RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Weekly E-zine 2 March 2005, Vol. 8, No. 9, 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, AND SITES WORTH SEEING 1a. Editor's Desk: "Zeroing in on Identify Theft" "POW Website Fills Gaps for Some WWII Family Histories" "Book Notes: Butler's Rangers, 1776-1786" 1b. Using RootsWeb: "O Canada!" 1c. Tips from Readers: "Making Time to Preserve the Past" 2. Connecting Through RootsWeb: "Hoping for the Best" 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: "A German Treasure Stashed in Old Barn" "How Small Was It?" "Compiling Marriage Records" 8. Humor/Humour: "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" 9. Subscriptions, Submissions, Advertising, Reprints =============================================================== IN THIS ISSUE: 1. NEWS, NOTES, AND SITES WORTH SEEING 1a. Editor's Desk: Zeroing in on Identity Theft Did you know that identify theft is less likely to happen online than through traditional means, like losing your wallet or having your purse stolen? Moreover, the identity thief is more likely to be one of your relatives than a stranger? According to some statistics compiled by the 2005 Identity Fraud Survey Report, released recently by the U.S. Council of Better Business Bureaus and Javelin Strategy and Research, family members, friends, and neighbors make up half of all known identity thieves. Computer theft is way down the list. Computer identify theft can occur when fake e-mails (known as phishing) claiming to be from your bank or credit card company warn you that there has been a problem with your account and that you need to log on to the attached link (URL) in the e-mail. These can look like the real thing, but the links will take you to a bogus website. Do not respond to these. Only 2.2 percent of identify fraud comes from viruses or hackers and 1.7 percent from fake e-mails. The biggest risk for identify fraud comes from the old-fashioned method of stealing your wallet or purse or via paper records obtained from your unshredded trash or from people who know you. The other risk comes from stolen mail. But the thieves need more than just your name, address, e-mail or your mother's maiden name. They need your Social Security and/or bank numbers. This data is usually obtained from stolen mail or unshredded records, which allows the crooks to complete credit applications and get a credit card in your name. Learn more about this problem and how to protect yourself at: 8 Tips to Avoid Identify Theft http://www.aarp.org/bulletin/yourlife/Articles/a2004-01-28-8tips.html Take Charge: Fighting Back Against Identify Theft http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/idtheft.htm Identity Theft Exposed http://www.aarp.org/money/consumerprotection/scams/Articles/a2002-10-03-WiseConsumerIdentityTheft.html How Not to Get Hooked by a 'Phishing' Scam http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/phishingalrt.htm U.S. Federal Trade Commission: Your National Resource for Identity Theft http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/ * * * POW Website Fills Gaps for Some WWII Family Histories Thanks to Fred Beisser, who found a story by Colin Joyce of the London Daily Telegram, which appeared recently in the Washington Times Insider we learn that: Nearly 60 years after the end of World War II, Japanese researchers have compiled a comprehensive database detailing the fate of the 3,526 Allied prisoners of war who died in Japan between 1941 and 1945. The database was created by the POW Research Network Japan, a group of independent researchers who built on the records of the Commonwealth Graves Commission. A breakthrough came with the discovery in the National Diet Library in Tokyo of a forgotten microfiche, almost illegible in places, of records made by the postwar Allied occupation authorities, who had garnered details of the fate of POWs by questioning camp survivors and former guards. The database can be accessed at: http://homepage3.nifty.com/pow-j/e/ * * * Book Notes: Butler's Rangers, 1776-1786. "An Annotated Nominal Roll of Butler's Rangers 1777-1786 with Documentary Sources," by Lieutenant Colonel William A. Smy. Butler's Rangers were a military unit formed in support of the British [American Loyalists] during the American Revolution, who with their Native allies became a formidable fighting unit. The Nominal Roll lists approximately 900 men who fought with the Butler's Rangers and gives a brief biography of each. Additional information about the book, sample pages, and how to order it can be found at the Friends of the Loyalist Collection at Brock University website: http://www.brockloyalisthistorycollection.ca/ 1b. USING ROOTSWEB: O Canada! Gordon McEWEN and Jean LeCLERC had been best friends since their early school days playing hockey together many years ago in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. Both men were now retired and, to hear their wives tell it, were just getting under foot at home and had entirely too much idle time on their hands. Yes, this winter found Gordon and Jean with extra time to kill due to the suspension of the professional hockey season. The men decided they needed a new hobby and began to delve into the rich history of their families and their ethnic heritage. Gordon's family was originally from Scotland, while Jean's heritage was French-Canadian. Both men's ancestors had lived in Canada for many generations. Gordon knew that his McEWEN ancestors had originally settled on Prince Edward Island and the descendants had later spread throughout Canada. Jean knew that there were many LeCLERCs in Canada, which made tracing his family especially difficult but, from everything he had learned so far, he believed his LECLERC ancestors had been living in Quebec for nearly 250 years prior to his parents' move to Ontario shortly before he was born. There was a story passed down in Jean's family about how his 5-great-grandfather had been a French soldier who fought under General MONTCALM on the Plains of Abraham. Gordon and Jean realized that whenever they went looking for genealogical resources on the Internet, at first glance there always seemed to be more information devoted to the U.S. than to Canada -- but with a little digging they found a wide selection of resources to meet their needs at RootsWeb. http://www.rootsweb.com/ RootsWeb's Canadian mailing list index is located here: http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/CAN/ and from this page the locality list for Thunder Bay can be found: http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/CAN/CAN-ONT-THUNDER-BAY.html Quebec locality lists and even a Prince Edward Island list: http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/CAN/PEI-ROOTS.html can be accessed from this page. General surname lists at RootsWeb also are available for research into the surname without regard to location or ethnicity--the general surname lists are designed to serve the needs of all researchers of the surname. Surname lists can be found by clicking on the appropriate letter of the alphabet on the main list index page above. Gordon even found a mailing list for research into the Scottish Clan MacEWEN and thought that subject might be one he would enjoy researching in more detail over the long winter. http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/SCT/CLAN-MACEWEN.html After subscribing to the mailing lists of interest, Gordon and Jean went in search of message boards at RootsWeb that could enhance their Canadian studies, and found the Canadian boards listed here: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=localities.northam.canada There were boards for Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Ontario, including one for Thunder Bay. They found they could search previously posted messages, and even post new messages of their own on the boards without having to subscribe as they had to do with the lists. In addition to the locality boards, they found surname boards to investigate. Jean came across a topic board for Canadian military on which he could post a message to try to learn more about his French soldier ancestor. http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&ptopics.Military.canada.army Both Jean and Gordon were able to obtain transcriptions of obituaries for family members from the helpful volunteers on the Canadian Newspapers board: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=topics.news.canada To make absolutely certain they hadn't overlooked any resources available to them at RootsWeb, Gordon and Jean searched the RootsWeb User-contributed databases for Canada: http://userdb.rootsweb.com/canada/ and also searched the family trees at WorldConnect http://wc.rootsweb.com/ looking for the names in their family trees and then narrowing down their searches to those with birth and death places listed as Canada. Gordon and Jean both scored in their family history research with a little bit of help from the RootsWeb Canadian resources. They attained goals on the Internet that didn't depend on a puck finding its way into a different kind of net. * * * Looking for your Canadian ancestors? See RootsWeb Guide No. 24: http://www.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/lesson24.htm In French Canada some identifying names became surnames. In France, de or d' implies land ownership (though often tiny areas) so you may find your ancestor wound up with the name of a locality in France for a surname that has been handed down. French soldiers often had nicknames or noms de guerre, which were passed down to descendants. Settlers sometimes were identified by their French province of origin or some personal trait. The term usually found in Quebec is dit -- meaning "called." Sometimes alias is used instead of dit. Dit names can complicate your research, but sometimes they can help you identify your ancestors. * * * 1c. Tips from Readers: Making Time to Preserve the Past By Debbie Schafer I too prepared booklets for my family of the memories of my grandparents. One of my grandmother's brothers, E. B. WILSON, was a teacher and dabbled in writing books for school children. He knew I was interested in the family history, so while I was on maternity leave in 1981 he asked me to type up his handwritten stories he had put together about his life and the stories passed on by his parents. My grandmother was only two when their father died and only nine when their mother died, so there were a lot of things she didn't know. After E. B. had completed his stories, my grandmother decided to do the same. She typed some of her, hand wrote others. She asked me to put it together on the computer (a much easier venture). I went one step further and illustrated her stories with all the old family photos I had gathered since I started my genealogy in 1979. Copies were made for the immediate family only, since she wasn't so sure her "opinions of the state of the world" would be of interest to anyone other than family. Grandmother began working on my grandfather to tell some things about what he remembered and stories his father had told about life back in Tennessee and traveling west to West Texas and New Mexico Territory in a covered wagon. "G-Daddy," as we called him, decided to put his memories on cassette. Copies were made for the immediate family. These are wonderful because we still have his voice to listen to and remember him by. Knowing that tapes don't last forever, I decided for his 90th birthday to transcribe them and illustrate them with photos relevant to his stories. These were presented to the family at his 90th birthday party. One year later we lost granddaddy to cancer. Grandmother had passed three years earlier. Devout Christians, they never missed church until grandmother's strokes began a year or so before she died. During this time, their church got a new minister. When it was time for their funerals, my uncle lent the minister a copy of the respective books so he would have a better idea of what they were like, what their lives were like, and what was important to them in life. He acknowledged my hard work during the services and discussed what a precious gift they left when they took the time to leave us all with their memories. I encourage everyone to do this. It doesn't take a lot of time or money. Commercial shops (in the USA) like Kinko's or Office Max can bind them for you for a small fee. It is such a precious gift to leave your children and grandchildren. Not only do they tell the stories, but photos can put a face to the names and dates. So many times photos are hoarded by a family member who is unwilling to share, photos are lost in cross-country moves, floods, fires, or simply dumped in the trash when someone dies and someone doesn't care about them. Make the time to compile family memories. Your family members and their descendants will thank you. 2. Connecting Through RootsWeb. Thanks for sharing your stories. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Hoping for the Best By Chadd Rose in Inwood, West Virginia After reading about others and their stories of family finds and connections I thought perhaps mine would be of interest. In December of 2000 I posted a message regarding my biological father Dwight ROBERTSON. It consisted of two sentences, his name along with his parents and last known place of residence. With ROBERTSON being such a popular name and coupled with the thousands of messages out there, I expected nothing, but hoped for the best. After about two years my interest in genealogy waned and there was no reply to that particular message. Soon I moved on to other interests and all was forgotten so to speak. Almost four years to the day on Dec. 28, 2004, I received a letter in the mail. It was from an acquaintance of my father's. She had no luck contacting me through e-mail as my ISP's had changed numerous times. She then searched all of my messages at Ancestry.com and found the only one that I had actually listed my home address in. How fortunate for me that I stopped moving years ago. She wrote and told me that she knew my father, but did not who I was and why I was looking for him. She had contacted him and he told her who I was. So as a result of a one-in-a-million chance I have now been in contact with my father after almost 30 years. My wife and I are currently planning to head to Minnesota to visit him this summer and do some catching up. It reminds of that old saying, "Good things come to those who wait." * * * Do you have an online or other "connecting" story to share? Send to: Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com ======================== Advertisements ============================ BRITISH ANCESTORS? -- TWO WAYS TO RECEIVE HELP 1. REQUEST A FREE RESEARCH ASSESSMENT from a British researcher. If you commission us to do the work (there's no obligation to do that!) prices start from $70 US. For more details visit http://www.britishancestors.com/consultrwr/ 2. ATTEND BRITISH ANCESTORS RESEARCH TOUR IN SALT LAKE CITY--MAY 2005. Search the vast British collection at the world's largest genealogical library with help from accredited genealogist professionals -- you would have to travel the length and breadth of Britain to access all the records available under one roof at the library! Daily classes and activities. Visit http://www.ancestorseekers.com/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/ NEW SURNAME MAILING LISTS BOERNER, BOULEVILLE, BUJOLD DUNNET HARTVIGSEN, HOLLODAY KNAIGER LEE-VA -- The LEE surname in or from Virginia in the 1600s MACEK, MAYSON, MCCRA, MCGRORY, MCRORY NANTKES REW, ROSENBURG STULZ, SWANEY SPRINGER-DNA -- Discussion of SPRINGER (surname) DNA projects WYANT WELLS-CT -- Genealogical discussions of the WELLS surname in Connecticut 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 Miami County (Ohio) Historical and Genealogical Society website is at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~ohmchgs/ U.S.A. ctcmilfo -- Milford (city), Connecticut gahanco2 -- Hancock County (Georgia) macmethu -- Methuen (city), Massachusetts macnewbp -- Newburyport (city), Massachusetts macnewbu -- Newbury (city), Massachusetts mecharmo -- Harmony (city), Maine moer1812 -- El Camino Real (Missouri) Chapter USD 1812 ohmchgs -- Miami County (Ohio) Historical Genealogical Society txudc509 -- Gen. J. S. Griffith, Chapter 509 (Texas) UDC Organizations' Abbreviation Key: UDC—United Daughters of the Confederacy USD—U.S. Daughters of the War of 1812 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 AYCOCK, BARDIN, HENEGAR, NEWTON, and WORKMAN. Family trees. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~bargen/bargen.htm NEW YORK. Jefferson County. 1,000 vital records extracted from the 1865 state census for this locality, plus 677 deaths, 294 marriages, and 623 deceased veterans' records. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~cnyfamilies/Vitals/jcvitals.html NEW YORK. Oneida County. Rome. St Peter's Catholic Cemetery. Approximately 600 burials from 1837-1882. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~cnyfamilies/Vitals/spburials.html 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. OHIO. Stark County. Cemetery Inscriptions of Stark County, Ohio: Volume 1--33,675 records; Volume 2--29,394 records; Volume 3--30,147 records; Volume 4--34,294 records; Volume 5--28,997 records; Volume 6--32,443 records; Volume 7--29,352 records; Delores Rondinella for the Stark County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogy Society http://userdb.rootsweb.com/bookindexes/ TEXAS Dallas County. Dallas. Dallas Morning News; wedding announcements, 31 August 1975; 50 records; Jane Engbrock http://userdb.rootsweb.com/marriages/ Hood County. Glenn Cemetery (partial); 61 records; Audra Morris 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]. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A German Treasure Stashed in Old Barn By Jeanne Hlavac My great-grandfather came with wife and six children from Rheinpfalz, Bavaria, Germany early in 1847. Friends in Ohio wrote telling him to come. By June 23,1847 he purchased land in Independence Township, just south of Brooklyn Township (now Cleveland). Until we sold the house in 1966, and cleared it out, the KUENZERS lived here. Although Joseph KUENZER I and his sons farmed the land, he also operated a quarry on the original 82 acres he bought. The KUENZER quarry was quite famous in Independence along with dozens of other sandstone quarries in the area. In 1847 the family lived in a log cabin on the property. In 1848, Joseph KUENZER I (1795-1877) built a stone house. It was large because he housed the men who worked at the quarry. In 1876 the son, Joseph KUENZER II (1843-1908), bought the land and quarry business from his father. In 1883 Joseph II built a Victorian house (it's on the National Register). It is still there although KUENZERs no longer own it. (My house is on the property Joseph owned by 1900, just one-half mile away.) There were many buildings on the land. When autos became popular and the sons, (including my father Julius KUENZER) bought them, a two-car garage with attic space upstairs was built. My siblings and I (born 1921-1925) knew the story written by our aunt, Emma KUENZER (the family historian). She was the daughter of Joseph lI. One of the things she told about her grandfather (1795-1877) was about him serving with Napoleon in Germany as a young man. At the end of "a war" he supposedly was given his horse and saddle and told to "go home" by Napoleon. When this very old saddle was found upstairs in the garage, we believed it was the original one. All family members can attest to this -- the KUENZERS never threw anything out. I have a letter (in German) from Joseph I's father-in-law written in 1862, plus hundreds of quarry orders from all over the Eastern United States (everyone wanted grindstones) dating from the 1850s. I put both my grandfather's name and the wife's name on the Internet and received an answer from the mayor of the town in Germany where I visited last summer. I thanked him and mentioned I didn't get to Mannheim because it was a large place. He suggested that Marnheim, a village nearby, was possibly my ancestor's home and then he added, "Napoleon was through this area many times." That's not 100 percent proof, but it's enough for me to believe the family story about the saddle. * * * How Small Was It? By Wendy Boughner Whipple I was amused and dismayed at Joyce Gardner's comment about the size of an Iowa town as being "so small it doesn't even have a Wal-Mart store" -- is this how we measure size these days? Apparently, gone are the days that we might say, "so small it only had one stoplight" or "so small it didn't have a gas station." The Illinois town I grew up in doesn't even have a public library. (Or a gas station, or a grocery store, and no, it doesn't have a Wal-Mart.) I think it's an interesting social commentary, when I'm sure none was intended. * * * Compiling Marriage Records By Yolanda Lewis Thank you Regina Peck Andrus for your most informative "Peeling Back Husks to Find a Kernel of Truth" published in last week's RootsWeb Review. And, congratulations on your perseverance and your great family history find. As a fellow researcher in Virginia and West Virginia, whose family has also has been trying to find an 1840s-era marriage of our Tazewell County LEWIS ancestors somewhere in the numerous counties of the Old Dominion for more than 20 years, I could not believe what I was reading! "Dad was amazed, because he had checked the county marriage records several times and had never seen it . . . (she) said it wasn't in the courthouse . . . An old DAR member . . . 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." I went to the University of West Virginia website at http://mountainlynx.lib.wvu.edu/ to see if there is any mention of these original records in their holdings. I can't find them. Only two of the 15 hits for Mason County are for marriages, one is by Julie Chappin HESSON and another by Wes COCHRAN--both obviously printed compilations. It makes me wonder how many more such misguided "preservations" took place over the years, with the records non-existent at the county level, tucked away in some library, or worse yet someone's basement, somewhere in the Virginias where no researcher will ever find them? Neither Virginia nor West Virginia has a statewide marriage project site, which is really a shame, with the two being such a key locations of origins for many a researcher ancestors. I wish a Virginia state agency, historical society or even the states themselves would take it upon them to compile all the known marriages from their many repositories, very much like Illinois has done at http://www.sos.state.il.us/GenealogyMWeb/marrsrch.html Granted it would be a monumental undertaking, but I am sure they would find many willing volunteers for transcribing such a project, including myself! So how about it folks? 8. Humor/Humour: Take Me Out to the Ballgame --------------------------------------------- Thanks to: Angela Park of Sandston, Virginia, USA The "Augusta Chronicle," of 3 July 1922 has an article on "In the World of Sports" page -- telling of the virtues of "known local diamond celebrities." My grandfather, Carl Vincent "Kissie" KIISEL was mentioned in the article. When the manager of the team was questioned as to the strengths and virtues of the team, he responded, "Manager Dilon hasn't assigned any positions to his players as he says it doesn't make any difference. They don't play any worse in one position than they do at any other." * * * 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. The announcement of books and products is provided as a community service and is not an endorsement in any way. 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: 2 March 2005, Vol. 8, No. 9. * * * *