RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Weekly E-zine 19 April 2006, Vol. 9, No. 16 (c) 1998-2006 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: Check here for announcements: http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/ * * * ========================================================= IN THIS ISSUE: 1. NEWS, NOTES, AND SOME SITES WORTH SEEING 1a. Editor's Desk: "Anzac Day Commemorates World War I Event "Locking Up the Records" Book Notes: Pennsylvania Sites: Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (1917-1920); Massachusetts Archives Collection Database (1629-1799) 1b. Tips from Readers: "Burying Grandmother in New Brunswick" "Checking Naval Records for Name Changes" "Chipping Away to Find Answers" 1c. Using RootsWeb: 2. Connecting Through RootsWeb: "Preserving Genealogy for Posterity" 3. New User-contributed Databases 4. New/Updated FreePages and HomePages 5. New at RootsWeb 6. RootsWeb Review's Bottomless Mailbag: "Making Links to Sweden" "Seeking Home for WICKER Bible" "Alternatives for Copying Photos" "Low-cost Copying" "Then the Light Came On" 7. Humor/Humour: "It's the BERRIES!" 8. Subscriptions, Submissions, Advertising, Reprints ======================================================= IN THIS ISSUE: 1. EDITOR'S DESK: NEWS, NOTES; SOME SITES WORTH SEEING 1a. EDITOR'S DESK: ANZAC DAY--On 25 April 1915 during World War I, Allied soldiers, which included the forces from New Zealand and Australia, fighting as part of the ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps), landed on the shores of the Gallipoli Peninsula. At the time this was Turkish territory that formed part of Germany's ally, the Ottoman Empire. There were enormous losses of life on both sides in this conflict. In New Zealand, Anzac Day is held on 25 April to commemorate the New Zealanders killed in World War I and to honor returned servicemen and women. The significance of Anzac Day, a virtual guide of the Gallipoli Peninsula, and a searchable database of all New Zealanders who died at Gallipoli, a map with "who landed where" information, biographies, and diaries can be found at these websites: http://www.anzac.govt.nz/ http://www.anzacs.org/gallipolimap1.html http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/gallipolicampaign/ http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/classroom/event-anzacday/ http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/anzacday-biographies/ LOCKING UP THE RECORDS "Well-meaning legislators and bureaucrats around the world are increasingly zealous in their pursuit of increased opportunities to 'protect' the privacy and security of their constituents. Unfortunately the boundaries of their zealousness is often unrestricted by common sense," says Rick Roberts in The Global Gazette. In his recent column, Roberts includes information from Joan M. Lowry, president of the Genealogical Society of New Jersey, explaining the situation in her state. Read the complete article at: http://globalgenealogy.com/globalgazette/news/2006-04-13a.htm Concerned about access to records being closed in your state or province (or in localities where your ancestors resided), check the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) Records Preservation and Access website to learn what's going on and how you can help. http://www.fgs.org/rpa/ Can't happen in your area? See what's happened in South Dakota. http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1302&dept_id&@61; 181990&newsid=16363742&PAG=461&rfi=9 * * * BOOK NOTES: Pennsylvania South Central Pennsylvania Genealogical Society of York County, Pennsylvania has published "An Abstract of Baptisms, Marriages, Deaths, New Members and Articles of 'The Parish Telephone'." "The Parish Telephone" was a monthly newsletter, written and published by the Rev. Adam Stump from 1900 to 1921, for the Lutheran congregations of the Quickel's Charge in York County, Pennsylvania. The churches in that charge were St. Paul’s (Wolf’s), Quickel’s, Paradise (Salem) and Mt. Zion. Many of the obituaries in the newsletters did not appear in the local newspapers. A large number of articles of historical interest written by the Rev. Stump have also been included in the publication. The 8.5"x11" soft-cover book (ca 330 pages) contains baptisms, marriages, deaths, and new members are listed alphabetically. Names within the obituaries and the articles are indexed separately. It is available ($25 postpaid--Pennsylvania residents should add $1.20 state sales tax) from SCPGS Publications, P.O. Box 1824, York, PA 17405. * * * SOME SITES WORTH SEEING: WOMEN'S (LATER QUEEN MARY'S) ARMY AUXILIARY CORPS (1917-1920) You can now search (free) and download the service records of more than 7,000 women who joined the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (1917-1918), later Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps (1918-1920). It was renamed the Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps (QMAAC) in April 1918. And when the Royal Air Force (RAF) was created in 1918 a number of WAAC volunteers entered the Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF). The Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps disbanded in September 1921. While more than 57,000 women served in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps between 1917 and 1920, an air raid in 1940 destroyed many of their service records but some have survived. You can now search these surviving records online for the first time. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/waac.asp MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES COLLECTION DATABASE (1629-1799) This database serves as a searchable, descriptive index and catalog for documents of 18 volumes of the Massachusetts Archives Collection. http://www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/arcsrch/RevolutionarySearchContects.html * * * 1b. TIPS FROM READERS: Burying Grandmother in New Brunswick By C. Cusack-Smith My grandmother died in 1935. I and my cousins had no idea where she was buried. All of her siblings and children have passed on, so there is no one except her nephew who could have recalled her burial. I have forwarded my query to the nephew but, haven't heard from him. Meanwhile I read on a message board that a local man would do cemetery lookups. There were three burials for Peter B. STEEVES, two of whom I can claim. The third one I disregarded thinking that I had no connection with a Peter B. STEEVES, age 42. This same contact (R.C.M.P. officer) decided, without prompting to look up my grandmother's obit. and delivered it to my door. My grandmother's name was Cora (BEAMAN) STEEVES. Strange in her obit her name was never mentioned -- she was referred to as Mrs. Peter B. STEEVES. Included in the obit was the name of the funeral home, so I contacted it and it informed me that she was buried in Elmwood Cemetery, Moncton, N.B., Canada. The burial of Peter B. STEEVES aged 42 was in fact his wife -- Cora (BEAMAN) STEEVES. Amazing how an oversight can result in years of searching. * * * Checking Naval Records for Name Changes By Bob Mhoon in Arlington, Texas, USA The U.S. Navy has a little-known regulation allowing recruits the option to use any name they choose upon entry. It's called a "Change of Name Statement" and says "In those cases where an applicant does not use the name listed on his/her birth certificate or Evidence of Citizenship form, the following additional information must be submitted (NOT REQUIRED FOR NICKNAMES): 1. Record of court procedure legally changing name, or 2. Change of Name Statement (NAVPERS 1100/17)" While recruiting in the early 1970s I had several recruits who elected a name change. One chose a new middle name and the original middle name became his first name. Once you think about the many thousands of similar cases you can imagine the confusion and extreme challenges facing those unaware of this. Years after leaving the service, getting married and having children, the veteran and immediate family may have totally forgotten this. In most cases, simply talking about this with the veteran or family members can eliminate future difficulties. Having a valid SSN (Social Security Number) is very helpful in gaining access to a service record that may contain a name-change document. Unfortunately, I was unable to determine how long this Navy policy has existed. My sense is many years. Other military services may have similar options. In any case, the process is the same regardless of service branch. * * * Chipping Away to Find Answers By Janice Porter I found new information by the unusual middle name of a great- grandfather, Burton Esbon HAWK One of the townships that was mentioned in a letter has a website and on it there were postings of "historical musings." In one of those postings the name Esbon was mentioned. Evidently he was known by the middle name as well as his given name. Persistence is the key. I am also slowly chipping away at Mellie GRAY HAWK's (Burton's wife) background. * * * 1c. USING ROOTSWEB: Preserving Genealogy for Posterity As fate would have it, less than a week after Penny PACKER had uploaded her GEDCOM to WorldConnect, digitized and submitted alumni lists from the old family yearbooks to the RootsWeb User- contributed databases, scanned and uploaded family photos and Bible information to the RootsWeb/Ancestry message boards, and uploaded a ton of customized family history info to her new Freepages website, lightning struck -- literally. A brief, but violent, spring thunderstorm zapped Penny's computer hard drive destroying all of her data. It took Penny about a week to get a new hard drive installed and to begin recovering her lost data. She'd begun to back some of it up on CD before the storm hit and was able to restore it once her computer was back in working order. However, she hadn't created a backup for her family tree other than the one her genealogy program had created automatically which was, you guessed it, also on her fried hard drive. To Penny's delight, she learned that she could download and restore her complete genealogy file in GEDCOM format from WorldConnect by using her user code and password and clicking on RETRIEVE GEDCOM on the WorldConnect Set-up page. It was all there--even the part that was privatized in the display on WorldConnect. Fortunately, Penny had not pre-cleaned the data and allowed WorldConnect's filters to do that for her. So her compete file was now restored on her computer and imported into her genealogy program. Penny was also able to recover the information she'd placed on her Freepages site by copying the pages onto her new hard drive. Through a search of the message boards for posts she had made, she located and downloaded the images of family members she'd dutifully placed there. Already feeling she'd learned her lesson about hoarding data and how it can be forever lost -- quickly and unexpectedly -- she was glad that she had listened to that inner voice that prodded her to place the data online at RootsWeb and share with others. Penny decided to check her piles of accumulated e-mail from the past week while she'd been offline. She was in for even more surprises. Penny had not seen or heard from Aunt Ruth and Uncle Roy since the big family fight over the distribution of grandfather PACKER's estate when Penny was only 11 years old. They found her family file through a search. The passing years and increasing realization of their own mortality then led them to contact Penny and seek a reunion with the remaining family members. This meant that Penny would also get to see Ruth and Roy's now grown children. She had not seen those cousins since they were all quite young. There were other e-mails from newfound distant "genealogy" cousins who had information to share and family stories to swap. There was even a heartwarming "thank you" e-mail from a lady whose mother was included in one of the newspaper articles Penny had transcribed on the message boards. The lady's mother had died young and she was trying to learn more about her -- and Penny's clipping had set her on the path to new discoveries. On another front, Penny's family was ecstatic to be rid of the clutter in the house--Penny had organized the entire "mess" into scrapbooks and photo albums in the process of transcribing and digitizing it. Spring cleaning was now a breeze. Penny mused that while we never know when lightning will strike, it pays to be ready in case of emergency. Sharing with others helps preserve data that might otherwise be lost forever. While she hadn't anticipated the spring storm---she was happy to have also found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. * * * * * * * * * * Advertisements * * * * * * * * * * Plan now to attend the National Genealogical Society’s Annual Conference, June 7-10, in suburban Chicago. With more than 150 sessions and events covering beginner to advanced topics and specialized ethnic tracks, this conference has everything you need to ensure success in your genealogical search. Learn from nationally recognized experts and take part in hands-on workshops and networking events. Visit the free Exhibitor Hall, featuring 150 vendors offering a wide array of books, software and other tools to make your search easier. Visit http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/ or call 1-800-473-0060 for registration information. * * * GET HELP WITH YOUR BRITISH GENEALOGY BRITISH ANCESTORS 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/ For help in finding ancestors from the USA/Canada, Ireland, Germany, Poland, Russia, Holland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, request a FREE! initial e-mail consultation from http://www.ancestorseekers.com/research/rwr/ Join us JUNE 11-16 for our fifth Salt Lake City research trip -- the ideal genealogy vacation! * * * * * * * * * * End of Advertisements * * * * * * * * * * 2. CONNECTING THROUGH ROOTSWEB: Siblings Reunited through Message Board Posting By Genevieve Riendeau I was sitting at work on 11 September 2003, feeling sorry for myself and thinking about my mom on what would have been her 70th birthday. My e-mail popped up saying I had a message. The message said, "please contact me immediately regarding your (Message Board) posting" and my old posting was pasted in. It was just three or four short lines. I e-mailed the sender back and after a few messages we knew we had found each other. It was my brother, who had been separated from the family for 40 years. He found my message while casually searching on 11 September two years ago. We met a few weeks later at my house and all the siblings and niece and nephews were there. It was absolutely an Oprah moment! Wonderful. * * * Did you leap over some brick walls or cleverly figure out where your grandmother was hiding in a census? Do tell! Dazzle us with your brilliant sleuthing or uncanny luck. We're all ears. Send your tales of genealogical adventure to: Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com 3. New User-Contributed Databases at RootsWeb http://userdb.rootsweb.com/submit/ ---------------------------------------------- No new databases this week. 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 MARYLAND. Frederick County. Old court records regarding the people who at one time lived in the different counties of and surrounding the area of early Frederick County. Many times the names and later locations are mentioned of children or grandchildren who left this Eastern area. Records start in the mid- to late-1700s and progress. Also includes tombstone inscriptions, newspaper items and other data for these areas. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~midmdroots/ U.S. LARGE SLAVEHOLDERS OF 1860 and AFRICAN AMERICAN SURNAME MATCHES FROM the 1870 CENSUS. There are currently 8,395 surname and county combinations and 11,020 individual slaveholder names on the large slaveholder lists, representing a total of 792,219 slaves in 158 counties (called parishes in Louisiana) in 10 states. This total represents 49.8 percent (approximately one-half) of the slaves that were held in these counties and 20.05 percent (1 out of every 5) slaves held in the United States in 1860. The counties and parishes included here had 40.27 percent (2 out of 5) of the slaves held in the United States in 1860 and almost one-half of those were held by the slaveholders listed at this site. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~ajac/ 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] ENGLAND engcopc -- Cornwall Online Parish Clerks (OPC) U.S.A. alcchs -- Chilton County Historical Society (Alabama) ctcderby -- City of Derby (Connecticut) fldocsar -- Daytona-Ormond (Florida) Chapter SAR neusd -- State Society (Nebraska) USD nyasuvcw -- Auxiliary to the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (New York) nyusd -- State Society (New York) USD nccwoodv -- City of Woodville (North Carolina) ohlawren -- Lawrence County (Ohio) ohpccogs -- Perry County (Ohio) Chapter Ohio Genealogical Society ohross -- Ross County (Ohio) ohscioto -- Scioto County (Ohio) Key: SAR--Sons of the American Revolution USD--U.S. Daughters of the War of 1812 * * * 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 29,800 RootsWeb-hosted genealogy Mailing Lists and for easy subscribing (joining) options go to: http://lists.rootsweb.com/ NEW SURNAME MAILING LISTS AMENT, AUVENSHINE BEILER, BEYLER, BOILER, BRUMMER CARVELLI DEL-PRETE GUCKENBERGER HOELKER (includes HOLKER) OVINGTON RORRER SWITZLER TOTTENHAM WEBB-TX (Webb surname in Texas, USA) NEW ETHNIC OR SPECIAL INTEREST MAILING LISTS KINSEY-JACOB--Descendants of Jacob Kinsey for the Kinsey Family Organization (http://www.kinseyroots.org/) NEW REGIONAL MAILING LISTS ENG-HAM-SOUTH-STONEHAM -- Genealogy and local history group for discussion relating to the villages within the Parish of South Stoneham including Swaythling, Portswood, Bitterne, Bassett, Eastleigh, West End, Northam and Townhill Park, etc. and parishes Botley, Burlesdon, Chilworth, Hamble-le-Rice, Hedge End, Hound, Itchen, Millbrook, North Stoneham, Portswood, St. Mary Extra, Shirley, and Sholling. 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]. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Making Links to Sweden By John A. Zinn My grandfather, Johan August ZINN, came to the U. S. in 1876 as part of a group which erected the Swedish Exhibit at the Centennial Celebration in Philadelphia. He returned to Sweden, settled his affairs and returned to the U.S. We know a great deal about him after his arrival in Altoona, Pennsylvania, but there is a gap of four years, 1877 to 1881, that has not yet been filled. He had no relatives in the States. A few years ago I posted a Home Page on Genealogy.com without much expectation of a reply. One day I received an e-mail from Sweden. It was from Helene, a distant cousin who had done a very complete research on the descendants of Johan Fredrich ZINN, born 1773 in Demmin. The result was a 32-page, single-spaced, genealogist's dream -- listing all of the descendants, with birth, marriage, place of residence, date of death and place of burial. There was one small problem; it is mostly in Swedish. That was solved with the help of a Swedish dictionary. The result of the first e-mail has been a continuing correspondence between Helene and our family. Pictures have been exchanged and the details of great-grandfather's estate are of great interest. Not the money, but as required by Swedish law, every item no matter how small must be listed. Gold, silver, copper, and all things in the house are listed and a value place on them. Now if I can just find out what ship he arrived on. * * * Seeking Home for WICKER Bible By Patricia Tummons (pattum@aloha.net) While sifting through old cupboards in the home of my parents (both recently deceased), I came upon an old family Bible. Although neither my mother nor my father ever spoke of being in possession of a family Bible, I hoped against hope that perhaps this volume might shed light on a few family mysteries. To my surprise, the Bible turned out not to belong to anyone in my family at all, but instead, had been given in 1961 to my grandmother -- a genealogy buff -- by a friend of hers who had apparently hoped my grandmother might track down some of the friend’s relatives. That appears not to have happened. If you are interested in the family of Jesse WICKER (born in the 1830s, died in 1878), I’d love to give you this bible. Jesse WICKER lived most of his life in central Missouri (Pulaski County, I believe) and after his death, his widow and children moved to Greene County, Missouri. The bible was given to Susan WICKER (nee PRESTON) in 1891 and contains much information on births, marriages, and deaths of descendants of Jesse WICKER. * * * Alternatives for Copying Photos By Bob Hansen Your message about copyright issues with old photos rings true to me. I have old family photos dating back maybe as far as 150 years and have often faced the same problem. Photoshops are extremely reluctant to duplicate photos that are less than 50 years old for the reasons you cited. In my case many of the photos are unique or of individuals who died during the war. In fact some duplicates of the old photos were discovered in the possession of relatives in Europe -- our family copies were destroyed during World War II. Most all of them were official portraits. I would suggest that anyone who has the problem keep trying or just invest in a scanner. If you copy yourself, the onus is on you. However, if the photo is of recent vintage, say within the last 25 years, be aware that those are almost surely under copyright. (Personally, I wouldn't even call them "old" unless they are pre-war). One way to tell is to check to see if they're on "professional paper." Professional paper is a sure mark of being copyrighted. [Editor's Note: in the U.S. virtually all photographs published before January 1923 are now in the public domain, but those published after that date may or may not still be under copyright. See: http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm * * * Low-cost Copying By Mac Hayes in Riverton, Utah In the U.S., libraries and even grocery stores usually have copy machines available for low-cost copying, with no prying busy-body employees asking what you are copying. Maybe copy stores are reluctant to make copies, but photo stores seem to have no problem with copying old prints, and correcting stains and blemishes. At least that has been the practice in the recent past. Maybe the cost of the service has something to do with who is reluctant to copy and who is not? * * * Then the Light Came On By Jeanette Anagnos in Red Hook, New York In doing my husband's family genealogy, one Polly MILLER has eluded me for several years. Probably every few months I search any and all sites I can think of, with no success. I only found one other in another state. This Polly MILLER was married to Samuel L. TEN BROECK, living in Dutchess County, New York. Last week, I decided once again to do an extensive search. I did find an entry containing only their marriage date. This gave me an idea. Several years ago a local book store was going out of business and I was there during the final days of business. I looked at what seemed like the last dregs and spied four books of church records, which are widely transcribed and published by Arthur and Nancy Kelly. I bought all four, as they pertained to local churches, and I am dealing with people who were local to the area in which we still live. I dragged out these books and lo and behold found the marriage record for Samuel L. TEN BROECK and Maria MULLER! The marriage date was correct. I then looked up Ms. Mary MULLER and bingo -- she was my girl. There was also a little paragraph on the One World Tree site that stated that MILLER, MULLER, and MUELLER were used quite interchangeably in the late 1700s, which is the time of these people. Also, Polly was a nickname for Mary. This was my "Eureka!" moment. 7. Humor/Humour: It's the BERRIES! ------------------------------- Thanks to: Linda Berry Dickson My grandmother was Beth G. BLUE. Grandfather was George W. BERRY. So when Beth BLUE married George BERRY she became Beth BLUE BERRY, which makes me a direct descendant of a BLUEBERRY. * * * Found a "proper name for the job" or humorous sign, amusing entries in census, parish, church, etc. records? Send them 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: 19 April 2006, Vol. 9, No. 16. * * * *