RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Weekly E-zine 5 October 2005, Vol. 8, No. 40 (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/ * * * RootsWeb HelpDesk http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/ * * * =============================================================== IN THIS ISSUE: 1. NEWS, NOTES, AND SITES WORTH SEEING 1a. Editor's Desk: "Oh, Canada!" "Lost in Canada?" "Alberta GS Vols Index Land Records" "Calling Family History Writers" "Myfamily.Com Offers Help to Library Community "Rescuing Family Treasures in the Past" "NARA Increases Microfilm Prices" "Haunts and Halloween on The History Channel" "Helping the HelpDesk" 1b. Tips from Readers: "Sharing Your Negative Research" "Translating Cockney" "Katrina Damage in Mississippi" 1c. Using RootsWeb: "Around the World I Search for You . . ." 2. Connecting Through RootsWeb: "Tales Told by Tombstones" 3. New User-contributed Databases 4. New/Updated FreePages and HomePages 5. New at RootsWeb 6. RootsWeb Review's Bottomless Mailbag: "In the Brine: Names Found in the Census" "Advanced Search Finds Auntie" "Popular Family Legends Abound" "Dig or Grumble?" 7. Humor/Humour: "Missing a Beat" 8. Subscriptions, Submissions, Advertising, Reprints =============================================================== IN THIS ISSUE: 1. NEWS, NOTES, AND SITES WORTH SEEING 1a. EDITOR'S DESK: OH, CANADA! Memories of the Second World War are vivid for the Canadian men and women who served in uniform and for the families whose lives were profoundly affected by the conflict. In celebration of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II and the Year of the Veteran, Library and Archives Canada is presenting "Written by War--Canadian Family Stories, 1939-1945," an exhibition that opened 6 June and runs until 4 March 2006 at Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa. The collection highlights various themes, all inspired by the experiences of Canadian families during the war. These include war brides and their adjustment to a new country, methods of communication between the home and battle fronts, contributions to the war effort at home and overseas, loss of loved ones, and return to civilian life. These stories and many others are told in the correspondence, personal records, photographs, telegrams, news clippings, artistic works and audiovisual components that make up the exhibition. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/whats-on/written-by-war/014006-200-e.html LOST IN CANADA? Tracing Your Ancestors in Canada -- a guide (PDF file) http://www.genealogy.gc.ca/07/070701_e.html Guide des sources généalogiques au Canada -- in Francais (PDF file) http://www.genealogy.gc.ca/07/070701_f.html * * * ALBERTA GS VOLS INDEX LAND RECORDS With volunteer help, the Alberta Genealogical Society (AGS) has created a name index to a collection of early Dominion land files held on microfilm at the Provincial Archives of Alberta (PAA) in Edmonton. Many of these files pertain to homestead lands patented in Alberta between 1870 and 1930. Volunteers indexed records on 685 reels of microfilm. If you get a hit, the database will provide you with a full name, a legal land description (the section, township, range and meridian numbers) as well as two key pieces of information -- the file number on which the record is located plus what's called the "Ottawa file number." For more information, visit the Alberta Genealogical Society website: http://abgensoc.ca/homestead/ * * * CALLING FAMILY HISTORY WRITERS The annual GENEii Awards, sponsored by the Southern California Genealogical Society, honor outstanding family history articles. The contest, now it its sixth year, offers cash awards. Entries must be received between 1 November and 31 December 2005. There is no entry fee and articles need not pertain to Southern California. Mail entries to: Southern California Genealogical Society; Attention: Writing Contest, 417 Irving Drive, Burbank, California 91504-2408 For contest guidelines, visit the society's website: http://www.scgsgenealogy.com/ http://www.scgsgenealogy.com/contest-cat.htm * * * MYFAMILY.COM OFFERS HELP TO LIBRARY COMMUNITY MyFamily.com is working with the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) to identify the societies and collections affected by recent hurricanes in the U.S. and to do what it can to recover, preserve, and digitize society record collections in that area. The primary mission is to help societies protect or store their information and the secondary purpose is to educate these societies that digitization, whether by them, us or someone else, is one way to proactively protect their records. See also the website of the Heritage Preservation: The National Institute for Conservation: http://www.heritagepreservation.org/ http://www.heritagepreservation.org/PROGRAMS/KatrinaHelp.HTM * * * RESCUING FAMILY TREASURES IN THE PAST Genealogists always want more details about their ancestors and it is such items as the following that propel us to continue digging to find the story behind the story. W. B. CONNALLY and wife, of Whitfield County [Georgia] attended the sale of S. B. PRICE, dec'd. Mrs. W. B. CONNALLY wept like a baby when the Family Bible went up for sale. J. W. LEE Sr. made the bid and presented the Bible to Mrs. CONNALLY. 24 Feb. 1898. -- Griffith, Jessie June Brandon, "Births, Marriages and Deaths Taken from the Walker County, Georgia Messenger, 1897-1899," Vol. 4. (Rossville, Georgia: J. J. Griffith, ca 1991), p. 60. * * * NARA INCREASES MICROFILM PRICES To keep up with ever-increasing costs, the U.S. National Archives (NARA) raised prices for microfilm effective October 1. This is the first price increase since 1996. The price of National Archives black-and-white microfilm is now $65 per roll ($68 per roll for foreign orders). The new price for color microfilm is $82 per roll ($85 per roll for foreign orders). Microfiche prices are not affected. You can now order microfilm from the National Archives online at: http://www.archives.gov/research/order/orderonline.html NARA has 19 regional records facilities across the United States plus 11 presidential libraries. http://www.archives.gov/ * * * HAUNTS AND HALLOWEEN ON THE HISTORY CHANNEL The History of Halloween: http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/halloween/?page=origins Ghost Stories: http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/halloween/?page=stories Historic Haunts: http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/halloween/?page=haunts * * * HELPING THE HELP DESK Thank you for your patience during recent technical problems. Always check the announcements in the yellow box at the HelpDesk before asking for assistance. http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/ For best results, when contacting the RootsWeb HelpDesk, provide information about your computer (PC or Macintosh), its operating system (such as Windows 2000, XP, Mac OSX, Linux or Unix) and your Web browser and its version (such as Internet Explorer [IE6], Netscape 8, Mosaic, Opera, Mozilla, Firefox, or Safari). http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/form1.html 1b. TIPS FROM READERS Sharing Your Negative Research By Dorothy Colwell Undoubtedly many researchers have ordered and received death, marriage and birth certificates for individuals who turn out to have no connection to the family being researched. If the "nonapplicable" subject is listed on the RootsWeb Social Security Death Index (SSDI), why not take advantage of its "Add Post-em" feature to post pertinent information from this otherwise useless certificate, such as parents' names, place of birth, etc., making sure of course to cite the source of the information (i.e., death, birth or marriage certificate). It only takes a few minutes to perform this act of kindness, but the information could be very valuable to someone else researching that particular surname. * * * Translating Cockney By Charlotte Carter Bruhn The letter in your newsletter about the German pronunciation of "v" as "fe" and its impact on a census taker rang a bell with me. However, the speaker did not have to speak a foreign language to create this problem. I was looking through Missouri census records in 1860 for my great- grandmother, Emma WOOD FISCHER. I had the account of her wedding to Frederic FISCHER just as my grandmother, Minnie Odessa FISCHER CARTER, had typed it. The only other WOOD name in that account was her brother, Henry John WOOD. I found no Emma WOOD in the listings so I looked for Henry John WOOD. When I found Henry John, I not only found his father, mother and siblings, but I found Hemma -- his younger sister. I also found the corroboration of the old family story that Emma's parents were English -- and unless I am much mistaken, her father was a Cockney Londoner who pronounced the "h"s" that weren't there, although he apparently had learned to pronounce the ones that were there in Henry John's name. Cockney speech: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockney * * * Katrina Damage in Mississippi By Joseph F. Martin in Romeoville, Illinois, USA My cousin from Bay City, Michigan, mailed me a clipping from the Saginaw diocesan newspaper, "The Catholic Weekly." It is dated September 30. It lists the Catholic parishes and schools in the Diocese of Biloxi, Mississippi that were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. This might be helpful to family history researchers who now may have difficulties securing documents. They are: Long Beach: Saint Thomas the Apostle; D'Iberville: Sacred Heart; Pass Christian/Pineville: Saint Paul, Our Mother of Mercy, Our Lady of Lourdes; Bay Saint Louis: Our Lady of the Gulf, Saint Rose de Lima; Waveland/Lakeshore: Saint Clare, Saint John Mission; Pascagoula: Saint Peter the Apostle, Sacred Heart, Our Lady of Victories; Gautier: Saint Mary's; Pearlington: Saint Joseph; Ocean Springs: Saint Alphonsus, Saint Elizabeth Seton; Gulfport: Saint James, Saint Therese, Saint John the Evangelist; Biloxi: Saint Michael, Saint John, Saint Louis, Our Mother of Sorrows, Vietnamese Martyrs, and Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Cathedral. 1c. USING ROOTSWEB: "Around the World I Search for You . . ." Ruth RAINEY was born near Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and has lived there her entire life. She has long delved into her family history to the extent that she knows her RAINEY ancestors immigrated to Australia from Ireland; and earlier came to Ireland from Aberdeen, Scotland. Ruth is somewhat of an expert at using her computer to learn about her family history -- she knows most of the hints for getting the desired results when using search engines. She is also quite knowledgeable about geography but she constantly finds herself being confronted with one major stumbling block and she wants to let us know about it. One of Ruth's favorite places to find information about the early generations of her family in Ireland and Scotland is RootsWeb's WorldConnect. (http://wc.rootsweb.com/). WorldConnect is international in scope. However, she finds it useful to search for only databases that have locations indicated for the events in the lives of the RAINEYs listed in the various databases. Ruth accomplishes this by checking off the boxes to "omit blanks." She also uses Keyword searches on the main WorldConnect page to find Scotland, Australia, and/or Ireland and RAINEY listed in the titles and headers and footers of the vast WorldConnect/ Ancestry Family Tree combined database. By searching in this manner Ruth can separate the American RAINEYs, in which she currently has no interest, from those that lived in Scotland, Ireland, and Australia where all of her known family has lived for many generations. Ruth's stumbling block? Her vexation is that many WorldConnect submitters do not provide locations in their family trees even when the locations are known, or even worse, they list an incomplete locality. In studying the RAINEYs, Ruth found some of them listed as living in Antrim, Aberdeen, and Drogheda. That was it -- nothing else listed as to location. Now the countries of origin might be clear to the one compiling a tree and who lives in a specific country. But too often genealogists assume that everyone, the world over, knows which Aberdeen is meant -- but is it the one in Scotland or the one in New South Wales, Australia? Or do they mean an Aberdeen in one of several U.S. states or Canadian localities? Without the country included in the file, it is anyone's guess as to the exact geographic location involved. Ruth mumbles over and over that she doesn't have a crystal ball and isn't a mind reader. Is this Drogheda the one in County Louth, Ireland where her ancestor last lived prior to immigrating to Australia? Or might there be more than one place in Ireland -- or elsewhere -- named Drogheda? Ruth also knew that short-sighted Americans, who assume the entire world of genealogical research revolves around them and their country, are notorious for omitting complete information as to locations in their family tree data. They just assume everyone knows that a town in the United States has been named for another place in Europe or even have no knowledge of the namesake locality. Well, Ruth doesn't have the crystal ball that gives her that information -- and it annoys her that otherwise thorough and diligent genealogists don't understand this. As if Ruth doesn't have enough of a challenge finding RAINEYs in various locations around the globe, she has to consider variant spellings of the surname -- RANNEY, RANNY, RANEY, RAINY and so on. Plus she has to overcome the obstacle that fellow genealogists -- and possible RAINEY cousins -- set in her path by excluding the country in their trees. Keep Ruth RAINEY's plight in your thoughts when you create your genealogy file and upload your GEDCOM to WorldConnect. Considered what it must be like for someone in another part of the world who is unfamiliar with your homeland to find your data if you list only a town or county or province with no country or other identifying information-- or even perhaps show a confusing abbreviation for a location. Postal abbreviations for American states are confusing to our cousins elsewhere. Spell out the states. List locations in full so that others will be able to find them in a search and will understand what they mean when they do find your database. Make it easy for your cousins to find you. Help Ruth keep the RAINEYs raining all over the world. 2. Connecting Through RootsWeb. Thanks for sharing your stories. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Tales Told by Tombstones By Cornelia Moore My fiancé's great-grandfather, John Scott MOORE, eluded us for years. We finally found a tombstone for him in Zion, Washington County, Arkansas, and assumed he'd died shortly after his wife, Martha K. (maiden name unknown) had. Martha died in 1901. Then one day I was inspired to double check for John Scott MOORE in the 1910 census. After some time and searching I found a John S. MOORE who was married to a Rhoda V. in the 1910 Benton County, Arkansas enumeration. Benton is the next county north of Washington County. Then I traced him to the Kansas State Soldiers' Home. Fortunately, some of the information from the Soldiers' Home is online at http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ks/county/ford/cemeteries/ksstatesoldhomedeaths.htm I was able to add to my information on John Scott MOORE. but I still didn't know if that John S. MOORE and my fiancé's John Scott MOORE were one and the same. Previously I had found only one John S. MOORE in the 1850 and 1860 censuses that was the right age, so I transcribed that and kept it in case some day it would fit. I had found him in Cambridge, Guernsey County, Ohio in both censuses. A few days ago I contacted Joyce Turner at RAOGK (Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness) http://www.raogk.org/listing.htm. She offers assistance in Washington, D.C. for military and pension records. I had discovered a John S. MOORE at the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors site http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/ and requested a look-up regarding him. When she learned that the John S. MOORE I was tracking was in a soldiers' home in Kansas, she checked their records, and in a short time I had all sorts of new information on my fiancé's great-grand- father! It was "our" John Scott MOORE -- even though he had left the soldiers' home, they had his full name, his age, place of birth, description (5'9", hazel eyes, gray hair (he was 63 at the time the file was made) discharge reason, where he enlisted--Cambridge, Ohio; his son's name, and so much more. So if your ancestor was in a soldiers' home, don't overlook it, The records are a boon. Now I can send for his death record and military and pension records, and thanks to the clues in the soldiers' home file I have names of his parents and siblings, and possibly his grandparents and an aunt, and I'm off and running after years of being stalled. Don't believe tombstones -- they may not be accurate. Don't overlook what appear to be mundane records, you never know what may be in them. and follow through on hunches and likely possibilities. I got really lucky. John S. MOORE is a common name, but there's only one in all of the 1860 census, age 19, born in Pennsylvania. Now if I could find Martha's maiden name . . . I get so excited when I make a big breakthrough, even when it's not my own ancestry. ======================== Advertisements ============================ Research in Salt Lake -- Largest Genealogy Library in the World Imagine having your very own professional every day for a week! My Ancestors offers this unique research seminar, November 14-19, 2005 in Salt Lake City. What makes this retreat so effective is what we offer you: * Individualized, professional classes. * Daily research time at the Family History Library. * Seasoned professionals available to work with you eight hours a day in one-on-one sessions to guide you in your research. Sign up with us at http://myancestorsfound.com/retreats.htm today! Be sure to download your Free Research Log at http://www.myancestorsfound.com/forms.htm and check out all of our educational events at http://www.myancestorsfound.com/events.htm ====================== End Advertisements ============================== 3. 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. CALIFORNIA. Napa County. Napa County officials elected 2 September 1857; 22 records; Lori J. Wicks http://userdb.rootsweb.com/bookindexes/ TEXAS. Terrell County. Sanderson. Santa Rita Cemetery; 493 records; Jack Martin http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ WISCONSIN. Dunn County. Index to Knapp Centennial Album, 1974; 882 records; Index to "History of Elk Mound, Wisconsin," by Marvin and Charlotte Cartwright, June 2004; 468 records; Roxanne Munns http://userdb.rootsweb.com/bookindexes/ 4. 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 (its Web address), along with a brief description, including the major pertinent surnames and what is available on your site, to: Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com HAMILTON. HAMILTON Heritage -- from Scotland to America where the family settled in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~pahamilton/ KILLIAN. Researching KILIAN/KILLIAN from Baden, Germany to America, where they settled in New Jersey and New York. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kilian/home.html TAYLOR AND ASHDOWN GENEALOGY. Includes biographies, photos and information on related lines of ASHER, BOWDEN, CHAMBERS, COLLIE, EZZEY, EZZY, HISSEY, KEEN, KEWN, LAMB, LINDSAY, MACINTOSH, MARTEN, MURRAY, WATSON, WEBSTER, WILLEY, and WITNEY from various places in Great Britain, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales and many who settled in Australia. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~amandataylor/ 5. New 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] U.S.A. ~miporthu -- Port Huron (Michigan) ~nysghs -- Solvay-Geddes Historical Society (New York) ~utbyufhg -- BYU Family History Graduates (Utah) ~nhbethle -- City of Bethlehem (New Hampshire) ~orrvgs -- Rogue Valley Genealogical Society (Oregon) 6. 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]. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ In the Brine: Names Found in the Census By Joyce Hambleton Whitten in Monette, Arkansas Many years ago I ran across a name on the census that has stayed with me, but alas I didn't write it down. Now with the indexes available the innocent babe with the strange name is found in the 1850 Barry County Michigan census. Cucumber PICKLE, age 3 months The parents, Martin and Lydia, must have had a great sense of humor, and one wonders if they went on to have say, Dill, Sweet or what about Gherkin? * * * Advanced Search Finds Auntie By Helen Simons Blessings on the SSDI advanced search option. I was able to find my Aunt Cwilla when the only thing I knew about her was that her name was Cwilla and she died in Kentucky. I find it very frustrating that some databases will not allow a first name search. When I really want to find someone, I certainly have the patience for a first name search in a limited geographical or chronological context. Thank you RootsWeb. * * * Popular Family Legends Abound By Doug Storie The one legend that comes to my mind is from my mother's family, and yes, it is about Cherokee ancestry through the EMBREE-BELL line. No proof as of yet other then a distant male ancestor was a missionary to the Cherokee people before they left the East Coast. The other was from Dad's side in which his maternal grandfather, an immigrant from England, served in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces of World War I. Family legend was that he was captured by the Germans. However, this has been disproved through his military records in the Canadian Archives. Actually he was a common doughboy, assigned to a railroad battalion -- although he was in his 60s and lied to be young enough to join. He saw action in France though and later suffered what we would now call PTSD (battle fatigue). * * * Dig or Grumble? By Al Henderson in Quesnel, British Columbia, Canada Regarding the following from last week's RootsWeb Review: Here lie I at the chancel door, Here lie I because I'm poor. The further in the more you pay, But here lie I as warm as they. I see it not as a "grumble" but as a "dig" (honest! no pun intended). He says that those buried further in paid for the privilege ... yet, there he was, in the cheap seats, and just as warm as they. 7. Humor/Humour: Missing a Beat ------------------------------- Thanks to: Steven Weyand Folkers, who writes: While doing research in the Washington County, Iowa Recorder's Office, I came across the following record for my 2nd-great-grandfather's brother in Death Records, Book 1 (1880-1900), page 163: John Brier, Jr., male, age 79, at Brighton City, Washington County, Iowa. Cause of death: Paralysis of the Heart. Well, I guess that would do it! * * * Found a humorous sign or entry in census, parish, church, etc. records? Send to: Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com 8. 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: 5 October 2005, Vol. 8, No. 40. * * * *