RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Weekly E-zine 28 July 2004, Vol. 7, No. 30, 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. Mailing List Server Update 1b. Message Boards: E-mail Changes Made Easier 1c. Tips from Readers: "Transposing Names" "Scrapbooking Opportunity with Land Records" 2. Connecting Through RootsWeb: "The Connecticut Connection" 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 "Confessions of a Name Collector" "Mistakes Happen" "Dealing with a Dilemma" "Shaking Others' Trees" "Get Over It!" "Guilty as Charged" "Exploring Antique Shops for Pictures" 8. Humor/Humour: "Difficult Texans" 9. Submissions, Subscriptions, Advertising, Reprints =============================================================== 1. NEWS AND NOTES 1a. Mailing List Server Update RootsWeb is in the process of rolling out an extra server to service the mailing lists. This necessitates taking one of the busier list servers offline from time to time as this upgrade is in process. Some mail probably will be delayed at times. Thank you for your patience during this period. As always, check the HelpDesk announcement box for the latest technical news. http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/ * * * 1b. Message Boards: E-mail Changes Made Easier Perhaps the most dreaded situation an Internet genealogy researcher can encounter is a change in e-mail address. Perhaps your ISP is changing its name or maybe you have decided to move to a different provider or step up to DSL or cable broadband service -- any of which can result in that dreaded change of e-mail address. When you have left a breadcrumb trail all over the Internet of queries and requests for contacts regarding your family history research it isn't always easy to remember all the places you posted messages and left your e-mail contact information so that your cousins can find you someday in the future. Of all the places where your address will need to be updated one of the easiest is the RootsWeb/Ancestry message boards. It is a breeze -- if you have posted all of your messages as a registered board user and if you were logged into your account when posting your messages. For more about registration, see "Will the Mystery Guest Sign in Please". http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/review/20040303.txt Updating your e-mail address on your old message board posts is as easy as logging in and clicking on MY PROFILE. Update the entry for your "E-mail address" and "Post E-mail" and this should result in your previously posted messages being updated as well as any future posts you make to the boards when you are logged into your account. You can do a search of the boards to make sure all of your past messages have been updated as you want them to be. If you find that some older posts were not updated, this could indicate that you have more than one account and posted the messages using different accounts. You can click on LOGIN (click on LOGOUT first and then LOGIN, if you are already logged in) and then on FORGOT YOUR PASSWORD? to request all account information related to any e-mail address for which you can currently receive mail. LOGIN under each account mentioned in your account confirmation e-mail and update your "E- mail address" and "Post E-mail" under MY PROFILE for each account to bring them all into agreement. If you could possibly have additional accounts under e-mail addresses for which you can no longer receive mail (dead addresses), you must contact Ancestry Customer Support for that account information. Be sure to mention any and all possible defunct e-mail addresses. Ancestry Customer Support: http://ancestry.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/ancestry.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php? After receiving your account information from Ancestry Customer Support, update your address in MY PROFILE for these accounts as outlined above. If, after you have followed all the above instructions, you still find you have old posts on boards where your address hasn't been updated, that would indicate that you most likely have made posts that are not linked to any account (you were not logged in when you posted the messages). However, you can still update these old posts by creating a NEW account under the old e-mail address you used to post these messages and then going to MY PROFILE using that new account with the old information -- and updating your address. To create the new account with the old address information, after clicking on LOGIN, click on the NEW TO ROOTSWEB? SIGN UP NOW option. Once you have brought all of your accounts and posts into agreement and have updated them, any future changes in e-mail address should be easy -- for the message boards at least. REMINDER: Going on vacation or holiday and unsubscribing from your mailing lists while you will be away? Don't forget to unsubscribe from your message board MY NOTIFICATION mailings also. LOGIN to your message board account and click on MY NOTIFICATIONS and then click the REMOVE button to stop notifications from any of the boards included in your MY NOTIFICATIONS list. If you have MY NOTIFICATIONS under more than one account, you will have to LOGIN under each account as explained above to access your MY NOTIFICATIONS list for each account. When you return from vacation, LOGIN and visit the boards you wish to add to MY NOTIFICATIONS. Click on the appropriate link to re-add the board to your list. * * * 1c. TIPS FROM READERS: Transposing Names By Sherry Lilley When I requested a copy of my father-in-law's death certificate, the clerk was unable to find it. After a number of attempts, she finally located it -- filed under his first name. Something to keep in mind especially for ancestors with surnames that are common first names and vice versa. * * * Scrapbooking Opportunity with Land Records By Laura in Georgia Re: Digging in Land Records" -- I just wanted to add that I think this is a wonderful way to "scrapbook" as well as record for genealogy purposes. With those U.S. county tax records online, if they have a picture, you can copy it and save it on your computer. I have collected my own as well as my family's pictures of their houses. I do not share those pictures online, though, for safety reasons. But, at some point, I will have collected many pictures of what used to be their houses, without having spent a penny. The pictures are usually of good quality and already scanned in, so I don't have to do anything. Simply copy and save. Later generations will probably thank me for thinking of it. But just remember that while it's a great idea, with anything, -- think safety first before you share. 2. Connecting Through RootsWeb. Thanks for sharing your stories. ---------------------------------------------------------------- The Connecticut Connection By Wayne Benson I often accompany my wife when she attends work-related meetings in other cities. While she is doing that, I head for the library and its section on genealogy. It was in the San Diego, California library that I discovered the book "The Mary and John," by Maude Pinney Kuhns. The "Mary and John" was an English ship that brought a group of Puritans to the New World in 1630. There is no existing passenger list for the ship, but several efforts have been made to reconstruct one. I have since located a website, called, not surprisingly, the "Mary and John" http://www.maryandjohn1630.com/ that records three possible lists. The "A" list, deemed certain or highly probable, the "B" list, probable, and the "C" list, possible. The passengers were part of a group that followed or were associated with the Rev. John Warham. and most, if not all, were from the West Country of England -- Dorsetshire, Devonshire, and Somersetshire. They debarked at Dorchester (Massachusetts), but soon traveled to a new settlement in Connecticut called Windsor. Windsor is in the greater Hartford area, where I had already run into ancestors of Christie MARSTON and Arlene G. TAYLOR, my former and present wife, respectively. However, when I explored the passenger list(s) of the "Mary and John," I found not only ancestors of the wives, but also one of my own! Arlene has two ancestors on the highly probable list (John HOSKINS and a widow, Ann FILER, who later married each other) and I have two -- Nicholas DENSLOW and his wife, Elizabeth DOLING. Arlene also has two other ancestors of on the probable list (Thomas HOLCOMBE and his wife Elizabeth) and Christie has an ancestor (George HULL) on that list. On the possible list there are two of Christie's ancestors (William THRALL and Thomas GUNN) and another of Arlene's ancestors (Benedictus ALVORD). Most of these passengers went to Windsor, Connecticut early on. There is an extensive history and genealogy work on "History of Ancient Windsor" by Henry STILES (he had ancestors there, too), which was written in 1859. Another interesting book is "Connecticut Colonists -- Windsor, 1635-1703" (Holbrook Research Institute, Oxford, Massachusetts, 1986) by Jay Mack HOLBROOK (probably a distant cousin of mine), which includes a map and a list of the settlers. This reflected the following for the ancestors of the three parties mentioned above: TAYLOR: Eltwood or Eltweed POMEROY, Thomas HOLCOMB, Thomas GUNN, John HOSKINS, and Benedictus ALVORD. MARSTON: George HULL, Humphrey PINNEY and Mary HULL, and William THRALL. MARSTON and TAYLOR: Edward GRISWOLD; BENSON: Nicholas DENSLOW. Outside the Windsor map was an area called Pine Meadow, which was where Nicholas DENSLOW's son, Henry DENSLOW. (the Benson line) lived and died -- killed by Indians. One other relationship that is not reflected on the map is George HULL, (the Marston line) a widower, took as his second wife, Sarah PHIPPEN, widow of Samuel PHIPPEN (the Benson line). To top it all off, since Edward and Margaret GRISWOLD are ancestors of both MARSTON and TAYLOR, the children of the BENSON-MARSTON marriage and the TAYLOR children are 10th cousins. Perhaps it should be noted that I grew up in Nebraska, Christie grew up in North Dakota, and Arlene grew up in Oklahoma. We weren't all from the same neighborhood, but our ancestors certainly were! 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 28,300 RootsWeb-hosted genealogy Mailing Lists and for easy subscribing (joining) options go to: http://lists.rootsweb.com/ NEW REGIONAL MAILING LISTS ENG-LAN-SOUTHPORT -- Southport, Lancashire, England NEW ETHNIC AND SPECIAL INTEREST MAILING LISTS EPISCOPALIAN -- Exchange information regarding Episcopalian ancestors NEW SURNAME MAILING LISTS ARBEAU BAUCHER CHINNICI, COUTURIER, CUTSHAW HAAK JANDRON KANITZ, KELMAN, KRISE LAPRISE, LHAMON, LONGTIN MACREA, MADORE, MCGARRIGLE, MICHEAU, MODRELL OEN PAPILLON, PINETTE, PROVENCE RACINE, RAFFORD SANSOUCY, SHAFTO, SOULES, STONEHOUSE, SUPRENANT, SUPRISE, SURPRISE TEBO, THIBEAULT, THREEHOUSE VOISINE 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 Broken Arrow (Oklahoma) Genealogical Society website is at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~okbags/ U.S.A. gafrank2 -- Franklin County (Georgia) gaglynn3 -- Glynn County (Georgia) gajohns2 -- Johnson County (Georgia) galiber3 -- Liberty County (Georgia) gaputna2 -- Putnam County (Georgia) gatattn2 -- Tattnall County (Georgia) ohfayet2 -- Fayette County (Georgia) ohhgsgc -- Hungarian Genealogical Society of Greater Cleveland (Ohio) okbags -- Broken Arrow (Oklahoma) Genealogical Society txcsacem -- Sons of Confederate (Texas) Cemeteries 5. New/Updated Freepages and Homepages -------------------------------------- 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 Note: Comments and questions about any of these independently authored webpages should be directed to their respective compilers/webmasters. EILAND. Documented EILAND genealogy; encouraging researchers to look more closely at the facts. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~ldwom/Eiland.htm VERMONT Rutland County. Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1881-82. http://www.rootsweb.com/~vermont/BUSINESSDIRECTORIES08.html Washington County. Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1883-84. http://www.rootsweb.com/~vermont/BUSINESSDIRECTORIES7.html Lists of students from miscellaneous schools of Albany, Craftsbury and Barre, 1854-1900. Select Miscellaneous/Student List. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~nekg3/nekg.htm 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. CALIFORNIA. Monterey County. 1910 Census, Enumeration District 14, Monterey Township; 1,438 records; M. Hellam. http://userdb.rootsweb.com/census/index/ FLORIDA. St. Johns County. St. Augustine, Evergreen Cemetery, 10,086 records; St. Augustine Genealogical Society. http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ 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]. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Confessions of a Name Collector By Sharyn Hay This is in response to "Hijacking Family Trees," by Joyce Maxwell. One element not taken into consideration by her is that family historians approach genealogy from different perspectives. I am a member of the Guild of One Name Studies (No. 4251) doing a surname project on all people of the MCGLINCHEY surname at any time and any place. Part of the responsibility I accepted when I joined the guild is to disseminate information on people of this surname to anyone who requests it. I am encouraged by the guild to establish a Website, newsletter, and/or family association for the surname. In order to accomplish this, I gather every single instance of the surname wherever it is found, including modern telephone books and membership lists, and attempt to connect family lines through all resources available. When I get a tentative tree put together, I post a message on the message boards or mailing lists (several different providers) asking for corroborating source materials. I also post bits of information from unusual locations or sources as I come across them. That includes current obituaries -- online and newspaper publications. As my database increases, I will be posting as many sourced trees as possible to RootsWeb's WorldConnect, though I will not be related to most of them. Does this make me a "name collector"? Perhaps in some eyes it might. However, those of us who do one-name studies or one-place studies are doing genealogy just as surely as those who confine their efforts to their own families. However, in agreement to what others have written, we have a responsibility to be accurate, to source our information, and to handle sensitive material with compassion while maintaining genealogical integrity. * * * Mistakes Happen By Nancy Keith Recently I noticed a new function at WorldConnect http://wc.rootsweb.com/ where you can search using a list of multiple surnames. I thought wow that would narrow the list. It narrowed the list but I found I could be related to Living, Living, Living, but maybe not Living. I could not even get in the ballpark of Living from the 1800s because Living might be living. My point? If you don't put in some dates (especially the ones you may not know for sure) in your trees, the person can still be listed as "Living" Can't Living not even have a first name without being a total embarrassment or aggravation? I have an aunt who won't tell a cousin why his father died in a car wreck. I respect her reasoning for not telling him and have not told him either, but things happen. If you change history, you lie, you don't change it . . . I'm sure there were a few or more babies conceived and born out of wedlock in my history. There might have been an ax murderer or a drunk who married a liquor store owner there also, but I think my life is pretty good despite the skeletons and I might not be here if some of those mistakes hadn't have happened. [Editor's Note: WorldConnect users can check to see if they have set their living options incorrectly and fix some problems by using the Advanced Setup/Edit form, paying close attention to items 23, 24, 25, and 27 under Upload Options. http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/FAQ/wcsubmit4a.html ] * * * Dealing with a Dilemma By Kate Hastings I have read with interest of the conundrums of including less-than- conventional family information in your family histories. Many African- American researchers have no doubt encountered my current dilemma: What do I do when I realize that members of the family have been passing for white for 50 years (one branch of the family) or almost 100 years (another branch)? Do I leave these "white" family members out of my database? I can't ask them for many reasons. What have others done? * * * Shaking Others' Trees By Betty Kittle In regard to John Grant's "Kinship Not Required," I certainly hope there are others who agree with his parting line, "Everyone is welcome to my ancestry. In fact, take them, please!" Through genealogy message boards, I came in contact with a man whose family had stored (for 40 years) photographs belonging to my deceased distant second cousin four times removed (2C4R) (who died years before I was even born). Harriet G. had no descendants, so the man was searching for someone to take possession, care, and cherish these photographs. Through a short but thorough process, he settled on me. Within a month, he shipped me more than 22 pounds of photographs. Try to imagine! Only a fourth of the photographs were of Harriet's father's family, which was my link. All others were of her mother's family, to whom I am in no way blood related. The majority of these photographs date between 1860 to 1910, including Civil War photos. It's my mission (and genealogy dream) to try to locate the direct descendants of each subject in every photograph, and unite the pictures with them. This means delving and digging into families unrelated to me (gasp!) and I'm sorry that I can't provide documentation of a relationship, but I, and others, just might have good reason for shaking your family tree! * * * Guilty as Charged By Jennifer D. Shelley of South Carolina This is in response to the many researchers who write about the "theft" of their research by other historians. I must be one of the worst genealogy criminals ever -- I am a NAME COLLECTOR. After reading many scathing articles about the horrible people who "rob" information from the "real" historian who actually compiled it and then generously posted it to the Internet, I felt compelled to admit my crimes. To date I have "collected" close to 3,000 names and entered them all to my genealogy program's file. When I became interested in my family history a few years ago and started asking questions, I got caught by the genealogy bug, just like most of the people who read this newsletter did. The more I found out, the more I wanted to know. I bought the genealogy software. I searched the Internet. You can only imagine my excitement at finding whole lists of names that were probably in my family. I saved huge amounts of information from many hundreds of Web pages, some of it a certain link to my family and some of it that could be, so that I could go back to it as I found out more. I saved it in e-mails. I saved it in Word documents. I saved it on "posty notes" and scribbles on napkins. I spent hours, days and weeks collecting this info. Being brand-new to the game, I had no idea what I was getting myself into, and it was months before I realized the need to save the links from pages where I had found information so that I could accurately give credit to the person who posted the information. I even made the heinous mistake of posting my family tree online for other people to find -- errors and all. Never mind that I posted it at the prompting of my genealogy software that said "Congratulations! You now have x number of people in your file. Would you like to post your tree to the Internet?" As time passed, I realized the error of my ways and made changes to my research methods to prevent future crimes. At least I think I did. I have certainly tried. It was never my intention to steal information from other historians. I didn't even know that if it was posted to the Internet it could still be considered as personal property. All I knew was that I was interested in preserving information about the history of my family so it could be passed on to future generations. Those of you who have done this for years and years have my sincere apologies. I must also say, however, that you must have been beginners yourselves at some point and probably made these same mistakes. If you are one of those who are offended when an amateur name collector doesn't put your name as their information source, I'd like to make a suggestion: On each page that you post, please post your "Source Inclusion Requirements" in large bold text so that even the worst amateur can't miss it. Posting that information on every page will certainly help to educate us newbies before we make a mistake. Also, I ask that you keep in mind the limits some of us face when doing our research. There are those of us who do not have the resources to be able to purchase documents for proof of our information or to travel to distant locations to dig through local records. In fact, for some of us, the Internet is the only way we have to locate our family history. We are grateful to those of you who do have the resources to dig up the information and who take the time to post it for us to find. You call us name collectors, thieves, and incompetents. All I can say is maybe so, but when I am gone, my children will be able to look at the history I have compiled and know where and from whom they came from. I think that's what most of us are doing here anyway. If that makes me wrong, well then so be it. But I hope if someone finds my information posted to the Web someday they will feel free to make use of it for themselves. I even hope they contact me to see if I have found any more information. Even though amateur that I am, I am always happy to share. * * * Get Over It! By Lisa Hoffius If you don't want your grandmother's information out there, then don't post it. You can choose the number of generations to include in your tree, so start it with your 2nd-great-grandmother/father instead. Anyone who is serious about his or her family history knows that you include a source to back up your tree. I use RootsWeb, the IGI (International Genealogical Index), message boards etc. regularly in my quests. If I find something I want to check out the very first thing I do is look for a source or documentation. If you are concerned that your tree could be aligned with another that may or may not be accurate, at least you know that "your" information in the questionable tree is proven -- by including your sources. In conclusion, I say "Get Over It." You are putting the stuff out there on the World Wide Web, do you really think that it's going to stay bundled up in its nice little package without eventually ending up being used by someone else? Do you believe everything you read in the newspapers or see on television? No, you check it out for accuracy. I think most people use common sense when researching and look for verification of facts, it's up to you to be sure yours is out there. * * * Exploring Antique Shops for Pictures By Janet Fraid Is there any value to going to antique and second-hand shops in the area where the ancestors once lived or is that just a futile thought? I remember an historian in the Chicago area who went to antique shops and purchased pictures that were taken by Chicago photographers and researched the pictures and tried to find descendants. Any thoughts on this? 8. Humor/Humour: Difficult Texans ---------------------------------- Thanks to: Kay Black Panola County, Texas, 1850 Census: "I certify there to be 64 pages and a piece of per inhabitance and done as near in accordance with my oath as I could do it the people was hard to get a long with." --Sgd. H. Swaringn A. M. * * * Found a humorous entry in census, parish, church, etc. records? Send to: Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com 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: 28 July 2004, Vol. 7, No. 30. * * * *