RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Weekly E-zine 28 December 2005, Vol. 8, No. 52 (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/ ============================================================ IN THIS ISSUE: 1. NEWS, NOTES, AND/OR SITES WORTH SEEING 1a. Editor's Desk: "Thanks to Volunteers" "Some Sites Worth Seeing" "News Flash. 1852 New Year Resolutions Solve Genealogical Mysteries" 1b. Tips from Readers: "Click, Click: Taking Pictures of Pictures: "Hiding Under a Middle Name" 1c. Using RootsWeb: "Resolutions for 2006" 2. Connecting Through RootsWeb: "Quilting Bee -- Modern Version" 3. New User-contributed Databases 4. New/Updated FreePages and HomePages 5. New at RootsWeb 6. RootsWeb Review's Bottomless Mailbag: "Name Conjecturing" "Poetic Marriage Record" "Our Christmas Miracle Baby" "Wrapping Up My Genealogy" 7. Humor/Humour: "My Ancestor Was Not!" 8. Subscriptions, Submissions, Advertising, Reprints =========================================================== IN THIS ISSUE: 1. NEWS, NOTES, AND SOME SITES WORTH SEEING 1a. EDITOR'S DESK: Thanks to Volunteers RootsWeb.com thanks its numerous volunteers who have contributed so much this year to make RootsWeb successful and who have helped many find their ancestors and cousins. You're the greatest. * * * SOME SITES WORTH SEEING: MISSOURI. Vernon, Cedar, and St. Clair Counties. The Tri-County Genealogical Society offers suggestions on researching in Vernon, Cedar, and St. Clair counties, including a special section on the Nevada State Hospital #3 asylum. http://www.rootsweb.com/~motcogs/ DICTIONARY OF OCCUPATIONAL TITLES (DOT): U.S. job titles and descriptions. http://www.occupationalinfo.org/ NEVADA STATE PRISON. Inmate case files, 1863 to 1972. http://dmla.clan.lib.nv.us/docs/nsla/archives/prison/nsp.htm * * * U.S. LAND RECORDS BACK ONLINE. The Bureau of Land Management-Eastern States recently announced that its General Land Office (GLO) Records website is back on line at http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/ Title companies, historians, genealogists, and other interested people can once again obtain millions of historic land title records from the 30 Public Land States (those states not included in the original 13 Colonies) dating back to the 1780s. These fascinating and valuable records include homesteads, patents, military warrants, and railroad grants. To date more than 4.2 million records have been scanned and imaged since the project began in 1989. "The GLO Records Web site is one of the most popular websites at the Department of the Interior. It offers customers the ability to research and query the GLO database by name, land description, and county, and view and print these historic documents from their homes or offices, saving them time and money," said BLM-Eastern States Director Mike Nedd. "We at BLM recognize the impact that this [six-month] disconnection has had on our customers, and we thank them for their patience and understanding during this period," Nedd said. * * * NEWS FLASH. 1852 NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS SOLVE GENEALOGICAL MYSTERIES. It is New Year's Eve 1852 and Henry HYDENWELL sits at his desk by candlelight. He dips his quill pen in ink and begins to writes his New Year's resolutions. 1. No man is truly well-educated unless he learns to spell his name at least three different ways within the same document. I resolve to give the appearance of being extremely well-educated in the coming year. 2. I resolve to see to it that all of my children will have the same names that my ancestors have used for six generations in a row. 3. My age is no one's business but my own. I hereby resolve to never list the same age or birth year twice on any document. 4. I resolve to have each of my children baptized in a different church -- either in a different faith or in a different parish. Every third child will not be baptized at all or will be baptized by an itinerant minister who keeps no records. 5. I resolve to move to a new town, new county, or new state at least once every 10 years -- just before those pesky enumerators come around asking silly questions. 6. I will make every attempt to reside in counties and towns where no vital records are maintained or where the courthouse burns down every few years. 7. I resolve to join an obscure religious cult that does not believe in record keeping or in participating in military service. 8. When the tax collector comes to my door, I'll loan him my pen, which has been dipped in rapidly fading blue ink. 9. I resolve that if my beloved wife Mary should die, I will marry another Mary. 10. I resolve not to make a will. Who needs to spend money on a lawyer? * * * 1b. TIPS FROM READERS Click, Click: Taking Pictures of Pictures By Mel Sherman in Petaluma, California, USA This might be a good time to remind readers with digital cameras that they can be used to take pictures of old ones and they come out great. You want to either do this in a much-lighted area or take the pictures outside so you don't need the flash. Many old photo albums have the pictures pasted in and by using your digital camera it eliminates the need to take them out of the album. I take each picture individually as well as one of the page so as to include any notes or descriptions. I have saved hundreds of old pictures using my digital camera and used CDs to share these with others. * * * Hiding Under a Middle Name By Margaret McCleskey in Arlington, Texas, USA Some time ago, I was doing research on a half brother of my great- grandmother and having no luck finding him in a certain year of the census. I tried every possible spelling of the surname that I could think of and then finally I entered only his first name and his age group, sex, race and place of birth. I then found him listed by his middle name under his surname -- right where I expected him to be. * * * 1c. USING ROOTSWEB: Resolutions for 2006 Nora NEWLEAF has been using various resources at RootsWeb and over the past year has been reminded on more than one occasion that she has not been using them as effectively as she could be. So, Nora has decided to make a few New Year's resolutions. In using RootsWeb mailing lists, Nora resolves: 1). That should her e-mail address change, she will properly send an unsubscribe request for all of her subscribed lists after requesting a list of all lists from Password Central (http://passwordcentral.rootsweb.com/) which she can access via the Passwords tab in at the top of any RootsWeb page. She will send a new e-mail from her old address while it is still valid, to LISTNAME-L-request@rootsweb.com or LISTNAME-D-request@rootsweb.com (replacing the generic word LISTNAME with the actual list name, of course). Nora will then use her new e-mail address to send a subscribe request to the same addresses listed above. 2). That should she wish to send a message to her lists that she feels is important, but which might not fall within the subject matter for list discussion, she will check with the list admin privately before doing so. (She learned the hard way when she created havoc on a few of her lists this past year by sending a message to everyone in her address book including her lists about a virus warning.) She had been informed promptly by the list administrator that she shouldn't have done this and that if she had questions about what was allowed and not allowed on a list she could contact that person privately by writing to: LISTNAME-admin@rootsweb.com (replacing the word LISTNAME with the actual name of the list). 3). To be polite to list members and not to send any "flame" e-mails. She learned that in Internet language "flaming" is personally attacking someone. Nora resolves to "cool off" before drafting a reply to any e- mail that upsets her on a list. 4). To not reply to an improper list message when she sees one posted. She has also learned not to quote any improper list messages in subsequent responses. She vows to leave list management to the list administrator rather than trying to step in and comment. 5). To think things through before posting a query on a list -- to be sure she is including all pertinent data and making clear what information she is seeking. 6). To reply to list posts that have been "gatewayed" from a corresponding message board by clicking on the included link and replying on the board. In using RootsWeb/Ancestry message boards, Nora resolves: 1). To find the most relevant message board (http://boards.rootsweb.com) for posting her message and post the message only on this board rather than spamming her message across numerous boards. She learned this tactic is not appreciated as the boards are universally searchable and if a message is properly posted on one board, anyone can find it in a search of the boards in the future. 2). To make proper use of the surname box and subject to show clearly the focus of the message and to include only the surnames found in the message properly formatted with each surname listed separated by a comma and space -- not all the surnames she is researching. 3). To login under the account she uses for posting on the message boards every time she plans to post a message so that she can make full use of the capability to update her account information (including global e-mail address updates) when needed. In using RootsWeb's WorldConnect database of GEDCOMs, Nora resolves: 1). To review her online GEDCOMs and update information regularly. 2). To keep her e-mail contact information current on her GEDCOMs to ensure that her cousins can find her. 3). To gain a better understanding that facts and ancestors don't belong to her (or anyone else) exclusively and are free for anyone to use and copy from her file. She has come to grips with the fact that anyone using her ancestors in other trees is not a copyright violation and that facts can't be created, only discovered. Factual information from her GEDCOM may be used by anyone -- it is not necessary that they be related in any way to her family. While it is considerate to give credit to other for their work, it isn't legally required. 4). To remember that having a GEDCOM on RootsWeb's WorldConnect is a perfect off-site backup for her data because she has uploaded her complete file and then allowed WorldConnect's filters to create the desired display of her information to exclude those individuals in her file who were born after 1930 and who are still living. Nora smiles as she assesses her list of resolutions and thinks this year she has made resolutions that should be easy to keep -- much easier than last year's resolution to lose 20 pounds. Don't even ask her about how well she kept that one! But this year Nora NEWLEAF is turning over a new leaf (so to speak)--making resolutions she feels confident she can keep. 2. Connecting Through RootsWeb: Quilting Bee -- Modern Version By Richard McClintock, director of publications rmcclintock@hsc.edu Hampden-Sydney College, Hampden-Sydney, Virginia, USA Probably the most fun I've had with a genealogy project was when we found an old crazy quilt thrown in a dumpster (at Hampden-Sydney College) at the end of the school year (it was in great shape, probably just too much trouble for a student to haul home with him). It was signed Lizzie M. RISSLER and dated 1897. We didn't have any RISSLERS on the rolls, so I searched RootsWeb/Ancestry.com and found a RISSLER family page. The page host [webmaster] helped figure out the probable maker of the quilt -- one in that branch of the family -- and then she and some other RISSLER record-keepers decided that the proper person to return it to was the great-granddaughter of the maker. So it's back in the family now -- thanks to the genealogical resources now available on the Web. We are willing to accept queries from people whose ancestors may have gone to Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia (we have about 12,000 attendees since 1775 and are glad to look in our records to see what information we have about them. There is a Catalogue of Alumni, which goes from 1775 to 1946, with hometowns, attendance dates, and in many cases what they did after they graduated. My copy was hand-annotated by previous editors with death dates and even sometimes marriage info as it came in to the college. From 1790 to about 1865, we have the books in which students signed-in at the beginning of each semester; these include parents' names as well as hometowns. Ironically, we know less about our recent students than about the older ones, because computer records took over and no one is publishing complete lists of who attended any more. ========================== Advertisements ============================ GET HELP WITH YOUR BRITISH GENEALOGY British Ancestors, a British company with researchers throughout England and Scotland has helped more than 4,500 satisfied clients worldwide since 1999. Researchers will search the records of your English and Scottish ancestors stored in archives throughout England and Scotland, most of which are unavailable on the Internet. Friendly service, affordable prices and free research assessments. For a FREE, no-obligation research assessment, visit http://www.britishancestors.com/consultrwr/ ====================== 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. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. Washington. 1910 alumni list for Howard University; 117 records; 1910 alumni list for the National School of Domestic Arts and Sciences; 10 records; Paula Lucy Delosh http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ SOUTH DAKOTA. Hand County. 1910 atlas, list and information on county residents; 511 records; Ronette Stewart http://userdb.rootsweb.com/atlas_gazetteer/ U.S.A. Passenger Lists; Cacciabaudo (surname); 3 records; Joseph Cacibauda http://userdb.rootsweb.com/passenger/ 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 GORDON'S ANCESTRAL BOOK. Primarily American lines. Surnames include: ADAMS, BARTLETT, CHANDLER, FISHER, FLEMING, GARDNER, GERRETZE, GORDON, GROSEBECK, HATCHER, HUTCHINS, JOHNSON, KNIGHT, MILLER, ROBINSON, SQUIRE, STORER, THATCHER, VANSANT, WILLIAMS, and WOODWARD. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~famnkin/ MORGAN. Pertaining to MORGANs -- around the world. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~morgansociety/ WRIGHT. The WRIGHT families of Overton and Fentress counties, Tennessee. from 1820 through 2930. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~nataletne/Overton/ 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] AUSTRALIA auskppfrn -- Keilor Plains (Victoria) Pioneer Family Research Network U.S.A. kybreck2 -- Breckinridge County (Kentucky) netpl -- The Pastfinder Library (Nebraska) mscwmgs -- Central West Mississippi Genealogical Society (Mississippi) 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]. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name Conjecturing By Caron Tait My grandmother's first husband was Miles BOYER. He and their two young children died early in their marriage. She then married my grandfather James BURNS. I began to search Miles and his family. Miles was born 1864 in Clark County, Illinois and I found the family in the 1880, 1870, and 1860 Illinois censuses. As I am comparing children--what do I notice? In 1870 Miles has a brother by the name Wilkes, age 2; in 1880 there is listed a 12-year-old male child named Booth age 12. These parents [Phillip BOYER and Emily Jane JONES] truly must have hated President Abraham Lincoln to give their son the name of his assassin. As an added point of interest--Phillip and Emily also named their first son (b. 1859) Allen Douglas (after Stephen A. Douglas one might assume?) [Editor's note: The famous senator from Illinois was named Stephen Arnold Douglas.] * * * Poetic Marriage Record By Alva L. Van Houten I found this marriage certificate recently while scanning marriage certificates for one of my lines. It was found on Family History Library film No. 2243649, marriage certificates, 1809-1950, Knox County, Ohio. A sprightly lad named Amos Nichols by name This day was united to a blooming young dame Her name Sarah Davis as her parents say The company was pleasant good humoured and gay --October 28th 1819 By me, H. Rigdon This quite a departure from the form usually used recording marriages at that time. I wonder what the story was behind it. * * * Our Christmas Miracle Baby By Judy Graham in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA My son Al turned 39 recently and I have been reflecting on his early birth, tiny birth weight (three pounds, four ounces), and his struggle for life. On Christmas the year he was born the hospital called and said they had a Christmas miracle -- that he had turned a corner and would survive. My doctor had sent me home for Christmas to be with 10-month-old Sue, since we'd lost her twin at birth on 12 February 1966. It was a very hard year in Madison, Wisconsin, but that news was one of the best God- given Christmas presents ever. My brother Bob and family had come for an early Christmas visit from Chicago and I have found a photo of Bobbie (my sister-in-law) in my living room with their two-month-old baby Ann on her lap -- dated 15 December 1966. As a genealogist and keeper of my own photos and my mom's albums, I was delighted to find that photo since I had forgotten. * * * Wrapping Up My Genealogy By Merle Lundy I like projects with limits but my genealogy friends say, "You're never done in genealogy." I am in the process of "finishing" my research on several families. I recently completed my BOUDOVLYA family and e-mailed a few notes to people at 3:40 a.m., including a man I had shared info with about the town the family came from. We believed the town no longer existed. A few hours later I got an e-mail from a woman who had researched the town and put up a website just a few months earlier. In fact, there were two Russian towns of this name, Lachowicz, and both still exist but under different names. I spent days combing her invaluable site and was able to understand the social and political climate that led to my great-grandparents' emigration. I added this info to my data and again thought I was done. I called a cousin and to ask for his new e-mail address. As we chatted I mentioned that there had been family photos and no one knew where they were. He (of course) said, "I have them." He mailed them to me, I sent copies to people in every branch of the family and we miraculously identified everyone. I scanned the photos into my data and called to tell him of the results. He said, "I found an article on the Internet about Uncle George," but when he sent the site to me I found an article about another relative as well. I've added this to my data. Am I done? During this same period, I completed my NEWCAMP family and told this to a genealogy friend. Then I remembered that we both had SMEDLEYs in the family, SMEDLEY being a NEWCAMP branch. We checked and we connected, sending me down yet another branch. Also during this time, I completed my TAPPER family and called a relative I share info with, then realized that she was a SMEDLEY descendant too. More important, her 90-something mother had told her that the Mary TAPPER I thought had died as a child, was actually Cora May TAPPER who lived and married and was the mother of a child we thought belonged to someone else. This sent us into a joyful frenzy of activity. Am I done now? The other day I called my mother's cousin to tell her I had completed my TAPPER research. We hadn't spoken in a year. I learned that her spouse died a few weeks before and she, sadly, is a dementia victim who no longer knows me. I called her son who never returned my calls in the past. This time we had a lovely chat and he is sending me a photo of my grandfather (a polio victim) as a child in a wheelchair. Am I done yet? 7. Humor/Humour: My Ancestor Was Not! ---------------------------------- Found a humorous sign or entry in census, parish, church, etc. records? Send to: Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com * * * Thanks to Onnie Ferris A few years back I was working as staff at our local Family History Center and assisted a lady in searching a census for her family. She came to me with a question about the occupation for one of her family members in West Virginia. He was listed as a "tippler." I looked through three dictionaries, including Black's Law Dictionary, before I gave up and reluctantly told her what I knew before I started -- that a "tippler" is "one who drinks to excess." She was less than overjoyed that her ancestor was officially listed as a drunk. Fast-forward to a few weeks ago as I was watching a show on the educational TV channel. It was comparing the modern mining equipment to that used last century. It showed the current machinery used in West Virginia to bring the mined coal out of the mine, then showed how the coal used to be pushed out manually in carts on rails and dumped out large piles of to be loaded onto trains. The narrator said that the men who pushed the coal carts out and tipped (emptied) them were called TIPPLERS. I hope that lady was watching the same show! * * * [Editor's note: Harry Tootles Mining Dictionary shows: "Tipper or Tipplers -- An apparatus for emptying tubs onto the 'screens' or down a shute [chute] into a wagon or boat." http://website.lineone.net/~coalmining/index-page17.html] 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 HELPDESK: Check here for announcements: http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/ * * * For best results, when contacting the RootsWeb HelpDesk, provide information about your computer (PC or Macintosh), its operating system (Windows 2000, XP, Mac OSX, etc.) and your Web browser and its version. If the question pertains to something you have found on a RootsWeb site, please include the URL [that's the Web address; starts with http://]. http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/form1.html * * * 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: 28 December 2005, Vol. 8, No. 52. * * * *