at the age of 34. 2. I have a second cousin who, similarly to Lois' relative, has said that her second husband was the only father, etc. 3. I have another second cousin who gave me information about his first marriage as "married before World War II; divorced several years after World War II." That was a big help. 4. Yet another second cousin gave me information on a marriage and divorce and birth of a child, but when I noted that some dates did not agree and asked, I found out that the marriage was to a person that I did not have a name or information for and the father of the child was a partner/other/POSSLQ -- for those that do not recognize that, the U.S. census in 1970, I think, used that for a "Person of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters"] . . . These first, etc. husbands and wives are part of our history and we should have the information. In the case of my first cousin's children and grandchildren, the missing information could be important for medical reasons because there is a break in the generations. * * * Deserving to Know the Truth By Jolynn Noel Winland . . . I would not change the information one bit. As family historians, we strive for as much accuracy in our records as possible, and it would take a whole lot more than an upset cousin for me to falsify my records, which is what you would be doing if you listed the stepfather as the real father. (How many of us have run into this nightmare in our own research?) You can record the important role that the stepfather played in the children's lives in the notes. And who knows? Someday, when these children grow up and have their own children, and are curious about their father's background, you may be the one who has the answers for them--or at least a place to start. Good, bad, or indifferent, we all deserve to know where we came from. * * * Skeletons in the Cupboard By Gordon Murdoch in the UK I note the problems encountered by the person attending the wedding reception and falling foul with the relations who had never told their children who their real parents were. I wonder how many "skeletons in the cupboard" will be found when DNA testing fails to get the expected match! * * * Causing Angst By Les Trollope in Mildura, Australia I also have had a similar experience but certainly not so serious as Lois' unfortunate situation and no threats made at all thankfully. Circumstances were similar -- a second wife of a close relation coming onto the scene and objecting to any reference at all within my records to the first wife (divorced). Didn't want to see any pictures or any reference in reports or printouts I circulated to interested family members relating to the first wife. Similarly there were two children from the first marriage that were part of our family. In effect, I was being asked to pretend the first wife did not exist. I was not prepared to make any adjustments to my records as I believe them to be my work, interest and so on and want them to be accurate. I see the records as historical -- who wants them to be wrong? However, I was certainly going to be judicious from that point on about how and where my information was produced or displayed so as not to cause any future angst, if at all possible. It is your right to research your family, but we must of course be mindful of people's right to privacy, but that doesn't mean "fixing the books!" * * * Warts and All By Evelyn Micolichek Lois asked if anyone had encountered a request to delete things from the family history. I was asked and here is what I said. NO! The reason being I am making a history of the family not a Disney movie where everyone gets her or his prince or princess and lives happy ever after. We all have things in a closet we do not wish aired. Yes, things like a jail record and things of that nature are fine to delete. But when it affects directly the bloodline of a family tree you cannot lie. If you do so, it makes all your work invalid. Who's to say where the lie stops. To tell a story is one thing. To tell history is all together different. * * * Doctored Family Histories By S. K. Wright in Pennsylvania I too have had a similar problem brought to me by well-meaning family members, both natural and in-law, after sending out those oh-so-innocent family group sheet information requests. I've been asked to "remove" the adoption information for a cousin because they felt it would make her feel like less of a family member. Never mind that the entire family is aware of the adoption and that the cousin in question knowingly spends time with her birth father. The family at large seems split on the request, both the fact that it was even asked of me and my answer. The other being to alter a cause of death from "complications due to alcoholism" to "complications due to old age" because it was unseemly to the descendant and that the lady in question "was 75 years old when she passed" The information I gleaned on this individual was from a publicly published work that is affiliated with an educational facility, which was both highly researched and respected. Neither of which seems to matter to the individual who made the request. On both fronts, I've decided to keep the information intact since genealogy traces not only bloodlines today but relationships as well and inheritable diseases such as alcoholism can be vitally important to other descendants. My concession to the offended parties is to supply them with their own altered histories, which shall keep them safe and snug in their cocoons and the rest of the family well informed. * * * Finding Romance Via Genealogy By Mary Harris in Ontario, Canada I am a genealogy-obsessed married (happily, thank you very much) mother of five children. Generally, most of the fellow historians I correspond with are senior citizens and a great many are female. Recently, I found myself exchanging e-mails with two single men -- fourth or fifth cousins to me -- who are about my age. This made me uncomfortable, at first, but I got over it as they are respectable gentlemen and each a wealth of family tree information. However, this got me thinking. With all the volume of new family tree contacts, through RootsWeb's message boards and mailing lists, etc., surely, there must be quite a few couples out there who found each other through their mutual love for genealogy. Perhaps some readers have tales of family tree romance to tell? * * * Forget Spelling -- Listen! By Bob Juch -- http://www.Juch.org/ I knew my great-grandfather, Arthur Earnest JUCH, was in San Diego, California by 1870. I could not find him in the census until I went through it page by page. I found him listed as Arthur YUKE, just the way our last name is pronounced! * * * Stones, Markers, and Tribute to the Cook By Neil Wolf In response to the "Markers without Remains" article, there are several possible reasons for such markers, and the marker may not give you a clue that there is no one buried there. Perhaps one of the most common may be that the deceased's body was never recovered (i.e. shipwreck, drowning, air crash, or war). I know of two other reasons in my own family. My grandmother has a monument in central Iowa, but her remains are not there because her husband died almost 40 years later in Illinois and since she no longer had family in that area, her children had her body disinterred and brought to Illinois to be buried with her husband. Her monument is still there, but she isn't. A cousin who died was cremated and her ashes scattered in the woods on her family farm, but she has a marker in the local cemetery, (Curiously, her husband had engraved on her stone, ". . . best damn pie baker!") 8. Humor/Humour: Not on the Yellow Brick Road --------------------------------------------- Thanks to: Jo Kester My husband's career took our family for a short stay in the San Francisco Bay Area in California and while there many Sunday afternoons we took drives around different neighborhoods. One of our favorite drives was through the hills between Sunnyvale and San Francisco. There were many beautiful homes and we would try to get a glimpse of a name on a mailbox. I had read that Shirley Temple Black and her family lived in the area and as our children had seen some of her early movies on television, they were aware who she was. I suggested to the kids that they watch for her house by watching for the name on the mailboxes. Several years later, I overheard our youngest daughter talking to one of her friends about Shirley Temple. I was surprised to hear her tell her friend that Shirley Temple lived in a black house. I asked her where she received that information. She informed me that I was the one who had told her that when I had said if they wanted to see Shirley Temple's house to watch for the Black house. 9. Submissions, Subscriptions, Advertising, Reprints ----------------------------------------------------- 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 (please, no attachments) to: Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com Search/download past issues of the RootsWeb Review: http://e-zine.rootsweb.com/ * * * SUBSCRIPTIONS. To manage your e-mail communications (i.e. to subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter, or to sign up for others), visit our newsletter management center any time at: http://newsletters.rootsweb.com/ The RootsWeb Review is a free publication of MyFamily.com, Inc., 360 West 4800 North, Provo, UT, 84604 * * * ROOTSWEB REVIEW ADVERTISING CONTACTS. Ad Sales Operations Mgr. Shana Davis sdavis@myfamilyinc.com U.S., Worldwide Sales: Sacha Yenkana syenkana@myfamilyinc.com * * * REPRINTS. 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: 30 June 2004, Vol. 7, No. 26. * * * *