RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Weekly E-zine 20 July 2005, Vol. 8, No. 29, 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 weekly RootsWeb Review. http://newsletters.rootsweb.com/ * * * Search and share family trees at 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/ * * * RootsWeb HelpDesk http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/ * * * =============================================================== IN THIS ISSUE: 1. NEWS, NOTES, AND SITES WORTH SEEING 1a. Editor's Desk: "SSDI Updated" "Spam Filters" "Some Sites Worth Seeing: British Isles, Canada, Germany, and Scotch-Irish/Ulster Scots" 1b. Tips from Readers: "Licking those Spelling Gremlins" 1c. Using RootsWeb: "Grabbing Ancestors" 2. Connecting Through RootsWeb: "Finding Relatives Around the World" 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: "Making the Most of Summer" "Grateful for Any Clues" "On Genealogical Polluters" "Sharing Sources" "Giving Credit Properly" 8. Humor/Humour: "Names in the News" 9. Subscriptions, Submissions, Advertising, Reprints =============================================================== IN THIS ISSUE: 1. NEWS, NOTES, AND SITES WORTH SEEING 1a. EDITOR'S DESK: SSDI UPDATED. RootsWeb offers the Social Security Death Index (SSDI), which includes records through May 2005 This database contains several important bits of information on the more 75,346,834 persons whose deaths are on file with the U.S.'s Social Security Administration, including: social security number, date of issuance, state of issuance, date of birth, date of death, and last address of record. http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/ * * * SPAM FILTERS. Recently a genealogy newsletter recommended a free spam filtering service called 0spam.com. If configured correctly, this spam filter is supposed to work with mailing lists like those at RootsWeb. However, many RootsWeb list administrators have reported problems with list subscribers using this spam filter who do not have the program properly configured to handle list mail. As a result, challenge e-mails are being sent out to everyone who posts to a list to which the person using this filter subscribes. This is unacceptable and users of the misconfigured 0spam.com filter are being removed from the mailing list as they are identified. If you are using this spam filtering program, please check your system configuration carefully to be sure it is properly set to allow list mail without sending out a challenge/response message. Not receiving your mail from RootsWeb mailing lists? This might be your problem. * * * SOME SITES WORTH SEEING. BRITISH ISLES. British IslesGenWeb Project http://www.britishislesgenweb.org/ CANADA. CanadaGenWeb Project (English and Francais). http://www.rootsweb.com/~canwgw/ GERMANY. GermanyGenWeb Project. http://www.rootsweb.com/~wggerman/ SCOTCH-IRISH/ULSTER SCOTS RESEARCH. Who are these people? Learn more about them and how to research ancestors in this group. http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~merle/ * * * 1b. TIPS FROM READERS: Licking Those Spelling Gremlins By Pat Asher Anyone who has done more than superficial genealogical research has discovered that, unlike a rose, a name is not always a name. Spellings vary not only according to the census taker or the county clerk who recorded it, but from region to region. A simple name like AMBROSE was AMBROSSI or AMBROSIER to early Pennsylvania German immigrants. Moving south, it was spelled AMBERS, exactly as it was pronounced in a Southern drawl. Then there are transcription errors by the fallible human beings who index original records so we can search them. The "se" at the end of AMBROSE can resemble an "n" -- resulting in the name being indexed as AMBRON. Fortunately for our sanity and research, many Internet search engines support wildcard searches. A search at RootsWeb or Ancestry for "Amb*" will find all of the above variants, as well as several others. However, not all names lend themselves to wildcard searches. My "nightmare" name is a French one, spelled D'YARMETT or DeYARMETT. It appears in various official records as DEYARMIT, DEARMAN, DERMOTT, and D'ARMIT, and is sometimes indexed under "Y" for Yarmett. But the discovery that made me rethink how to do Internet searches was an accidental one. While browsing an index of marriages for the relevant location, I found Mary D. GARMETT. The indexer had misread a sprawling "Y" as a "G" and assumed that "D" was a middle initial. That discovery enabled me to find Mary's sister and three of her brothers, who I had previously assumed must have been spirited away by aliens. Since that serendipitous discovery, I never accept "no results found" as final. I use all the tools available, including wildcards, Soundex and metaphone searches. I search for unique given names instead of a surname. When all else fails, I try to think outside the box. What possible variations could have occurred in spelling or transcription? Could an "L" have been misread as a "S"? The "J" as an "I" or an "F" as a "T"? My successful search rate has improved dramatically and my frustration level has decreased accordingly. * * * 1c. USING ROOTSWEB: Grabbing Ancestors Gary GRABBITT had spent the past 30 years tracing his most uncommon surname. In the beginning he felt as though his family must have invented the name out of thin air -- he searched every far-flung corner of the globe and could find very few GRABBITs anywhere that he could not connect to his own immediate family in Wisconsin, USA. This only served to intensify Gary's curiosity about the origin of his name. He researched every resource he could find from the early days of scouring dust-covered documents in dingy courthouse basements and cranking away at microfilm readers at Family History Centers and historical societies -- often driving quite a distance to do so. Gary's summer vacations frequently included little side trips to any location where he found mention of a GRABBIT having lived. He eventually learned that his family's surname had become Americanized somewhere along the way and that the original name, which was of Slavic origin, looked more like an eye chart than a surname when viewed by an American. It suffices to say that the name started with "Grab" and ended in "ich." Gary made two visits, over the years, to the ancestral homeland. Photographs and records were gathered and eventually he compiled all of the data and photos into a family history book. He wasn't out to make money selling his book. He prepared the publication out of a desire to bring the family history to life and preserve it for future generations before it could become lost -- forever shrouded in the mists of the past. He distributed some copies of the book at a small family reunion and sold others to GRABBITs who may or may not have been connected to him. He understood that some GRABBITs of various related spellings of the name were of English origin -- and even a few English GRABBITs were interested in Gary's book merely because they researched anyone with their same surname -- no matter the origin. Pleased with his accomplishment, he moved on to other endeavors. So it was some time before Gary ventured to an Internet search engine and typed in his surname and clicked. To his surprise, he found much of his hard work, his years of research, on the Internet -- evidently placed there by others who had purchased his book or with whom he'd shared information while compiling his family history -- including some of those haughty English GRABBITTs who were not even related to Gary's Slavic ancestors. They had given Gary's book attribution as the source of the data, but still Gary thought these people had no business grabbing his ancestors' information. This was data he'd put all those coins in parking meters at the historical society to find, not to mention the trips he'd made to the homeland. Gary took a deep breath, counted to 10, settled into research mode and found the following copyright information as it pertains to webmasters with pages housed on RootsWeb's Freepages. http://freepages.computers.rootsweb.com/~pasher/copyrtfaq.htm From this page he also located the following site: http://www.pddoc.com/copyright/genealogy_copyright_fundamentals.htm and several other helpful links about copyright. He was surprised to learn that not very much was copyrightable when it comes to genealogy databases in that most of the content is really not creative work as defined by copyright laws. Most of what comprises a genealogy database are facts, and facts no matter how cleverly arranged or compiled can't be owned or copyrighted by anyone. Facts can only be discovered; not created. Names, dates, and places and even the lineages proven by the facts are not creative works. Of course, personal notes and narratives written by an author can be copyrighted. Gary also learned that you can't limit inclusion of your ancestors in anyone's database to only those who are related in some way. Anyone can research your family and/or include your ancestors in their files. Facts can be freely used and shared by everyone. It took some studying, but Gary finally began to understand about not being able to own facts and the requirement of original creative work in order to claim a copyright. Gary's book included a copyright notice, but that didn't entitle him to claim facts as his creation. While courteous genealogists properly give credit to others whose work they build on or consult, Gary realized that those who were using family facts from his book were not doing anything illegal or unethical. Credit for his work would be nice, but GRABBITT (and all other) vital record information is there for the grabbing and once it is published or shared you can't control what others do with it. 2. Connecting Through RootsWeb. Thanks for sharing your stories. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Finding Relatives Around the World By Martin Willcocks in Taylorsville, Utah, USA. This year has been so far a very fruitful one for connecting with cousins on and off the RootsWeb lists. I have been subscribed to these lists for more than eight years so far, and had found only a very few living cousins until recently. The pattern seems to be that I pose a question to the list and find an answer coming from someone who thinks they may be related. In this case, however, someone posted a message about a list I had not heard of previously, and I found it was a website that maintains surname interests (not RootsWeb), so after some searching for surnames relevant to my ancestry I contacted a few people who seemed to have interests in the same areas I did. In about a week, I have now added four cousins, one of whom just sent me a scan of a genealogy that my great-uncle did many years ago of his family, which is proving a goldmine of information in nine pages of handwritten notes. Among other items is my grandfather's date of birth, plus all my great-uncles on that side of the family, who all their children and spouses were, and much more about the occupations and trades of my direct ancestors (his as well). So much information -- it'll take me some time to digest and collate with what I already knew. At this point I have 180 families and 680 people in my tree but I'm sure it will grow some after all these new pieces are added. I have previously found most of my cousins on my maternal side, these new cousins are on my paternal side, related to people my father never mentioned to us during his lifetime. In particular, he never mentioned any of his uncles, though my sister says he did mention one of his great-aunts. What is so interesting about this document is a personal biographical story about this great-uncle's grandparents, his parents' generation, his own generation, and his late wife's parentage as well. I wish my father had done the same -- instead, though he told us his story and his genealogy so many times that we all had a pretty good idea of it back to at least one generation before my great-uncle begins his story. When I was 21, he passed down to me a family heirloom, a telescope said to have belonged to Captain John CONN, whose sister was my 3-great- grandmother. CONN was the commander of HMS Dreadnought in the Battle of Trafalgar and only recently I have traced three generations of his descendants through RootsWeb lists. The friendliness and helpfulness of people in this large fraternity is wonderful. We're all here to help each other, so I try to give back as much as I can, though I deplore the high costs that some service providers and organizations seem to think everyone can afford. I am a pensioner like many of us and cannot afford to shell out a considerable portion of a week's income for a birth certificate or a subscription to a service that provides census images etc., though I have shelled out some of my hard-earned cash for my uncle's World War I military service records. All in all, I think the RootsWeb lists are the way to go in genealogy at a distance. Thanks to everyone for helping me to connect with relatives I never knew I had -- in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and other parts of the world. ======================== Advertisement ============================ ANCESTOR SEEKERS RESEARCH TRIP Salt Lake City, September 25-29 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 U.S. and Canada who share your interest in genealogy! Call toll free at 877-896-0974 (9-6 MST) or visit http://www.ancestorseekers.com/rwr/ ====================== End Advertisement ============================== 3. New Mailing Lists at RootsWeb Request a New Mailing List: http://resources.rootsweb.com/adopt/ ----------------------------------------------------------------- MAILING LISTS. 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 29,300 RootsWeb-hosted genealogy Mailing Lists and for easy subscribing (joining) options go to: http://lists.rootsweb.com/ NEW SURNAME MAILING LISTS ADAMS-ENG-LONDON -- ADAMS (surname) from London, England area BETTERTON BECKER-DNA -- Discussing BECKER (surname) DNA projects CALLIHAN-Thomas -- Focus is on Thomas CALLIHAN (born 31 March 1757) website: http://www.callihanfamilyresearch.org/ CARR-DNA -- Discussing CARR (surname) DNA projects COOPER-DNA -- Discussing COOPER (surname) DNA projects CORSON-DNA -- Discussing CORSON (surname) DNA projects CREEKMORE-DNA -- Discussing CREEKMORE (surname) DNA projects FELDTMOSE FERGUSON-James-Jr -- Focus is on James FERGUSON, Jr. and his family GOERTZ HOELSCHER LATTAL HIGHTOWER-DNA -- Discussing HIGHTOWER (surname) DNA projects KNIPPERS-CLARENCE -- Discussing Clarence Douglas KNIPPERS (b. 10 July 1924 in Fisher, Sabine Parish, Louisiana; d. 13 October 1991 in Pascagoula, Jackson County, Mississippi) MEISENHELDER, MEUTH MYERS-NewYork -- The MYERS surname in New York (state) POWDRILL, PRIER SANDLEY, SINES STINNETT-DNA -- Discussing STINNETT (surname) DNA projects WINTERRINGER 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 Chester County, Pennsylvania website is at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~pachest3/ CANADA onbdhs -- Brockville and District (Ontario) Historical Society onlambto -- Lambton County (Ontario) U.S.A. coppcg -- Pikes Peak (Colorado) Computing Genealogists flhcgs -- Highlands County (Florida) Genealogical Society mdahgp -- Maryland pachest3 -- Chester County (Pennsylvania) txlpl -- Leonard (Tyler County, Texas) Preservation League txtcgs2 -- Tri-County (Texas) Genealogical Society 5. New/Updated Freepages and Homepages -------------------------------------- Can your cousins find your website at RootsWeb? Has it ever been mentioned here or do you have a new, updated, or substantially revised website 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 WILLIAMS, BREWSTER, YORK, DICKENS, BOREMAN, RODGER, McFARLANE, McKAIG, ALLAN, RICHARDSON, RAND, BABCOCK, McKAIG, ALLAN and many more lines. Includes ancestors and descendants of John Williams and Selina Brewster; Thomas York and Mary Dickens; descendants of Thomas York and Alice Boreman; John Rodger and Janet McFarlane; and John Rand and Betsy Babcock; also ancestors of John McKaig and Margaret Allan; Charles Augustus Richardson and Emma Curtis Rand; Charles Elmer Loucks and Caroline Adelaide Tull; Carl Henry Brehm and Alice Elizabeth Lambert; Alvah Millard and Elsie Viola Joitel; Ruben Alexander Anderson and Helene Louise May; Lindon Robert Hilton and Beryl Edna Campbell; Howard Emery Shahan and Sharon Coward; John Everett Hale Johnson and Phyllis Marie Smith; William George Fredendall and Evaline Franklin; Robert Monroe Bucher and Elizabeth Ann Matlack. http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~syafam/ 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. U.S.A. Census: Savage surname in the 1790 census; 161 records. Jim Savage http://userdb.rootsweb.com/census/index/ CALIFORNIA. Los Angeles County. Santa Monica High School alumni, 1898 through 1929 [no graduating classes in 1900, 1902, 1904, and 1906]; 602 records. Catherine Van Cott http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ FLORIDA. Polk County. Lake Wales. Willow Lawn Cemetery; 762 records. Kristi Hawthorne http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ IDAHO. Shoshone County. Kingston. Kingston High School alumni; classes of 1931 and 1934; 15 records. Catherine Van Cott http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ ILLINOIS. Keithsburg. Military roster for William Henry Reed, 1864; 1 record. Tracey Kirkham http://userdb.rootsweb.com/military/ INDIANA. Monroe County. Moore's Pike Cemetery; 144 records. Owen County. Gosport. Gosport Cemetery, State Road 67; 104 records. Spencer. Chambersville Cemetery; 92 records. Jason Haughey http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ MASSACHUSETTS. Middlesex County. North Reading. 1862 deaths (partial list) 11 records. Leah Smith http://userdb.rootsweb.com/deaths/ Worcester County. Hardwick. 1873 births, (partial list) 33 records. Leah Smith http://userdb.rootsweb.com/births/ NEW YORK. Genesee County. Batavia. "Daily News," 1932-1933; 7,650 records. Leilani Spring, volunteer of the Genesee County Historian http://userdb.rootsweb.com/news/ New York County. New York City. United States Mortgage Co. and Philadelphia and Reading General Mortgage; 1894. 31 records. Paula Lucy Delosh http://userdb.rootsweb.com/groups/ TENNESSEE. Lincoln County. Lincoln. James West and family; 1 record. Ricky James West http://userdb.rootsweb.com/courtrecords/ TEXAS. Nueces County. Nueces. funeral programs; 1900s; 432 records. Carlotta F. Carr http://userdb.rootsweb.com/obituaries/ 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]. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Making the Most of Summer By Alan Stuart Personally I have used summer to do the leg work planned in the winter when limited library and online research are the only opportunities. I do recall that people have written about chance meetings of cousins while doing their out-of-town leg work. A recent article in the RootsWeb Review mentions the mailing lists in a after-the-fact fashion. Baring that the chance meetings weren't divinely orchestrated, I naturally wonder how many more such meetings would occur if people would post messages such as, "I am traveling to Tioga County, New York to search for Crines Corners Cemetery and should be there on such a date. I am researching the following people who were listed as buried there between 1800 and 1824. Then list families in that county that you are also researching. This might get others who are also planning a summer reunion with their ancestral homes to write and or offer to meet them in a comfortable setting. (The cemetery is not really a good place unless everyone knows it.) I did make a trip to Crines Corners Cemetery, but I only found it because a distant cousin had mailed me a 20-year old photograph taken from the road that showed the trees that had grown up all through the abandoned cemetery. The trees had aged but not nearly as much as you might expect. * * * Grateful for Any Clues By Scott Aaron Regarding the endless "citing sources" debate, everyone agrees that its best if sources are cited. It makes every genealogist's life easier. However, I think its time that folks come to terms with the fact that there are always going to be thousands of people that don't do it and the numbers will only grow as more people get into genealogy. The point is well taken that this will just expand the number of online trees with redundant "no source" information, complicating searches, but for me it all comes back to one key point. It's better to have some information to follow up on, than to have none at all simply because a source can't be verified [or the compiler did not record it]. If I have a brick-wall ancestor named Thomas KARSTEN (with some details about him) and I find an online tree that lists nothing more than his father's name as William, even if the person who posted this tree has no idea where that information came from, I'm going to be excited because I can start searching on that front using what I already know about Thomas (where he lived, etc). Maybe its accurate information, maybe not, but its something to look into (isn't that what we genealogists do?). The idea that somebody might not post that information simply because they don't have a source, is something I hope we never see. A name with no source has the potential of being a diamond in the rough. * * * On Genealogical Polluters By Jack Novicki, Hawthorne New Jersey Unproven research can be noted with a simple (Not Proven) in parentheses next to a name or date. It is just common courtesy to warn others that you do have not have the facts to back up that part of your research. What makes me happy is knowing that what I share with others won't send them off to put flowers on the wrong grave, enter a non-relative into a family tree, or note the wrong disease as a reason for death. As we become aware of the medical uses of genealogy and how it can be used to predict a persons chance of coming down with a certain medical condition, the accuracy of our work becomes crucial. * * * Sharing Sources By Daniel Parkinson in Toronto, Canada Clyde Rowe, Jr. of Parkersburg, West Virginia, USA writing about "Risks in Copying Others' GEDCOMs" more or less says it all. Like Clyde, my mind boggles when people object or refuse to reveal their source, as if their honesty was being questioned. Do they think they are God and because they wrote it, it is so? That aside, when I ask for a source I am not saying "I don't believe you" but "where did that information come from and maybe there is something else there that would help me in my searching." One doesn't just say "the Bible says," but one gives chapter and verse to prove one's point. * * * Giving Credit Properly By Isabel Morse Maresh, Maine, USA I entirely agree with Dorian Greenbaum in Massachusetts, USA in her comments about "My Sources Are Not Your Sources." I, too, having done genealogical research for 27 years, have gathered personal data which I have incorporated into my family histories. Over the years, I have always been willing to share what I have gathered with many others, including budding genealogists. I was totally astounded when surfing the Internet, and found some of my work, with my personal notes, including my initials after one note, online with someone else's name on it. I have self-published some of my works, and this was a family that I had done considerable work on, at the state and local libraries, visited many cemeteries, dug into musty town records, and in general, spent many, many, many hours researching, which I had intended to publish. I have tried to document my sources, because after a number of years [even months] we cannot often remember where the data came from. I agree, that these are not only my [our] ancestors, but I find a kinship to them as I find more data, add photos [which are not always easily found], and the personal stories, often from letters from now- deceased relatives. When I have a one-of-a-kind letter, I don't mind sharing the contents, but I ask that the person who asks for my help, not claim my work as their own. This can be heart-breaking. Please give me credit for what I found. After all, if you are using my work, then I am your source of that information. 8. Humor/Humour: Names in the News ---------------------------------- Thanks to Karen Shear in Ohio who writes, "I always scan the obituaries for relevant family information of family and friends. Just recently an elderly local man passed away. Mr. Parsons' parents' names were given. His mother was the late Leafy PLANT. "That must have been quite a name to grow up with." * * * Thanks to Marie Beckman who writes that she got a real chuckle out of the name given the six-month-old HATFIELD boy in this enumeration. 1860 Sequatchie Co. TN Walnut Valley P.O. 3rd Dist. p. 245 (M653, Roll 1271, Dwelling 268, Family 222) Jonathan Hatfield 67 M Farmer $8000 $1000 VA Jane " 70 F TN John " 28 M Blacksmith -- $150 TN Sarah " 27(?) F TN Rhoda J. " 3 F TN Doctor Bill " 6/12 M TN Jonathan " 10 M TN Josiah " 7 M TN Mary ? Basham 7 F TN Mary J. Basham 5 F TN * * * 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. Ad Sales 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: 20 July 2005, Vol. 8, No. 29. * * * *