RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Weekly E-zine 13 October 2004, Vol. 7, No. 41, Circulation: 827,414+ (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/ Search and share family trees: WorldConnect: http://wc.rootsweb.com/ Learn how to find your ancestors: http://rwguide.rootsweb.com/ Post and read messages on all relevant surname, locality, and topic Message Boards and Mailing Lists: Message Boards: http://boards.rootsweb.com/ Mailing Lists: http://lists.rootsweb.com/ =============================================================== IN THIS ISSUE: 1. NEWS AND NOTES 1a. Editor's Desk: News, Notes and Sites Worth Seeing 1b. Tips from Readers: "Don't Trust an Index" 1c. "Planting a Sterling Tree Online" 2. Connecting Through RootsWeb: "Miracles on Message Boards" "Finding Uncle John" 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: "Genealogy for Recognition?" "Unable to Give Credit" "Doing the Happy Genealogy Dance" "Finders Keepers? Not in Genealogy" "Sharing the Right Way" "Lack of Manners Can Be Costly" 8. Humor/Humour: "Just the Facts, Ma'am" 9. Submissions, Subscriptions, Advertising, Reprints =============================================================== 1. NEWS AND NOTES 1a. EDITOR'S DESK. News, Notes and Sites Worth Seeing TELLING STORIES. Everyone has a story around their family's history -- we'd love to hear yours. If your story is selected to use in our company's television advertising campaign, you may receive a free one- year subscription to Ancestry.com. We are anxious to hear more about why you've started doing family history research, what you hope to find, and what exciting discoveries and people you've already encountered. Please take a few minutes and tell us in detail about your experiences. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=34434662384 * * * WASHINGTON STATE ARCHIVES. Known as the Washington State Digital Archives, the government project is online at: http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/ Visitors to the site can see returns from the first election in Washington Territory in 1854 and census records from 1847 to 1892. Also available are some historical prison records and a list of the bodies moved from McNeil Island and buried in other cemeteries in 1937 and 1938. The only modern data on the site currently are recent marriage records from Chelan, Snohomish and Spokane counties. Other county records, including property information, will be added later, according to officials. The archives' digital storage system, which could eventually grow to 800 terabytes -- the equivalent of 200 billion pages of text -- was developed by Microsoft and EDS (Electronic Data Systems). * * * RESTRICTING OUR ACCESS TO RECORDS. The U.S. House of Representatives is considering a bill, House Resolution 10 (H.R. 10), which seeks to restrict access to birth certificates. David Rencher, chairman of the Record Access and Preservation Committee, a joint committee of the National Genealogical Society and Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS), has sent a letter to the bill's sponsor, Congressman J. Dennis Hastert, recommending an amendment to the bill that make a distinction between certified and non-certified copies and excludes records more than 100 years old. A copy of the letter is available on the FGS site at: http://www.fgs.org/rpa/formalactions.htm. To view this bill, go to http://thomas.loc.gov/ Enter HR10 in the search box for "Bill Number." Concerned U.S. family historians who wish to contact their congressional representative can go to: http://www.house.gov/ and enter their zip code. Follow the link to the representative's website to obtain his/her contact information ON PRIVACY, SECURITY (AND NOW, TERRORISM). Read what Gary Mokotoff, editor of Nu? What's New, has to say on this subject in latest edition (Volume 5, No. 18, 10 October) of the e-zine of Jewish Genealogy. http://www.avotaynu.com/nu.htm * * * 1b. TIPS FROM READERS Don't Trust an Index By Theresa Wheeler Snell I was unable to find the marriage record of my 2-great-grandmother Mary Elma KASINGER to Albert Ward ALLISON. I knew the approximate date, but could not find it at the Pike County Courthouse in Illinois. I kept looking, but it was not there. After staring at the names and thumbing through the register, I finally decided to look under Ward (Albert's middle name). Sure enough, it was listed in the index as Albert WARD and Mary Elma KASINGER. When I got the actual marriage record, the names were correct -- it was just transcribed wrong in the index. * * * Have you solved a pesky research problem? Share it with the RootsWeb Review readers. Send to: Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com * * * 1c. Planting a Sterling Tree Online When we left Susan STERLING last week she had just dotted the last "i" and crossed the final "t" in recording all the family history records that she'd gathered on her STERLING, HORNBLOWER, GEIST, DEMENT and allied lines. She was proud of herself for the discoveries made using public records and the additional data contributed by her older family members. The source for each event was properly recorded and determinations and conclusions she made were duly typed into her notes. Susan's coup de grâce during her search was the discovery of a long- hidden family skeleton. More than hundred years ago her great-great- grandmother, Lucretia SHADEWELL, gave birth to a son, Jeremiah -- two years before her marriage to Reginald HORNBLOWER. Jeremiah's father was a man named Nigel RAKESTRAW to whom Lucretia had not been married, according to a recently unearthed church baptismal register. However, not long after Jeremiah's birth, Nigel ran off with Lucretia's sister, Portia SHADEWELL, to start a new life in Australia -- taking baby Jeremiah along. Susan is ecstatic about proving a story that long had been whispered in hushed tones among older family members. She can't wait to see if posting her tree will lead to finding some cousins in Australia who might have additional chapters to add to the story. Susan searches for the best place to post her family tree online. She wants a place where it will gain maximum exposure so that others researching the various branches can find her and share information. She also wants to be sure her tree will be readily accessible and freely available to other genealogists. On the other hand, she doesn't want to allow just anyone to download her entire family tree. Her preference is that others contact her first and exchange data on mutual lines. Susan decides to upload her family tree to RootsWeb's WorldConnect. Combined with Ancestry World Tree, it is the largest database of its kind on the Internet with more than 347 million names. She starts on WorldConnect's main page: http://wc.rootsweb.com/ From there she sees a link on this page to the FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions), which explain how to create a GEDCOM (GEnealogical Data COMmunication) file from her genealogy database that can then be uploaded to WorldConnect. Susan learns that WorldConnect offers a number of features and flexibility, such as: --Automatically privatizing information about living individuals with 1930 being the default cut-off date, but it can be changed to an earlier year, if desired. --That the WorldConnect living filters work best if they are not pre- cleaned before creating the GEDCOM. --Allows you to create a title for your family file and to customize headers and footers. --Lets you choose whether or not to display your notes and sources. --Offers the option to allow or not allow the downloading of your GEDCOM. --Enables contributor's e-mail contact address to be available on every page of the database but is encrypted to protect it from evil spambots (the dreaded e-mail address harvesters). Another WorldConnect feature that Susan finds advantageous is the option for her to retrieve the complete original file any time by using her usercode and password and recouping the GEDCOM from the set-up page. Plus, having her tree on WorldConnect means that she will be able to access it while doing research at the library and historical society without having to lug her old laptop along. Susan selects a usercode (which will now become a part of the web address for her database) and a password and clicks her way to the set- up page. In a short time, her GEDCOM will be accessible and snuggled into its niche on WorldConnect. She learns that it probably will take a day or so before her database is indexed by WorldConnect's global search engine so she decides to use this lag period to check out every detail of her file. She wants to be sure everything is displayed as she intends and according to all the options she selected on the set-up page. That way she can fix anything amiss before the public discovers her tree during a search. Perfect! Susan is pleased with the results. But, she isn't done yet. She has a few more tricks up her sleeve in her efforts to place her STERLING families online to make it easy for her cousins to find her. Next Week: Putting Some Shine on the Sterling 2. Connecting Through RootsWeb. Thanks for sharing your stories. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Miracles on Message Boards By Monica Lacy I had not seen my dad for 22 years. I had been doing family history as a novice for two years when I posted a query on a RootsWeb message board. I received an answer from a cousin, asking who I was. We began corresponding and turns out she knew where my dad was. She shared information via e-mail and snail mail. To make a long story short, I saw my dad again and he had the chance to meet two grand- children he never knew he had! This was an amazing thing, as I never thought I would see or hear from him again. Thanks to God and RootsWeb for making it possible. * * * Finding Uncle John By Jeanne Parkko in Buckley, Washington, USA I was reading the message boards on my mother's father's family name, DURANT when I came across a posting of a man who was answering on the name Thomas DURANT .So I sent him e-mail and told him that Thomas was my great-grandfather and Martin was my grandfather and Betty was my mother. Later that day I received an e-mail back saying, "What a coincidence; Thomas was my grandfather, Martin was my father, and Betty was my sister." It was my mother's half brother that we had never met before. Grand- father had a second family after divorcing my grandmother. Mother told us that she had half brothers and that she had met the younger brother, but she had told us that there was a Jerry and a Jimmy, but I found out that Jerry was really John We started to talk online every day and we learned that we both had the family books that were researched and compiled back in the 1960s. Then we sent pictures back and forth of my grandpa and grandma, some of them we had never seen and some he had never seen before. My three sisters and I were so exited that we found Uncle John. My sisters and I wanted to meet him so we sent him a ticket for him to fly out to our town and celebrate Thanksgiving with the whole family. The only thing was my mother wasn't here as she passed away in 1998, and we feel that she helped us from heaven to find each other. As we were waiting to meet him at the airport we wondered what he looked like, but as soon as we saw him we knew that he was mom's brother because he looked like her and sounded like her other brother. It was a great time we had visiting and getting to know him. So reading the message boards really do pay off! * * * Do you have an online "connecting" story to share? Send to: Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com 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 28,500 RootsWeb-hosted genealogy Mailing Lists and for easy subscribing (joining) options go to: http://lists.rootsweb.com/ NEW SURNAME MAILING LISTS AUCHINCLOSS BALTZEL, BARNSTABLE, BRICKETT CHEWTE, CHUTE, CZLAPINSKI COOK-KY -- COOK surname in Kentucky ENTWHISTLE HENKES LUCZYNSKI MEWHORTER NETZLEY POOLE-UK -- POOLE surname in the United Kingdom QUEEN-SCOTLAND -- QUEEN surname in Scotland SIGMON, SPELLACY, SPELLESCY, SPELLISSEY, STIPP SIDES-PETER -- The descendants of Peter Sides (Seitz), who served in the Revolutionary War from North Carolina and married Barbara Carpenter TANGHE THOMPSON-DNA -- Discussing the THOMPSON DNA surname project 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 Monroe County (Ohio) Historical Society website is at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~ohmchs/ Australia nswactfh -- NSW (New South Wales) and ACT (Australian Capital Territory) Association of Family History Societies Mexico mexjal -- Jalisco (Mexico) mexsina -- Sinaloa (Mexico) U.S.A. flgwnar -- Native American Resources for Florida GenWeb gawilkin -- Wilkinson County (Georgia) ingibson -- Gibson County (Indiana) inharri2 -- Harrison County (Indiana) maglgc -- Greater Lowell (Massachusetts) Genealogy Club txdefunc -- Defunct places (Texas) txpstcrd -- Postcards (Texas) 5. New/Updated Freepages and Homepages -------------------------------------- Do you have a new, updated, or substantially revised website located at RootsWeb (it will have "freepages" or "homepages" in the URL)? 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 BERRY, CATE, WAGGONER, BOWLING, LUNSFORD, WILSON, CAMP, BLALOCK, ELLISON, COZART, and HENDERSON. Localities include: Orange and Person counties, North Carolina; Georgia, Alabama, and Texas. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~fiddleton/ CHANCE, BENNETT. The descendants and history of John CHANCE and Eliza BENNETT family that came from England to Oxford County, Ontario, Canada. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~chancefamily/ FERMAZIN GENEALOGY. Surnames include: FERMAZIN, LINDEN, KARTHEISER, INGRAM, WORTHING, BRAUER, HAMER, POTT, PLUCKER, and WAGENER. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~nancysheritage/ NEW ZEALAND. Members of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF), 1914-1918 with a next-of-kin address in Scotland. Contains 1,663 names. Linked under New Zealand and World War One. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~sooty/ MICHIGAN. Photographs. McBain High School, 1937-1941; Byron High School, 1945-46-47-48; Imlay City High School, 1949; Dimondale High School, 1950-51-52-53, Napoleon High School, 1954-55-56-57 http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~confido/mcbain2.html MICHIGAN. Links to many free searchable databases for obits, deaths, marriages, etc. for this state. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~caillet101/Index.html Tribute to Tuscola County veterans who lost their lives in Vietnam. http://freepages.military.rootsweb.com/~caillet101/tuscolanam.html TENNESSEE. Maury County Cemetery Records. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~maury/cemetery/ VERMONT. Gazetteer and Business Directory of Chittenden County, 1882-1883. Compiled and published by Hamilton Child. http://www.rootsweb.com/~vermont/GazetteerTownshipsChittendenCounties01.html Note: Comments and questions about any of these independently authored webpages should be directed to their respective compilers/webmasters. 6. New User-Contributed Databases at RootsWeb ---------------------------------------------- The following databases have come online recently. They are searchable, but not browseable. Search: To look for specific data or occurrence of text in a file. Browse: To view the entire contents of a file or a group of files. ALABAMA. Jackson County. Davis Cemetery; 24 records; Randy Davis http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ GEORGIA. Fulton County. Atlanta. Hoke Smith Junior High School Promotion 1936; 280 records; Meredith Clapper http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ MASSACHUSETTS. Middlesex County. Cambridge. Harvard University Class of 1911; 130 records; Paula Lucy Delosh http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ MISSISSIPPI. Calhoun County. Calhoun City (near). Bradford Chapel Cemetery; 191 records; Thomas James, Beth James Henderson, and Jackie Glasz http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ NORTH CAROLINA. Wake County. Raleigh. Agricultural and Mechanical College Board of Trustees, June 1907; 13 records; Paula Lucy Delosh http://userdb.rootsweb.com/groups/ OHIO. Hamilton County. Cincinnati. Wesleyan Cemetery Burial Records (also known as Cumminsville Cemetery); 1,697 records; Sherri Hall for the Wesleyan Records Transcription Project http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ PENNSYLVANIA. Fulton County. 1930 Census; 2,784 records; Scott L. Byrd http://userdb.rootsweb.com/census/index/ Northumberland County. Watsontown. Watsontown Cemetery; (selected records for Goodlove and Hockley surnames); 14 records; Diana Knight http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ VIRGINIA. Fredericksburg. 28th Annual Reunion, Grand Camp of the Confederate Veterans of Virginia, 1915; 32 records; Paula Lucy Delosh http://userdb.rootsweb.com/military/ Franklin. Franklin Female Seminary Class of 1907; 9 records; Paula Lucy Delosh http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ Richmond. Richmond Times-Dispatch, May 1927; Winners in Nolde Bros. Invisible Color Picture Contest; 66 records; Paula Lucy Delosh http://userdb.rootsweb.com/news/ Washington County. Larmer Cemetery; 7 records; Jim Berry 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]. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Genealogy for Recognition? By Buddy Rowe I guess I don't understand what the fuss is about someone using information posted on a free site. Isn't that why you posted it -- to share? So they didn't give you "your" recognition. Is that why you're doing your research -- for the personal recognition? Yes, I agree, you should give credit where credit is due. Listing resources helps others who might have conflicting information get to the truth. I was helped by cousins with my research. They gave me information back to the 1750s. They had gotten it from some other researcher. Some listed where the got the information, most others do not. I have had information given to me by distant cousins that was word for word and they got it from a third party. I admit that I have submitted information without listing sources at times, not meaning to slight anyone. However my e-mail address is posted with my information and I have received e-mail asking about where I got my information. When this happens I always list who or where I got this information. I'm sorry for those who feel used or slighted, and perhaps in their defense someone else forwarded the information to them. Personally though, I consider that a small thing and I try not to let small things bother me. * * * Unable to Give Credit By Norma X I have read the letters about others "taking" their information and using it without giving credit. I have the opposite situation. I have found my family online under two different authors. I have tried to contact them for information, but they will not reply to my e-mail. If you ask for inquiries you should answer. I don't want to steal the information -- I want to know where it was found, and to go look at it myself as I have looked everywhere for my great-grandfather and can't find him. * * * Doing the Happy Genealogy Dance By Carolyn (Hedges) Hoyt When I read the story "Christmas Arrived Early," by Marian Presswood in the recent RootsWeb Review, it reminded me that about three years ago I was lucky to meet Cynthia online and discovered that her great- grandfather was my grandfather's brother (HEDGES). A couple of months ago I received an envelope in the mail from her and marked "pictures enclosed." Since her daughter just had twins, I assumed she sent me pictures of them. Wrong! She sent me two pictures (taken in 1912) one of her great-grandparents (Thomas HEDGES and Christina ROUSE) and one of my grandparents (Marcus HEDGES and Josey DELOACH). My grandmother died in 1925 and no one had any pictures of her. I was so excited that I called everyone! * * * Finders Keepers? Not in Genealogy --Patricia Hughey I have also read with interest the many articles by people sounding off against what they think is plagiarism. Thank you for clarifying what it really is and pointing out that most genealogical information is in the public domain. As a museum curator, I sometimes have contact with patrons doing genealogical research on a particular local family or families. Most of these amateur genealogists are very considerate and quite willing to share the knowledge they have compiled over the years. A few zealously guard their information and are suspicious of anyone who wants to look at it. On occasion people have to be reminded that they don't own Great-aunt Lucy's birthdate or their great-grandparents' marriage date and place. Finding it first doesn't mean you own it either. Those are facts that are in the public domain, hopefully accessible to anyone who has the means to find them. I understand Dan Craycraft's frustration with feeling that he has to delete any information he has not personally unearthed for fear of offending someone. I will generally hold information I find that is new to me until I can verify it myself through public records. However, those persons who really don't want to share their knowledge and family facts have an easy way to avoid anyone benefiting from their research -- just don't put it on the Internet! * * * Sharing the Right Way By Nancy Jones In the last RootsWeb Review, Dan Craycraft brought up the subject of giving credit to originators when downloading GEDCOMS into one's tree. I have had the following happen: An individual researching one of my father's lines downloaded my entire GEDCOM into her tree, including the notes. When I discovered this, I was shocked to see the notes appearing in a stranger's tree, word-for-word, with no mention of from where the stories were obtained. Stories starting with "my mother" or "my uncle" gave the impression that these were her mother and uncle. Since there was no mention made of the author of these notes, if someone should contact her and ask for more information on my family, what will she tell the inquirer as to where to obtain additional info? What really concerns me is that when I correct or add in my own tree, will this lady ever find my corrections or will she keep the outdated data? I wrote and asked her to please either delete the personal notes or mention my name as author. I also told her that I was not pleased that she included my GEDCOM in her tree. Not only did I receive no response, but her tree remains unchanged. This is sad, as she appears to be a distant relative on my father's side and we could have enjoyed sharing the right way. [Editor's Note: See "Who Owns Genealogy? Cousins and Copyright," by Gary B. Hoffman at http://www.genealogy.com/genealogy/14_cpyrt.html and specifically the section on "You, Genealogy, and Copyright," wherein he says, ". . . adding any kind of narration to these basic facts gives rise to a copyright in the creative portion of the work . . . On the other hand, if you find narrative material in a good family source, you should take care not to violate the rights of the author . . . before using more than a sentence or two, seek out the author and get permission."] * * * Lack of Manners Can Be Costly By Sylvia Akin I was glad to read the article, "Rudeness Irks Researcher," by Sue Baldwin. This subject has been on my mind recently as I have sent quite a lot of information to several "cousins" who have not bothered to reply with a "thank you." I was complaining to a friend who suggested that I only send a small amount of information. That way if the person replied with a "thank you," I could send them more. Since then, I have been practicing this method and just last week I sent off a small bit of information to another researcher. To date, I have not received a "thank you." This is their loss, because not only do I have a lot more information to share, I also have copies of Bible pages and photographs that I would have loved to share, had they been gracious enough to say "thank you." 8. Humor/Humour: "Just the Facts, Ma'am" -------------------------------------------- Thanks to: Mike Evans Our family had a family reunion last year and since two of us are genealogists we decided to try to get everyone to fill out family history sheets. After the sheets were done we went back to each person to make corrections. One of my cousins has been married three times. I asked how each marriage ended -- death or divorce? When my cousin stated her second husband died of electrocution, the policeman in me blurted out, "Legally or accidentally?" I immediately knew I had goofed big time. She let out a laugh and kept on laughing. She said it was the funniest thing she had heard in a long time. Thank goodness she had a great sense of humor. * * * 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: 13 October 2004, Vol. 7, No. 41. * * * *