RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Weekly E-zine 27 June 2007, Vol. 10, No. 26 (c) 1998-2007 RootsWeb.com, Inc. http://www.rootsweb.com/ * * * Having trouble reading this newsletter? The online version is available at: http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/review/2007/0627.txt * * * ROOTSWEB HELPDESK: Check here for site maintenance announcements: http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/ * * * ROOTSWEB NEWSROOM: Check here for the latest RootsWeb news: http://blogs.rootsweb.com/newsroom/ * * * ROOTSWEB STORE: Check here for the latest in genealogy books, software, photos, and more: http://www.therootswebstore.com/ * * * ROOTSWEB REVIEW ARCHIVES: Check here for previous editions: http://e-zine.rootsweb.com/ ============================================================== IN THIS ISSUE: 1. Editor's Desk: News and Notes 1a. GENEVA 1b. FamilyHistoryMinute.com 1c. Save Funding for U.S. National Archives and NHPRC 1d. Book Notice (1) 2. Using RootsWeb: The Message Board/Mailing List Gateway 3. Connecting Through RootsWeb: Old Photos Lead to a Discovery 4. Bottomless Mailbag: My Native American Ancestry "Who's on First" Looking for Descendants of Henry SAMSON and Abraham SAMPSON 5. New at RootsWeb 5a. New User-contributed Databases 5b. New/Updated Freepages and Homepages by Individuals 5c. New/Updated Freepages and Homepages by Counties, States, and Genealogical/Historical Societies 5d. New Mailing Lists 6. Humor/Humour 7. Subscriptions, Submissions, Advertising, Reprints ============================================================== IN THIS ISSUE: 1. Editor's Desk: News and Notes 1a. GENEVA Want some publicity for your upcoming genealogical conference? Looking for a good conference to attend close by? Visit GENEVA, the online calendar of GENealogical EVents and Activities. It is hosted by GENUKI and the Federation of Family History Societies. http://geneva.weald.org.uk/ 1b. FamilyHistoryMinute.com This week I was introduced to an interesting new podcast, Family History Minute. For those of you new to the idea of podcasts, these are like online radio shows you can download and listen to whenever you want. Every episode of this podcast has short, manageable tips for connecting with your ancestors. The latest episode dates back to December, but the creator hopes to have a new one up for July, followed by at least one a month after that. http://web.mac.com/brianmickelson/iWeb/Site/FHM%20Podcast/FHM%20Podcast.html 1c. Save Funding for U.S. National Archives and NHPRC The U.S. House Appropriations Committee has approved a bill recommending 10 million be given to the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) and that an increase of 35.6 million be given to the National Archives and Records Administration. However, the Senate may squash those recommendations. Send an e-mail to your senators urging them to approve the bills. I did this morning, and it only took five minutes. Here's how: a. Go to the National Coalition for History website and read more about the bills: http://historycoalition.org/2007/06/15/contact-the-senate-now-to-protect-national-archives-and-nhprc-funding b. Then, click on the "Humanities Advocacy Network" link in the middle of the page: http://www.humanitiesadvocacy.org/action_ctr.html c. Click on "National Archives Funding at Risk!" and "Ask the Senate to Fund NHPRC," enter your zip code, and follow the instructions. You can also fax a letter or call your representative. 1d. Book Notice "Our Brothers Gone Before: An Inventory of Graves and Cenotaphs in New Jersey Cemeteries for Union and Confederate Civil War Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Surgeons, and Nurses." By Charles Eckhardt and Robert MacAvoy This book includes a full alphabetical listing of more than 40,000 burials from more than 1,000 cemeteries. Each entry lists soldier name and cemetery, death date, and regiment/ship if known. $140.00 plus $8.00 shipping (New Jersey residents kindly include 7 percent sales tax) Order from: Longstreet House PO Box 730 Hightstown NJ 08520 Or e-mail: Dr. David G. Martin at dmartin@peddie.org 2. Using RootsWeb: The Message Board/Mailing List Gateway By Joan Young joan@volunteer.rootsweb.com If you look up the word "gate" or "gateway" in a dictionary, one of the definitions is "a passage through a fence or wall; an opening." On the Web, at pcmag.com (and elsewhere), you will find newer "techie" descriptions of a "gateway": a "network point that acts as an entry to another network"; or, "[something that] converts one protocol or format to another." By all definitions, a gateway connects two entities--often two dissimilar entities that would otherwise be unconnected. RootsWeb uses a gateway to connect related message boards and mailing lists. This gateway connects two otherwise separate genealogical resources that cover the exact same topic. HOW THE GATEWAY WORKS The Message Board/Mailing List Gateway is a one-way gateway--from the message boards to the mailing lists, but not vice versa. If you make a post on a message board and that message board is linked to a related mailing list, the message board post is "gatewayed" to the list. In other words, the message board post is sent to everyone on the related mailing list. If a post is made to the same mailing list, it will NOT appear on the related message board. In addition, if you receive a post on a mailing list that has come through the gateway for a corresponding message board, you cannot reply or post a new message on the list and have your message copied to the corresponding board. You must post your reply on the message board. When you do, your reply will also be gatewayed to the list. WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF HAVING A GATEWAY? Because of gateways, board posters can reach more people with their queries. List members also come out ahead because they are exposed to message board posts they might never have seen. Also, message boards permit attachments, which are not allowed on the lists. If someone has a photograph, GEDCOM, or other item they wish to share, they can attach it to a message board and then post a note about it. List members will be notified of the attachment and can go to the message boards to see it. HOW TO TELL IF A BOARD HAS THE GATEWAY TURNED ON Look for a board that includes the notice "posts to this board are copied to the "LISTNAME-L RootsWeb.com mailing list." Of course, the actual list name will be indicated instead of "LISTNAME." You can also easily spot a gatewayed board by looking for the white envelope icon superimposed over the bulletin board icon that represents a board. The white envelope represents the e-mail messages from that board that will be sent to the corresponding list. HOW TO TELL IF A LIST POST IS COMING FROM THE GATEWAY Gatewayed posts always include the notation "this is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list." The message also includes a "Message Board URL" followed by a link to the original post on the board. If you wish to reply to the message you need to go to this link to view the post on the board. The board poster's e-mail address is not included in the gatewayed message posted to the list. The poster is identified only by his/her message board user name. The e-mail address gc-gateway@rootsweb.com that appears as the "from" address for gatewayed messages is a generic gateway address and is not a full-service working e-mail contact address, nor is it the e-mail address of the board poster. You cannot "reply" to this e-mail address; your message will bounce if you attempt to send an e-mail to it. HOW MESSAGE BOARDS BECOME GATEWAYED TO MAILING LISTS Message board and mailing list administrators must agree to have a board gatewayed to a list. Not all boards and lists are gatewayed. Sometimes this is because not all boards have a corresponding list. If your favorite matching board and list are not gatewayed and you feel they should be, you may contact the board or list administrator and suggest that the administrator consider opening the gateway. List administrators may be contacted at LISTNAME-admin@rootsweb.com (changing the generic word LISTNAME to the actual name of the list). Board administrators may be contacted at the e-mail address located on the Board Information page link on the board. If a board has no Board Information link (meaning it is an unadminned board), contact the list administrator of the corresponding list. Remember, while you may express your wishes to the administrators about gatewaying, their decision is final. Look for message boards and mailing lists that make use of the gateway to maximize your research potential and obtain the benefit of two resources in one. * * * * * * * * * * Advertisements * * * * * * * * * * 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. For a no-obligation research assessment visit http://www.britishancestors.com/ For help from professional genealogists in finding ancestors from the U.S.A., Canada, Australia, or Europe visit http://www.ancestorseekers.com/research/rwr/ Or join us 30 SEPTEMBER-5 OCTOBER for our NINTH SALT LAKE CITY RESEARCH TRIP--the dream genealogy vacation! * * * * * * * * * * End of Advertisements * * * * * * * 3. Connecting Through RootsWeb: Old Photos Lead to a Discovery By Craig Schulz One of the things I have had the toughest time finding was the birth family of my great-grandfather William C. Walker (1871-1944). This always made me mad because I couldn't believe I couldn't get past someone who lived as recently as he did. According to the family Bible, William was born 12 December 1871. I knew that he was supposedly born near Fairmont, West Virginia. However, I could not find a birth certificate for him in any of the counties in that area (Monongalia, Preston, and Marion). For years I thought he was the illegitimate son of Alcinda Jane Walker Shrader and lived with his grandparents growing up. I knew that his wife didn't have any information on his parents since she listed both of his parents as unknown on his death certificate. I had also been told by my mother that neither of William's children knew anything about his family. This seemed odd to me but I figured that maybe he had been ashamed of being an illegitimate child. Somehow I was lucky enough to have the family photos for that side of the family passed down to me. There were some non-family people in the back of one of the photo albums and I figured they were friends. Two photos showed a military man from World War II named Frank Kendall Everest. I eventually looked him up on the Web and found that he was the son of Frank Kendall Everest Sr. I knew that Frank Sr.'s wife was named Phyllis because I had some photos of them together with their names on the back. One day I looked at the World War I draft card for Frank Sr. and found that his wife was named Phyllis Walker. I thought, "Wow, this woman could be a niece of my William." I looked at the 1900 census and quickly found Phyllis living with her parents. Her father was a John Walker (born in 1867) living in Fairmount, West Virginia. I quickly moved back to the 1880 census to find John--hopefully listed with his parents. I found a John, age thirteen, and William, age seven, living in Preston County, West Virginia, with a much older William R. Walker born 1809 and wife, Sarah. Preston County borders Monongalia County and I was relatively sure I had finally found my William. To make a long story short, I finally found William's parents. His birth mother, Levina Magill Walker, died in 1872 when he was less than a year old. He didn't even know her. To this date I have not been able to find the death date of William R. Walker but I know it was between 1880 and 1900. If he died near 1880 when he was seventy-one years old, my William would have only been seven years old. No wonder he never talked about his parents--he didn't know his mother and barely knew his father. He had seventeen siblings but some were thirty years older than he was. By the time he was born, the only other child in the house was John. No wonder they would have had a strong bond. John died between 1910 and 1920. My great-grandmother kept in touch with John's family until the early 1970s. I am going to try in the next couple of months to get in touch with them again. 4. 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.] ------------------------------------------------------------- Have you had success printing an oversized pedigree chart for display? We want to know about it. Tell us what software or company you used, how you designed the chart, any hurdles you overcame, and what the final product looked like. * * * My Native American Ancestry By Linzey My story is fairly long, but I feel interesting. I was given up for adoption at age four and adopted at age five-and-a- half. When I was little, I felt a connection to Native American culture. Then, when I was older, my adopted father informed me that social services said I was part Indian, but didn't know what tribe I was from. I found my birth family twenty-two years ago--it was not a pretty picture, and they deny having any Indian blood. My birth mom did confirm, however, that my father's family was very much Native American. I began my genealogy search then, and after many years began to find cousins on the Web who were also searching for native blood in the line that I was searching in--that of my great-great-grandfather, Francis Marion Black. I have never been able to find where Francis's parents came from or what their names are. I was told the name Black was shortened from something else. Then, one day my brother stopped in and mentioned a friend by the name of Bill Redeye. I told my brother I had been researching our native roots for a long time with not much success, and told him of the name Black. Well, Bill Redeye had a friend with the last name of Black. My brother went and asked him if he knew of our family and gave him my birth name, Whitehill. Mr. Black said, "Yes, I know them and am related to them but I do not like your grandfather John--he is a horrible man." However, he confirmed that he was indeed Native American--Blackfoot. When I went to talk with Mr. Black, he had moved and I never found him. It was very upsetting. Bill Redeye will not answer my letters either. They do not care for my family and I guess that's why they won't talk with me. So close, yet so far! I still have not made any Indian connection with that name. The one success I have had--and it was a big one--came when I was researching back through my grandparents and found that I was descended from AliQuippa, a famous Seneca leader back in the 1700s. Best discovery as of yet. I always just "knew" I was of native descent and have a very strong connection to Native American music, art, and culture. I am so proud to be part Native American. I took a DNA test with my birth sister, who found me, and we showed to be about twenty-five percent Indian. We are also of Austrian descent--from our mom's side-- but haven't connected with Mozart yet. We also have Scotch/Irish, French, British, African American, and even a touch of Korean heritage. However, I am still most drawn to my Indian roots--so far Seneca, possibly Blackfoot--and will keep searching and trying to live "the red road." * * * "Who's on First?" By Cornelia While in search of the very elusive Dunifer/Duniver/Dunheiffer family that originated in Cambridge, Ohio, I was digging through Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, records. I set the search parameters to surname "Dun*" and near the end of the search list I saw the name "Llex Duno." It made me think of Joan Young's mention of the Abbott and Costello skit "Who's on First?" several weeks ago. Can you imagine the situation when asked his last name? "What do you mean you don't know?!" We had a good chuckle on that one. To read Joan Young's article, "Who's on First?", visit: http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/review/2007/0613.txt * * * Looking for Descendants of Henry SAMSON and Abraham SAMPSON By Stacy Wood FYI for RootsWebbers: The Pilgrim Henry Samson Kindred group (PHSK) has launched a Y- Chromosome DNA project. It is seeking descendants of pilgrim Henry SAMSON who arrived in 1620 on the "Mayflower," and of Abraham SAMPSON, who is first found in the Plymouth records as living in Duxbury in 1638. The goals are to validate existing lineages and to develop a DNA database, or signature, of Abraham and Henry in order to identify and dispel existing confusion about their many descendants. For years it was thought that Henry and Abraham were brothers, but later evidence was found to challenge the theory. The examination of the parish records of Campton, Henlow, Cranfield, Stotfold, and Arlesey, all closely grouped in eastern Bedfordshire, England, suggested that Henry and Abraham were not brothers but probably cousins. Although an article in "The American Genealogist" (TAG 56:141) reveals a high probability of relationship, the result remains tentative and one of the Samson Kindred's main goals is to determine the parentage and relationship between these two men through DNA testing. For further information visit the PHSK website at: freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~henrysamsonkindred/ 5. New at RootsWeb 5a. New User-contributed Databases at RootsWeb http://userdb.rootsweb.com/submit/ ------------------------------------------------------------- No New User-contributed Databases 5b. New/Updated Freepages and Homepages by Individuals To Request a Free Web Account: http://accounts.rootsweb.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------- 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, the title of the website, the name of the author, and a BRIEF description of the site, including major surnames, to: Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com * * * If your genealogical or historical related site is located somewhere other than at RootsWeb.com, you can add the link here: http://resources.rootsweb.com/~rootslink/addlink.html * * * FEHRENBACH-AMBS Family History. By Jim McGovern. Related surnames include ARMLEDER, BALDINGEN, BARON, BAUMAIER, BOUNDA, FISCHER, FREUDER, GAHMER, GEMMERT, HUBER, HUN, IHRINGER, KELLER, KRAUS, KUMMERLIN, LANG, LEHRMANN, MILLER, OERTHLIN, NODLER, RISCH, SCHIELIN, SCHWEITZER, SIEGSTEIN, STEIN, STIEFFVATER, TESCHLER, TRUB, UFFHEIL, WILLOT, ZIMMERMANN. All are from Oberserffhusen (near Boetzingen), Baden, Germany. 5c. New/Updated Freepages and Homepages by Counties, States, and Genealogical/Historical Societies To Request a Free Web Account: http://accounts.rootsweb.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------- No New/Updated Freepages and Homepages by Counties, States, and Genealogical/Historical Societies 5d. New Mailing Lists To Request a New Mailing List: http://resources.rootsweb.com/adopt/ ------------------------------------------------------------- For information and an index to the more than 30,000 RootsWeb-hosted genealogy Mailing Lists and for easy subscribing (joining) options go to: http://lists.rootsweb.com/ No New Mailing Lists 6. Humor/Humour While looking for someone else, I stumbled on this entry in the 1860 census for Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. It made me sad, as the head of household is a widow. I concluded the husband must have worked himself to death trying to support this brood. Cynthia Powers 32 Widow Belza S. Powers 13 twin Almena Powers 13 twin Mary I. Powers 12 twin Cynthia S. Powers 12 twin Martha A. Powers 11 James W. Powers 8 twin Margaret E. Powers 8 twin Laura Powers 6 Daniel R. Powers 4 --Thanks to Susan Grills * * * I found the following entry in the Victorian (Australia) Inquests records: John WATTS--Died of a "Visitation of God." I believe we all at some time get to visit God, but it seems strange to have him visit one of us and take him with him. --Thanks to Graham Down Melbourne, Australia * * * Found a funny or "proper name for the job" in old records, or an amusing entry in census, parish, church, etc. records? Send them to: Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com. We also welcome other humorous genealogy- related submissions. 7. 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: rootswebreview@email.rootsweb.com The RootsWeb Review is a free publication of The Generations Network, 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 and please include your full name and e-mail address in the text. * * * ROOTSWEB REVIEW ADVERTISING CONTACTS. Ad Sales Worldwide: Tami Deleeuw, tdeleeuw@tgn.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: 27 June 2007, Vol. 10, No. 27. * * * *