RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Weekly E-zine 18 May 2005, Vol. 8, No. 20, Circulation: 804,154+ (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 and share family trees: WorldConnect: http://wc.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/ * * * http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/ =============================================================== IN THIS ISSUE: 1. NEWS AND NOTES, AND SITES WORTH SEEING 1a. Editor's Desk "RootsWeb Meeting at NGS" "2006 Australian Census To Be Saved" 1b. Using RootsWeb: "Instant Ancestors" 1c. Tips from Readers: "A Will Provides a Way" 2. Connecting Through RootsWeb: "Finding Father's Family" "Pays to 'Advertise'" 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: "Looking Closer at Local Libraries" "Exploring University Archives Possibilities" "Catch That Collapsing Pedigree" "Bank Records Uncover Louisiana Family Links" 8. Humor/Humour: "The Last Laugh" 9. Subscriptions, Submissions, Advertising, Reprints =============================================================== IN THIS ISSUE: 1. NEWS, NOTES, AND SITES WORTH SEEING 1a. EDITOR'S DESK: RootsWeb Meeting; 2006 Australian Census RootsWeb Meeting at NGS By Peter Drinkwater, product manager, RootsWeb You are invited to attend a RootsWeb discussion meeting that is being held in conjunction with the National Genealogical Society (NGS) Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, on Thursday, 2 June at 1 p.m. We look forward to the chance to meet with you and exchange ideas about how to improve RootsWeb. Come share your opinions and ideas. --What do you find most helpful at RootsWeb? --Least helpful? --What would you most like us to add or change about the site? Since seating is limited, please help us plan for the right number by sending an e-mail to: trees@myfamilyinc.com with "RootsWeb meeting" in the subject line. Even if you can't attend the meeting we'd still like to hear from you. Send a message to trees@myfamilyinc.com with "RootsWeb" in the subject line, and share with us what you like about RootsWeb, anything you don't like, and any ideas that you have to make it better. Attending this RootsWeb meeting at NGS does not require conference registration. The exhibitor's hall and the MyFamily.com booth are open to the public, free of charge. NGS also offers a one-day registration option should you decide that you'd like attend conference lectures. Information about the conference can be found at http://www.eshow2000.com/ngs/ * * * 2006 Australian Census to be Saved By Nick Vine Hall nick@vinehall.com.au Chairman, Census Working Party; AFFHO Thanks to lobbying by the Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations (AFFHO) the next Australian census is to be saved in the National Archives of Australia at a cost of $19 million approved recently. This is the largest government funding allocation to genealogical studies in Australia's history. There will be a 99-year privacy embargo. AFFHO is Australia's peak genealogical organisation and represents an estimated 300,000 genealogical record users across the country. An intense 20-year political campaign by AFFHO prior to the 2001 survey, resulted in a complete reversal on a long-standing federal government policy to destroy census returns and publish numerical statistics only. Before 2001, no census survey of national coverage in Australia has survived since 1828. * * * 1b. USING ROOTSWEB: Instant Ancestors Marge (GREENWOOD) MESSER may be old enough to qualify for Medicare, but as a genealogist she is still wet behind the ears -- she's an eager, but rank Newbie. She decided when the family got together this past winter for a holiday gathering that it was time to start a scrapbook of pictures and family history data to hand down to her daughter and grandsons. One thing led to another and before long Marge downloaded a free computer genealogy program and was typing like mad to input all of the data she had collected thus far. She had a few documents around the house such as her parents' marriage certificate and her father's death certificate but she couldn't remember where she had placed them when she piled her mother's belongings into boxes after the sale of her parents' house. They were probably gathering mold in the basement and she didn't feel she needed them. She had been given all the pertinent dates and locations during verbal exchanges with family members. Marge's mother, whose maiden name is NEWFIELD, is still living and is in her nineties. On her good days, she sometimes remembers details about family members long gone and Marge eagerly records everything she tells her. Next Marge searched the Internet resources for any family trees and other data that might connect to the surnames she is researching. She found a few trees that link to her family and gleefully downloaded the files and merged them with her own. My oh my! Her family tree was taking shape and growing nicely. She was thrilled at how smoothly and effortlessly she was able to add others' family trees to the information she had obtained from her aunts and cousins. This computer genealogy program was wonderful that way -- you could merge other trees with your own and it all fit together seamlessly. One day while scouring the Internet for even more matching data to add to her tree, Marge decided that the time had come to upload her own database (yes indeedy -- Marge's file was now large enough to qualify as a bona fide database) to online repositories. She selected RootsWeb's WorldConnect (which combined with Ancestry World Tree is the largest Internet user-submitted family tree resource) as the place that would house her data. http://wc.rootsweb.com She liked the fact that WorldConnect provided free access for anyone to browse or search her family tree. She hoped that other NEWFIELD and GREENWOOD cousins would contact her after finding her tree. She'd even included some information she found along the way in her searches on her husband's MESSER line. Marge was excited--this Internet genealogy is a whole lot of fun and so easy--almost as effortless as a drive-through window at the local fast food establishment! All she had to do was find and copy what others had already researched and put it all together to create her own family tree. Marge wondered why some of the folks she ran into on the GREENWOOD and NEWFIELD mailing lists and message boards at RootsWeb were having such trouble finding their ancestors. She was glad she wasn't running into any of those silly brick walls they talked about. Sound too good to be true? Sound as if maybe Marge has made a mess of the MESSERs, not to mention the NEWFIELDs and GREENWOODs? Next week. Marge learns that instant ancestors aren't always what they are cracked up to be and that there is a big difference between researching your family history and merely copying others' files. * * * 1c. TIPS FROM READERS: A Will Provides a Way By Lila Rose In the early 1900s my grandmother Lily GATES came to the United States from England as did several of her siblings. She married Charles F. EDWARDS of New York and they traveled west in 1919 to live in the San Francisco, California area. My grandparents died in the mid-1950s when I was in my early teens, so I never got a chance to ask either of them about their parents and siblings. However, my mother's first cousin, who lives in California, sent me some pages from the will of Elizabeth GATES MEAGHER, who was the eldest of many children of John and Caroline (SNAPES) GATES of England and my grandmother Lily's sister. Elizabeth died in Chicago in 1946. The few pages of Elizabeth's will that my mother's cousin sent to me didn't have much information as to who Elizabeth's heirs were. But there was one clue that I decided to pursue to try to obtain information about the large GATES clan in England. I knew about half the names of Elizabeth's brothers and sisters from the 1881 British census, but I also knew there were several more children of John and Caroline (SNAPES) GATES. Who were they? On the few pages of Elizabeth's will that I had thus far I found a list of bills to be paid, including the attorney's office that handled the writing of Elizabeth's will. Luckily, this firm is still in business in Chicago, so I found a phone number for the firm through a Google search. When I called, I went through several individuals until I was connected to a young woman who could possibly look into the firm's records to see if there was any reference to Elizabeth GATES MEAGHER's will. At first there was some hesitancy about providing me with any information. Then the woman talked with superiors and told me that the firm still had a file for Mrs. MEAGHER and that they would be willing to send to me any documents from the file, which were legally available to me. Within two days by express mail I received a treasure trove of legal documents loaded with names from several generations, relationships, dates, addresses, and in many cases, whether the individual was deceased or living. I think that now I have the entire list of my grandmother Lily GATES EDWARDS' siblings and many nieces and nephews. I am ready to check out some of those old addresses to see if any of the GATES descendants still live in the homes. Also, I have dozens of new surnames to pursue. The attorney's office sent me all of the pages for free and didn't charge me for postage. After chatting with the young woman at the office, she was ready to pursue her own family's genealogy! 2. Connecting Through RootsWeb. Thanks for sharing your stories. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Finding Father's Family By Lainee Jones http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~lainee/virgilupdates.html I have found many more cousins. In June 2003, I was married and in July, my honeymoon trip was to the town and surrounding area where my dad was raised. Several generations of DENTONS have lived in the area and raised their children there. I met a number of cousins while there, all second cousins once removed and I stayed with a third cousin. In September of that same year, I attended the annual DENTON Family Reunion and met even more, including the cousin that had first responded to my query back in 2000 who is a first cousin once removed. As happy as I was, there was still no contact with my dad's immediate family. In September 2004, I again attended the DENTON reunion and this time I stayed with another first cousin once removed. This cousin did NOT give up -- she called ALL of her contacts trying to get me in touch with my aunt to no avail. In fact, a couple of the contacts stated quite emphatically that my aunt didn't want to deal with me. This same cousin kept trying to tell me all about this family member or that family member, totally confusing me, until I explained to her that it would be like she woke up with amnesia one morning. I felt like an amnesiac that was trying to cram 40-plus years worth of memories into a two-week timeframe. It can't be done! Arriving back home, I picked up the phone to call a cousin on my maternal side of the family. While dialing the number, it occurred to me that this cousin lives in the same town as my cousin, my dad's niece. Or at least she did in 1987 when my paternal grandmother died. Chatted with this maternal cousin a couple minutes about my trip then I asked her, "Do you by any chance know any MITCHELLs?" She said yes. "Would her name by any chance be Paula?" "Yeah!" "Her husband's name Ralph?" "Yeah!" Then I explained why I was asking and she contacted my cousin via her work number (it had been a while since she had actually been in contact with my cousin but they had bowled every Monday night for 25-plus years). Next day, I came home from work to find a voice mail telling me to call her ASAP. I did and she gave me Paula's e-mail address. So I nervously e-mailed and then waited. I was a bundle of nerves. Took two weeks and one day the phone rings and it was Paula --we talked for five hours! What had taken her so long was she had been discussing me with her mother (another family rumor that I proved false) because she just couldn't remember me. Paula kept talking to her mother and obtained permission for me to write to her (via snail mail) and my aunt and I did this for nearly three months. One Sunday Paula called and said, "hang on a moment" and suddenly we are on a three-way call with her mother. My world is finally coming together. I talk to both my very own first cousin and my aunt several times a week as time allows and am looking forward to the day when I can finally meet them in person. Recently I returned home from meeting Aunt Lorene for the first time in my life I am tired, happy and a myriad of other emotions that are left over from my six-day trip to Missouri. Unfortunately Cousin Paula, wasn't able to make the trip to Missouri, but I did get to meet one of her brothers. So much for my dad's family not wanting to deal with me. I even have a standing invitation to come back anytime! Moral of my story: Never, ever give up hope! [The initial story, "Fragments of the Past," about making these connections appears in the 16 April 2003 issue of the RootsWeb Review. http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/review/20030416.txt] * * * Pays to 'Advertise' By Gwen Fry A couple of years ago after putting a message on the Internet, saying I was looking for my one and only first cousin, and giving details about him, (doing that over several months) I received an e-mail from him. He said as luck would have it, his son visited him for Christmas, and had seen my message, so contacted me, which was a wonderful surprise. ======================== Advertisements ============================ "Weed Among the Clovers." By Joanne V. (Lewis) Thomas. The life story of Charles W. "Charlie" BUTLER, son of Dr. George Washington BUTLER (a second generation doctor himself) and wife, Margaret A. CLOVER. Though born into a historically Christian family, it unfortunately, had no impact on Charlie. His wealthy parents afforded him opportunities that would have produced a career most envied by any young man of that era. But, he chose a lifestyle of despicable crimes committed in and around Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio, that eventually led to his death, by hanging for murder, in 1884 at Columbia City, Whitley County, Indiana. This 116-page book has a back pocket that contains the 850+ pages of Clover family history (through 25 years documented research) produced on a CD- ROM entitled; "Fields of Clovers," which provides artistically enhanced facsimiles of sample documents, such as wanted poster, notices, letters, early memorabilia, line sketch drawings, photos, and family relationship charts. Contact the author at JVTh007@aol.com for price and ordering information. * * * ANCESTOR SEEKERS RESEARCH TRIP Salt Lake City, September 26-29 Spend four full days at the Family History Library (the world's largest) searching for your ancestors from the United States, Canada and the British Isles. Get help from professional genealogists in overcoming your brick walls. Attend daily classes to improve your research skills. Meet others from throughout the US and Canada who share your interest in genealogy! Visit the Ancestor Seekers website at http://www.ancestorseekers.com/rwr/ * * * Everything's possible with a Hoveround® Learn more about Hoveround® power chairs with a FREE Information Kit. Includes a video, brochure, Free Test Drive Certificate and Q and A Guide. No Cost Power Chair if you qualify. Call Toll-Free 1-800-490-7347 or click here http://hoveround.imswebmktg.com/hoveround/unique/82403.php ====================== 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 29,000 RootsWeb-hosted genealogy Mailing Lists and for easy subscribing (joining) options go to: http://lists.rootsweb.com/ NEW SURNAME MAILING LISTS ARGO DOSSER, DUDELSTON ELSWORTHY FLOWERDAY GREATHOUSE-DNA -- Discussing the GREATHOUSE (surname) DNA projects HAMMING KASSELL, KEIMAN MCLUHAN SCREWS, SEGRIST, STALSKY, STANARD TEPTER, TREUBIG 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 Pittsfield, Maine website is at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~mecpitts/ U.S.A. mecpitts -- Pittsfield (city), [Somerset County] Maine metfcmgs -- Taconnett Falls (Maine) Chapter Maine Genealogical Society msncdar -- Nahoula (Mississippi) Chapter DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution tnmchsa -- McMinn County (Tennessee) Historical Society and Archives utgrand -- Grand County (Utah) 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 HARDCASTLE. Includes the One Name Study of the Hardcastle family worldwide and a transcription of all censuses and other sources regarding this family. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mikecast/ KANSAS. Comanche County. A personal account by the first surveyor of the county, who also laid out the foundations for the Kansas state capitol. http://www.rootsweb.com/~kscomanc/dappert_jw.html How the author's grandfather's neighbor was kidnapped by the outlaws Bonnie and Clyde about a mile from where he grew up http://www.rootsweb.com/~kscomanc/trummel_alva_kidnapped.html Vital records for the county: http://www.rootsweb.com/~kscomanc/marriage.html http://www.rootsweb.com/~kscomanc/births.html http://www.rootsweb.com/~kscomanc/death_notices.html 6. New User-Contributed Databases at RootsWeb http://userdb.rootsweb.com/submit/ ---------------------------------------------- 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/ * * * 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. AUSTRALIA. New South Wales. Grafton 1880 Electoral Roll. 1,855 records; Tim O'Sullivan http://userdb.rootsweb.com/aus/ U.S.A. CALIFORNIA. Bakersfield. Bakersfield Californian (newspaper), obituaries and death notices published in 2001. 4,830 records; Sharon Dulcich http://userdb.rootsweb.com/obituaries/ NEW YORK. Columbia County. Stockport. Saint Barnabas Church, baptisms 1865-1951 (partial). 736 records; Compiled in 1991 by Linda L. Fenoff, City of Hudson deputy historian; Transcribed by Bunny Proof in 2004 http://userdb.rootsweb.com/churchrecords/ PENNSYLVANIA. Philadelphia County. Philadelphia. Mt. Moriah Cemetery. 240 records; Sandra Hoffman http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ SOUTH DAKOTA. Union County. Beresford. Beresford High School Alumni, 1902-1909, 70 records; 1898 and 1899, 36 records; Brian M. Hass http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ TEXAS. Carson County. Panhandle. Panhandle Elementary School students, faculty, staff, 1975-1976.383 records; Panhandle Junior High School students and faculty, 1975-1976. 200 records; 1976-1977. 208 records; Stacy (Smith) Esquibel http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ 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]. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Looking Closer at Local Libraries By Jim Liptrap in Houston, Texas, USA In response to Dr. STEWART's suggestions of putting your genealogical records in the library (an excellent idea!), I have a word of caution. While it would seem logical to put your precious records in the local library in the town where your family lived for six generations, they might not be safe there. A regional library with a genealogy department might be a better choice. Many local libraries do not have a policy of preserving genealogical materials, nor even shelving them separately. They will courteously accept your donation and send you a receipt for tax purposes. But due to their shortage of space, they annually sort out all the books that have not been checked out in the previous 24 months, and try to sell them at 25 cents each. Those that do not sell are discarded. So find a library that has a well-maintained genealogy department, with a non-circulating collection, preferably in a separate "local history" room, specializing in the area in which your family lived, probably the library that had the most information you found in compiling your records. Observe how well their books are maintained and whether anyone in the library knows what is on the genealogy shelf. If you are just sent "over in that corner" and find no order to the collection, bindings broken, no security, or if you have to define "genealogy," seek another repository for your life's work. Your relatives will thank you. * * * Exploring University Archives Possibilities By Marlynn O'Keefe I have found that leaving one's genealogical papers to a university archives is a good solution. In my case, I have sent information that I collected from more than 33 years of research of relatives from Germany who eventually wound up in Lake County, Indiana. Indiana University at Calumet in Gary, Indiana was delighted to receive the information and will sort it and make it available to other researchers. * * * Catch That Collapsing Pedigree By Judy Payne I had to chuckle when I read "Too Many Kissing Cousins" by Frances WILLESS in the May 4 RootsWeb Review. It seems we have similar circumstances. Back in the "old country" (Iran) in the generation of my great-great grandparents, we had two sets of second-cousin marriages. The results? My father is also my 3rd cousin once-removed; 4th cousin; 4th cousin once-removed; and 5th cousin! I am also 4th cousin once-removed; 5th cousin; 5th cousin once-removed; and 6th cousin to my own children. Their response? "That's just WRONG, Mom!" * * * Bank Records Uncover Louisiana Family Links By Janet Miller Researchers with African-American roots in Louisiana in the mid-1800s may want to obtain a copy of the Wall Street Journal of May 10, 2005. On page one is an article detailing the links to slavery of a predecessor bank of J. P. Morgan Chase & Company of New York. The story covers an investigation into the 170-year records of the Citizens Bank of Louisiana by a researcher hired by J.P. Morgan Chase. According to the article, the research was sparked in an unlikely manner. Last year J.P. Morgan acquired Bank One which had financed bonds for the city of Chicago in 2003. Chicago has an ordinance that requires companies doing business with the city to disclose any links to slavery. The article notes that several other cities, including Detroit and Los Angeles, have similar laws and that such laws are pending in Philadelphia and in the state of North Carolina. J.P. Morgan hired James LIDE, of History Associates Inc., a researcher, who had previously worked on Holocaust reparations, to locate any slave records. After some 3,500 hours of work combing records in New York and throughout Louisiana, he and his associates discovered that between 1834-1861 citizens had secured mortgage loans not only on land, but on slaves as well. Some of the records identify the slaves by name. One of the biggest links was to Bernard de MARIGNY, of New Orleans, who is described as one of the richest men in Louisiana, who gambled away his family's fortune, heavily mortgaging his properties, including 62 slaves. LIDE and his researchers also discovered links to another bank of the time -- New Orleans Canal and Banking Company. In all, the two banks used more than 13,000 slaves as collateral and ended up "owning" about 1,200 when the borrowers defaulted. After LIDE submitted his report to J.P. Morgan Chase the banking concern apologized for the predecessor banks and established a $5 million scholarship fund for African-American students from Louisiana. It may be possible for a genealogical organization to secure copies of these slave records from J.P. Morgan Chase. They could be invaluable for family research. Or the banking company might be persuaded to donate them to an archive or museum for open study. 8. Humor/Humour: The Last Laugh ----------------------------------------------------------- Thanks to: Richard Durrant, Watford, Hertfordshire, England Spike Milligan, famous in the UK for his unique sense of humour, has finally got the last laugh, more than two years after his death. Spike, who was an Irish passport holder, was buried close to his home in Udimore after he died, aged 83, from liver failure in February 2002. It follows an agreement with the local diocese and his family over the wording on the headstone of his grave at St Thomas's Church in Winchelsea, East Sussex. It now bears the words "Dúirt mé leat go raibh mé breoite" written in Gaelic in order for it to be approved by the Chichester Diocese. It was Spike's wish that he had the words "I told you I was ill" on his headstone, now they are after a two-year battle, but in Gaelic. * * * 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/ If you use a spam-filtering program, in order to receive the RootsWeb Review please make sure that you're allowing e-mail from: newsletter@reply.myfamilyinc.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: 18 May 2005, Vol. 8, No. 20. * * * *