RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Weekly E-zine 23 February 2005, Vol. 8, No. 8, Circulation: 811,065+ (c) 1998-2005 RootsWeb.com, Inc. http://www.rootsweb.com/ * * * Editor: Myra Vanderpool Gormley, Certified Genealogist Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com Certification: http://www.bcgcertification.org/certification/ * * * Keep informed about the latest news, new databases, webpages and mailing lists at RootsWeb. Subscribe to the free weekly RootsWeb Review. http://newsletters.rootsweb.com/ Search/download past issues of the RootsWeb Review: http://e-zine.rootsweb.com/ * * * Is your e-mail address up-to-date at all RootsWeb sources? http://passwordcentral.rootsweb.com/ * * * 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/ RootsWeb HelpDesk: http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/ =============================================================== IN THIS ISSUE: 1. NEWS AND NOTES 1a. Editor's Desk: "Halting the Proliferation of Junk E-mail" 1b. Using RootsWeb: "Searching for Native American Ancestors" 1c. Tips from Readers: "Assume Nothing: Turn Over Every Stone" 2. Connecting Through RootsWeb: "Tracking Down Family Photo Album" 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: "Swept Under the Rug" "Burial in Two Places--Another Method" "Peeling Back Husks to Find a Kernel of Truth" "Lassoing the Family's Horse Thief" 8. Humor/Humour: "Mired Together" 9. Subscriptions, Submissions, Advertising, Reprints =============================================================== IN THIS ISSUE: 1. NEWS AND NOTES 1a. Editor's Desk: Halting the Proliferation of Junk E-mail RootsWeb's mailing lists exist for and focus primarily on genealogical and historical matters and reach an international audience. They should not be used to send and/or forward chain e-mail letters or those promoting personal political ponderings, patriotic or other propaganda, religious beliefs, spam, scams, off-topic jokes, pranks, and junk e-mail rumors and misinformation. While a mailing list might focus on a particular locality or families from a certain region, keep in mind that not everyone on that list is from the same country as yourself. Internet and mailing list newbies sometimes mistakenly think any and all e-mails they receive are of interest to everyone on their RootsWeb mailing lists. You can gently educate them (and yourself) about such matters by going to BreakTheChain.org to learn about how to a stop the proliferation of junk e-mail and misinformation. http://www.breakthechain.org/ * * * 1b. USING ROOTSWEB: Searching for Native American Ancestors George HENRY was a bit surprised at a recent family gathering when Uncle Hugh HENRY started entertaining everyone with his "when I was a lad" stories. He talked about his memories of his great-grandmother Matilda (WHITEHORN) HENRY -- telling them that her father was a full-blood Cherokee from North Carolina. Most of the family had fair complexion, reddish-blond hair and blue eyes and George had never heard about any Native American ancestors before. Uncle Hugh went on to say that Matilda had a large collection of Native American artifacts, which he assumed she had inherited from her father. Hugh had no idea what had become of these supposed heirlooms over the intervening generations. He thought, perhaps, they had been destroyed in a fire at his grandparents' home in 1943, an event he remembered from his childhood. Uncle Hugh even had photographs of great-grandmother Matilda and he pointed out that she had a dark complexion and high cheekbones, which Hugh swore resulted from her Native American heritage on her dad's side. George was still a bit skeptical; he'd always thought all of his ancestors were originally from England many generations ago. Plus, the faded black and white photos were not in very good condition and George really had to squint while looking at them to imagine that they gave any clue as to Matilda's ethnic background other than that she was a rather tall woman -- plain, but attractive, with long straight dark hair. George searched the Internet for sites where he could learn to trace the facts of his family history and found himself on the RootsWeb homepage http://www.rootsweb.com/ He clicked on the link to RootsWeb's Guide to Tracing Family Trees to attempt to learn more. He found a link for information about Native American research: http://www.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/lesson25.htm George clicked again on the Native American link and found information that only served to heighten his doubts about his uncle's tale. He learned that many American families had stories about possible Native American heritage and that Cherokee was the most often claimed tribe in these traditions. Obviously, he'd have to find proof by documenting each successive generation tracing back from himself until he learned whether he could back up the stories with facts. Where could he ask the questions for which he'd need answers in order to do just that? He learned that RootsWeb has several mailing lists for researching Cherokee ancestry. They include: --A list for discussion of Cherokee History and Culture. http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/other/Ethnic-Native/CHEROKEE.html --One for discussion of Cherokee surnames. http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/other/Ethnic-Native/CHEROKEE-SURNAMES.html --A list for discussion of Cherokee genealogy. http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/other/Ethnic-Native/CherokeeGene.html Additionally, a list, FIVECIVILTRIB-L, pertains to research of the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, and Creek -- known as the five civilized tribes. http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/other/Ethnic-Native/FIVECIVILTRIB.html Plus there were some other lists under the classification of Ethnic- Native in which George thought he might be interested: http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/other/Ethnic-Native/ Next, George turned his attention to the RootsWeb/Ancestry message boards: http://boards.rootsweb.com/ and then clicked on topics and Native American to arrive at: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=topics.ethnic.natam Navigating through the board hierarchy he found the Cherokee boards under "Nations": http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=topics.ethnic.natam.nations.cherokee He even found a specific board for Cherokee in North Carolina. Other resources at RootsWeb that George investigated are WorldConnect family trees http://wc.rootsweb.com and the Native American User- Contributed Databases http://userdb.rootsweb.com/nativeamerican/ George learned he could specify Cherokee records in his search of the User Databases. At WorldConnect, he could do a keyword search on the keywords Native American, American Indian, and even just Indian to find databases where these keywords are included in the database name, title, heading, footing, or homepage title. However, George still wasn't sure whether WHITEHORN was the old English name he'd always assumed it was or the Native American Cherokee name his Uncle Harry insisted was the case, but he thought to himself with a bit of help from the resources at RootsWeb and elsewhere on the Internet, he was going to find the answer once and for all. * * * NATIVE AMERICAN GENEALOGY RESOURCES. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) website contains an informative article by Kent Carter, director of National Archives-Fort Worth Branch, entitled "Wantabes and Outalucks: Searching for Indian Ancestors in Federal Records." It describes federal records pertaining to Native Americans and their value for genealogy. http://www.archives.gov/research_room/genealogy/research_topics/native_american_research.html There is a wealth of information covering many tribes at the Oklahoma Territory/Indian Territory USGenWeb Project site. http://www.rootsweb.com/~itgenweb/ * * * FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES. If your ancestors settled in Oklahoma and you suspect Native American heritage, you can search the 285,307 records pertaining to Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, Seminoles, and Delawares in RootsWeb's Native American Database. While RootsWeb does not have the actual records or any additional information about them, a link is provided on the search results pages to the National Archives where you might learn more about those listed in the Dawes Commission (census) enrollment cards of the Five Civilized Tribes. For additional information, see: Native American Database: http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/review/20030205.txt * * * 1c. Tips from Readers: Assume Nothing: Turn Over Every Stone By Pat Killian I was at the Shelby County, Alabama History Center, which houses marriage records up to 1900s and court and estate files. I was looking for anything on Samuel or Christopher C. COMER. There were many small court cases, but they didn't lead me to names of other descendants or to any other information. As the closing time was getting close, I went ahead and looked at a file on a brother of Christopher, which was named "estate of Richard H. COMER." I knew this file existed but it wasn't a high priority that day, because I figured it was his personal family and my goal was my family of Christopher and Samuel. However, as I looked at this file, it was actually what I needed. Richard had filed a claim on behalf of the family for the mother's estate for more than 200 acres of land. This file named all the living children and the children and their guardians of the deceased siblings. It just had not seem logical (to me) that the file would be under a child's name and not filed under the name of the estate of Martha COMER, the mother. 2. Connecting Through RootsWeb. Thanks for sharing your stories. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Tracking Down Family Photo Album By Debbie Camejo, Southbury, Connecticut I routinely check the web forums under specific surnames that I am currently researching for new postings. In late October, 2004, I checked the FENDERSON surname -- a branch of the family that I have been working on for the past year. A new posting had been added on 10 October 10. It stated that a woman had bought an old photo album of the FENDERSON family. There were many cabinet cards of this family in the album and all the pictures were labeled with names. I promptly contacted the woman who had posted this message on the Internet only to discover that she had already sold the photo album to a nonrelative of the FENDERSON family in Tennessee. The woman in Tennessee is interested in genealogy and loves to collect old memorabilia and family bibles. The first woman, who lives in New Hampshire, gave me the e-mail address of the woman in Tennessee. After e-mailing her my genealogy work on the FENDERSON family, she agreed to sell me the FENDERSON photo album. It arrived at my winter home in Connecticut the week before Christmas -- wrapped in Christmas paper! The FENDERSON photo album was truly a treasure with the excellent quality of the photos and the names written of the family members. I already had most of the family members that were pictured in the FENDERSON photo album in my FENDERSON family tree. But then I began to wonder how this valuable family treasure could end up in the hands of unrelated people in the first place. E-mails back and forth to New Hampshire to the first person who had purchased the album revealed that it was actually sold at auction in Ossippee, New Hampshire in early October 2004. The album came from an estate of a woman who died in 2002 in Sanford, Maine. I was able to locate her obituary at Seacoast Online. By viewing her survivors, I was able to determine her surviving sibling's name. Further research revealed that the surviving sister had also died in 2004. Her obituary did not disclose any further immediate contacts other than one surviving brother. A quick search of the Social Security Death Index at RootsWeb http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/ revealed the name of a deceased wife of the only surviving brother who had died in September 2004. This obituary, also obtained online, named three surviving daughters. A quick search on the Internet provided a phone number of a niece of the deceased woman. The niece was able to provide some background family information and the most likely scenario for the FENDERSON family photo album going to auction. She also provided me with a name of a living FENDERSON descendant who had lived in the household of the deceased woman. I have made telephone contact with this Mr. FENDERSON regarding the photo album that had pictures of himself as a one- and two-year-old child sitting with his parents. He was also able to identify the relationships of the others pictured in the FENDERSON photo album for me. We plan to meet in person soon -- as I have a summer home in Maine, which is just 17 miles from his home The FENDERSON Family photo album will be returning to Maine and completing a full circle. * * * Do you have an online or other "connecting" story to share? Send to: Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com ======================== Advertisements ============================ British Ancestors SAN JOSE Area Seminar Saturday, May 21 -- Sunnyvale, California (Overnight accommodation available) REGISTER EARLY FOR A 10% DISCOUNT Ancestors from England, Scotland, Wales or Ireland? Live in the SAN JOSE area or able to get there? Attend an entire day of classes on British research topics. Develop your British research skills and increase your chances of overcoming those brick walls. Visit the ANCESTOR SEEKERS web site at http://www.ancestorseekers.com/semsj/rwr/ ====================== End Advertisements ============================== 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 28,900 RootsWeb-hosted genealogy Mailing Lists and for easy subscribing (joining) options go to: http://lists.rootsweb.com/ No new mailing lists were created this week. 4. New Webpages at RootsWeb To Request a Free Web Account: http://accounts.rootsweb.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------- No new accounts for webpages were created this week. 5. New/Updated Freepages and Homepages -------------------------------------- Has your website ever been mentioned here or do you have a new, updated, or substantially revised website located at RootsWeb (it will have "freepages" or "homepages" in the URL)? 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 HARTSAW Family of West Virginia: The Descendants of George HARTSAW and Sidney WILMOTH. A genealogy and family research website detailing the HARTSAW family of Barbour County and Randolph County, West Virginia with some information included on the CANFIELD and PHILLIPS surnames of Barbour County. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~hartsawgenealogy/ SAVILLE. Includes a short essay on John Alexander SAVILLE (b. ca. 1837-39), his roots, and his descendants in India. Other surnames mentioned are FALLON and TODD. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~saville/ 6. New User-Contributed Databases at RootsWeb http://userdb.rootsweb.com/submit/ ---------------------------------------------- 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. FLORIDA. Dade County. Miami. North Miami Senior High School, Class of 1960; 1,133 records; Mary B. Wilson http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ IOWA. Adair County. Marriages, 1854-1914 (partial listing); 2,092 records; Norma L. Neilson http://userdb.rootsweb.com/marriages/ ILLINOIS. DuPage County. Gretna. St. Stephen's Cemetery, Caretaker's Transcription; 119 records; Courtland Yockey http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ Weiser Transcription; 126 records; Courtland Yockey, F. L. Weiser, J. Moore, D. A. Sender, and R. Leroy http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ MAINE. Cumberland County. Gorham. Death records from town reports, 1893-1944; 3,475 records; Brenda Caldwell http://userdb.rootsweb.com/deaths/ MISSISSIPPI. Amite County. Archibald Buchanon Steele Store ledger, 1832-1840; 799 records; Mildred Venitucci, Barbara Sherlock http://userdb.rootsweb.com/bookindexes/ NEBRASKA. Greeley County. O'Connor Catholic Cemetery; 614 records; Kathy Sweeney http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ NORTH CAROLINA. Camden County. Wesley Methodist Church, (partial); 9 records; Mary B. Wilson http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ * * * SHARING OPPORTUNITY. Does your alma mater, old military unit, church, parish, province, county or state 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 genealogy) 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 such material. http://userdb.rootsweb.com/submit/ 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]. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Swept Under the Rug By Lorry in Rhode Island, USA My grandfather had two brothers listed in the 1881 Canadian census. One of them had a name that I had never heard mentioned by the family. Since my grandparents are no longer with us I questioned all my cousins and sibling. No one had ever heard that name either. One cousin who had lived in the same house as my grandparents assured me that our grandfather had only one brother. Since I belonged to the American French Genealogy Society here in Rhode Island where I live, I diligently searched through their records. There I found his birth record in a Drouin microfilm along with his signature on several documents where he was a witness. This made me more and more determined to prove that he did indeed exist. Many years went by in which I found nothing. One day I replied to a genealogy research site posting. This researcher was from Minnesota and in the course of our communications I happened to mention my brickwall -- my grandfather's brother. A short time later she e-mailed me with some information that she had found the name in a New Hampshire census and it turned out that he was indeed the one I was looking for. He had been married there in 1901. This information, however, did not answer my question -- why was his name never mentioned? Some time later, serendipity came into play again. I happened to e- mail a fellow researcher with the same surname as my grandfather on another matter. I mentioned how hard it had been to find my grandfather's brother. I also told him I couldn't figure out why no one had ever heard his name. Unknown to me this researcher lived in New Hampshire and he offered to do some digging for me. Indeed he did. A short time later he sent me a copy of the death record for my grandfather's brother. It read, "Cause of Death, Suicide by Hanging." After 11 years of searching I now had the answer. * * * Burial in Two Places--Another Method By John in Colorado, USA Burying part of the cremated ashes in two different places is not the only way an apparent double burial can occur. My great-great-grandmother appears to be buried in two different cemeteries in southwestern Wisconsin, less than 20 miles apart. Anne died in 1864 not long after the birth of my great-grandmother's younger sister. She was buried in the cemetery of the only Norwegian Lutheran church anywhere in the area. Subsequently Ole married Anne's sister, Randi (a beautiful story beyond the scope of these comments.) They both lived long lives, during which they were involved in organizing another Norwegian Lutheran church considerably closer to their farm. Following Ole's death, he was buried in the cemetery of the new church. Randi was later buried there also. Their cemetery marker is wider than usual as it has Ole listed in the middle, Randi on one side of him and Anne on the other. I was told that Anne's body was not moved. However, the family wanted her memorialized with her husband and her sister. Both of her markers are well-maintained by the descendents. This large family was so lovingly blended that descendents know which sister they are descended from but consider both sisters as "their" ancestors. * * * Peeling Back Husks to Find a Kernel of Truth By Regina Peck Andrus My father's family was so sure that they descended from Corine HARRISON, sister of U.S. President William H. HARRISON, that my aunt even included that information on her 1944 wedding announcement. Corine HARRISON was the purported wife of great-great-grandfather James PECK of Mason County, Virginia (later West Virginia). This information came from the obituary of James' son, Robert Mortimer PECK, who died in 1897. I was able to find James (born circa 1803) and his wife Catherine (born circa 1802) and their children on the 1850 Mason County, Virginia census -- all born in Virginia (there was no West Virginia in 1850). There was no marriage for James in the county records or in surrounding counties. I checked the known family of President HARRISON but he had no sister named anything like Corine. Nor did the other U.S. HARRISON president -- Benjamin. Besides that, the dates were off. Figuring that the legend was pure hooey, I looked through every HARRISON family in Mason County and its surrounding counties for a Corine, but came up with nothing. Many of those HARRISONs had originally come from Rockingham County, and were often interrelated. My father and I looked for her on and off for about 20 years. Finally my father and mother took a research trip to Mason County. They met with a few distant relatives and had great success on some of our lines, but not on Corine HARRISON. After stopping for some lunch, Dad was using the pay phone in the lobby trying to contact some local researchers that they had been told about that morning. While a local man was paying for his lunch, he overheard my father's conversation on the phone. After Dad hung up, he came up and quizzed him on his business and then told him who he really needed to contact -- Ellen CALVERT -- a local member of the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) and a great researcher. Dad immediately called Mrs. CALVERT and she graciously let them come right over. He told her that he was looking mainly at the PECK line in the area. She looked at his paper work and informed him that James PECK was not married to Corine HARRISON but to Catherine DASHNER. DASHNER was one of her main research lines. To prove her statement, she produced a copy of their Mason County marriage certificate. Dad was amazed, because he had checked the county marriage records several times and had never seen it. Mrs. Calvert said it wasn't in the courthouse. There had been a courthouse fire years ago and the record books had all been thrown out the window, left to burn on the lawn while they tried to save the building. An old DAR member lived next to the courthouse and she grabbed her nephew and went out with brooms to beat out the flames. Then she and the boy hauled all the records into her basement for safe keeping. She refused to give them back to the courthouse, saying they didn't know how to take care of them. She donated them to the library at West Virginia University in Morgantown. The records are still there today. By pure chance a number of years before, the nephew, then an old man, had overheard Mrs. CALVERT placing an ad in the local paper for information on county records and he told her the story and where to find the records, and she told Dad. In researching the DASHNER family, it turns out that Catherine DASHNER's parents were Michael DASHNER and Susanna HARRISON of Rockingham County, Virginia who later moved to Mason County, where their daughter met and married James PECK in 1827. Susanna's grandfather, Thomas HARRISON founded Harrisonburg, Rockingham County, Virginia. Thomas Harrison's sister, Abigail, was the great- grandmother of U.S. President Abraham LINCOLN. Catherine DASHNER (originally thought to be Corine HARRISON) and Abraham LINCOLN were third cousins. (These families intermarried more than once.) So during Catherine DASHNER's lifetime, her third cousin was the sitting U.S. president, a fact Catherine must have been aware of and proud of, as she told it to at least three of her five children, as a very similar story also came through another one of her children's lines. No doubt Catherine told her children that she was related to the president, meaning LINCOLN, through her mother's HARRISON family. Over time the story twisted into Catherine being a HARRISON sister to the president, therefore it must be a HARRISON president. But it took over 20 years, and many chance meetings, to uncover the kernel of truth buried in the twistings. * * * Lassoing the Family's Horse Thief By Karyl Hubbard In my years of family research I've both proved and disproved a number of family legends. But the one I wish I could share with my dad is the moment I found the family horse thief. Dad always claimed we were descended from a man who had left Ireland in a bit of a hurry in the early 19th century -- one step ahead of the posse chasing him for stealing a horse. That story was debunked early in my research. His Uncle Willard had fallen for one of the genealogical scams of the 1920s and had what was a largely bogus "tree" done. After my father died and I retired and managed to spend more time on my research I ran into the BALDWIN tribe of Tioga and Chemung counties, New York. The BALDWIN boys come across as slightly larger than life, with many heroic exploits involving Indians, early settlement and the American Revolutionary War. I was happily adding all sorts of information to the tree when I came across a tidbit from "Summer Soldiers: A Survey and Index of Revolutionary War Courts-Martial," by James Neagles (1986, Ancestry) listing: "BALDWIN: Thomas, Sgt. Captain SPALDING's Independent Company. Stealing a horse in the woods. Reduced to private and pay for horse. (see Swift). SWIFT, John. Captain SPALDING'S Independent Company. Aiding and abetting and clandestinely conveying away a mare found in the woods to defraud the owner of the property: fifty lashes and pay for the mare. (See Baldwin)" I'd found Dad's horse thief! He would have been tickled -- Thomas was his 3rd-great-grandfather. 8. Humor/Humour: Mired Together ------------------------------- Thanks to: Jeni Palmer I thought that these two people should be well matched, looking at where they come from. LYONS - EDWARDS On Monday 7 June 1858 at the Baptist Chapel, Mr. Hiram Lyons of Muddy Creek [married] to Miss Isabella Edwards of Cabbage Tree Swamp. --NZ'er 9 Jun 1858. * * * Found a humorous sign or entry in census, parish, church, etc. records? Send to: Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com 9. Subscriptions, Submissions, Advertising, Reprints ----------------------------------------------------- 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 * * * 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 * * * ROOTSWEB REVIEW ADVERTISING CONTACTS. AdSales Worldwide: Shana Davis, creative@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: 23 February 2005, Vol. 8, No. 8. * * * *