RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Weekly E-zine 1 August 2007, Vol. 10, No. 31 (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/2007/0801.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. RootsWeb Has a New Header 1b. New Historical Society Website 1c. Book Notice (1) 2. Using RootsWeb: Hidden Gems Lurking at RootsWeb 3. Connecting Through RootsWeb: What a Will 4. Bottomless Mailbag: Not the End of Preserved Fish Illiterate Enumerator? Remembering the USS Grunion Burgenland Bunch Website 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. RootsWeb Has a New Header You probably noticed that RootsWeb got a new look last week--a different header was introduced. The header is part of a re-branding effort by RootsWeb's parent company, The Generations Network, Inc. The change obviously doesn't affect anything about the identity or mission of RootsWeb. We are still "the oldest and largest free genealogy site." 1b. New Historical Society Website The Historical Society of Washington County, Virginia, has just created a new website. It is available at: http://hswcv.org 1c. Book Notice (1) The Burdens of Loyalty: Refugee Tales from the First American Civil War By Stephen Davidson Those with loyalist ancestors (or distant Tory uncles and aunts) will enjoy this account of the refugee experiences of the Redding, Connecticut, family of John and Hepzibeth (BETTS) LYON. The author traces the family's flight from Connecticut in 1776 to a Long Island refugee camp, to their journey away from the new United States of America. It ends with them founding a new settlement in 1783. During their journey, the LYONS met revolutionary war refugees from many parts of New England. More than 100 of these loyalist stories are also given. Of special interest is the annotated passenger list of the "Union," the first ship to bring loyalists to modern day New Brunswick, Canada--including the first black loyalists to enter the province. This e-book is available for $5.25 (CDN) from: www.loonie.link.com By visiting this site, you can also download the opening pages of the book for free to see the chapter names as well as the names of those whose stories have been researched. 2. Using RootsWeb: Hidden Gems Lurking at RootsWeb By Joan Young joan@volunteer.rootsweb.com Even the newest and most casual RootsWeb user is most likely familiar with RootsWeb's mailing lists and message boards. Most users have also probably searched or uploaded a GEDCOM to WorldConnect. These are among the major features you immediately learn about when you discover RootsWeb. However, if you delve a bit further beneath the surface you find some hidden gems lurking at RootsWeb just waiting to be discovered. I'd like to share a few of my favorite hidden treasures with you. At the top of my list of little gems is an old message I found within the extensive archives of ROOTS-L, the granddaddy of all RootsWeb mailing lists. Everyone should read this article, especially if you are new to genealogy. The message provides excellent pointers on getting started in your research: http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/roots-l/genealog/genealog.fhsearch How many times have you looked at your family tree and stopped to ask yourself, "Is cousin Harry my second cousin twice removed, or is he my first cousin three times removed?" You can find the answer by using the relationship chart located here: http://www.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/chart_relations.htm Another helpful chart in determining relationships is the Kinship Chart (or Consanguinity Chart) located on the following RootsWeb-hosted site: http://www.rootsweb.com/~longstrt/consangu.html You need forms for completing a family group sheet, or you are looking at a census record on Ancestry and can't quite make out the column heading for the information you are attempting to decipher. If you only had a sample form for comparison. You can get the following forms free, in PDF format: Ancestral Charts, Research Calendars, Research Extracts, Correspondence Records, Family Group Sheets, Source Summaries, U.S. Census Forms, 1790-1930 (plus 1850 and 1860 Slave Schedules and 1890 Veterans Schedules), and UK and Canadian Census Forms. Just visit this RootsWeb page: http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/get_started/charts_forms.html Now that you have those census forms and have deciphered the column headings, the next thing you need to know is the official dates for U.S. censuses, which you can find here: http://www.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/lesson9.htm#Official Your favorite search engine allows you to search using an exact match or Soundex. But what exactly is Soundex? You can find out at the Understanding Soundex page: http://www.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/lesson9.htm#Soundex You can also use RootsWeb's Soundex Converter here: http://resources.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/soundexconverter Your great-grandpa's obituary states that he belonged to the I.O.R.M. and that your grand-aunt Martha was a member of the DAR. You are not quite certain what the organizations are. Acronyms and abbreviations for these organizations and many others that you may encounter are explained on this site hosted by RootsWeb: http://www.rootsweb.com/~njmorris/acronyms.htm You know the name of the town where your ancestor lived but you don't know the county in which the town is located. Try using RootsWeb's Town- County finder. Type in the name of the town and the state in the appropriate boxes and the Town-County finder will tell you which county or counties in the state had towns by that name. If you are not sure of the state but have a town name, type in the town and leave the state blank and you will get a list of all the states in which towns by this name are found: http://resources.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/townco.cgi Or perhaps you know the county where your family member lived but not the state. You can find which states have counties of a certain name by using the RootsWeb County Finder located here. Type in the county name and leave the state blank to obtain a list of all the states with counties of a specific name: http://resources.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/county.cgi Above are only a few of the hidden gems you can find by poking around in the dark corners at RootsWeb. Do you have a favorite RootsWeb treasure that you would be willing to share with other RootsWeb users? We would love to hear about it. * * * * * * * * * * Advertisements * * * * * * * * * * ANCESTOR SEEKERS NINTH SALT LAKE CITY RESEARCH TRIP--THE DREAM GENEALOGY VACATION! 30 SEPTEMBER-5 OCTOBER 2007 Join others from throughout the U.S.A. and Canada for the dream genealogy vacation. Spend a week at the Family History Library, accessing the world's largest collection of genealogical records with help and advice from accredited genealogist professionals. Opening and closing socials, theater trip, and sightseeing tour! "Thank you all for such a wonderful experience." (Marsha, Iowa) Call TOLL-FREE at 877-896-0974 (9:00-6:00 MDT); or, visit: http://www.ancestorseekers.com/ * * * * * * * * * * End of Advertisements * * * * * * * 3. Connecting Through RootsWeb: What a Will By PJ DeHoog My great-grandmother was a Smith. Through many years of research I settled on her birthplace as Connecticut and her death location as Colorado. I was able to get her father's name and some of her siblings'. As I continued my quest for information about her and her family I discovered that most of her siblings were half-siblings. I think I have their mother's first name, but not her last. I know many of the family moves but not all. Ultimately, I needed to make some factual discoveries in Connecticut, so I hired a local researcher to find a birth, marriage, or death certificate for any of my ancestors. The response I got was totally disappointing. Then, about a week ago, I had the opportunity to go to LaSalle County, Illinois, where my great-grandfather came from and where he married my Smith grandmother. The Genealogy Guild in Ottawa, LaSalle, Illionois was a gold-mine, not for my great-grandfather, but for my great-grandmother Smith. One of her brothers stayed in LaSalle County and became a successful farmer. When he completed his will just a few months before he passed away in 1915, he chose to split half of his estate with his siblings and their children and the other half with his wife's family. The actual probate took ten years as his wife passed away a decade after he did. By that time most of his siblings had passed away so the probate was delineated down to the children or children's children of the siblings. The fantastic part of it all is that every name of the heirs was listed--both those alive and deceased at the time of the probate. Further, there were addresses for nearly every one of them. I was thrilled. I copied nearly 100 pages of this probate and once home began entering them into my Family Tree Maker database. I have the 2007 version so it triggered me to possible matches. By the time I finished adding all the information, I had nearly 300 more people in my database. I always thought the Smith side of my family was going to be like my White family-- nearly impossible to find--but thanks to a successful sibling I was able to put nearly every piece of this family's puzzle together, including their connection with Connecticut. 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.] ------------------------------------------------------------- Not the End of Preserved Fish By Barbara Agosin A posting several months back regarding unusual names listed the name of Preserved Fish. The 23 July 2007 issue of the "New Yorker" contains a review of Eric Jay Dolin's book on whaling, titled "Leviathan." On page seventy-seven, the review mentions Preserved Fish and provides a short quote from testimony he gave in court in 1818. * * * Illiterate Enumerator? By Joan Sambrotto The 1880 census had a column to be filled in by the enumerator that asked if people were sick or disabled and what the sickness or disability was. A particular enumerator's last name was FEYL. A soundex search for that name gives many choices, such as FILE, FALE, etc. I'm going with FALE because this guy failed in his usage of the English language. In the district he was assigned to canvas, many people had "information" of some sort--of the liver, of the kidneys, of the lungs, etc. There was even "information of the bowls" going around, and a poor shoemaker had "hammerhoids." Then, there were also seven "hunchbags." I checked my bowls and sure enough I did get some information. It seems my husband was doing a poor job washing dishes. I may end up a hunchbag from sitting at the computer too much. I even may end up with information of the hammerhoids. * * * Remembering the USS Grunion By Rhonda Raye This past July 2006, I was contacted by Bruce Abele, whose father, "Jim" Abele, had commanded the submarine USS Grunion. He had found an old RootsWeb post of mine about my great-uncle Paul Banes, who was serving on the sub when it disappeared in July/August 1942. His family was soon to conduct a search for the sub based on new information found by a Japanese researcher. This information steered them to a promising location off the island of Kiska in the Aleutians. My grandmother always told me the families never learned what actually happened to their loved ones. I decided to put what I've learned of genealogy over the last few years to work and started hunting for the other sailors' family members to inform them of the search. I found a WWII memorial website where one could find USS Grunion crew members' "hometowns" listed: http://www.wwiimemorial.com/default.asp?page=registry.asp&subpage=search This gave me a starting point and also quickly put me in touch with another researcher related to Merritt Graham, who also served on the sub. After getting permission from RootsWeb, we posted all the men to the relevant boards and have had help from people all across this country who have not forgotten those who served and wanted to help with the project. One also posted a link to a great website NARA has, where we found the names of the crew members' officially listed next-of-kin: http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/ww2/navy-casualties/ This was a huge help in finding many of the men but not all of them. After that we received help from the past in the form of "Jim" Abele's wife. After the submarine disappeared, she wrote to all the families and many wrote back. She kept these letters and the Abeles sent us her notes on family members and also went through the letters for other clues, which led us to some families. In August 2006, a sonar search revealed an object believed to be the Grunion. It will take an ROV this August to confirm it, but in some ways the Grunion is found already just in the stories and pictures many have shared about their family members on the sub both personally and on the following website: http://www.ussgrunion.com This year other USS submarines were also found, giving closure to their families as well. Those subs were the Wahoo, Perch, Legarto, and Snook. More can be found about these subs by contacting the Bowfin Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii at: http://www.oneternalpatrol.com/ I just want to say thank you to everyone that helped us in the search for the Grunion families. * * * Burgenland Bunch Website By Gerry Berghold The Internet family history group known as the Burgenland Bunch (BB), which specializes in the Austrian province of Burgenland, is now entering its twelfth year of operation. The Burgenland was formed in 1921 from the Hungarian counties (Megye) of Vas, Sopron, and Moson. The people are of German, Croatian, and Hungarian origin, and settled in this region over periods spanning hundreds of years, with much subsequent emigration to the Americas in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. The BB Website, containing more than 500 pages of subject surnames (4,680 names), village and ethnic data, and links and archives, had a complete overhaul at the beginning of the year. New features have been added, including links to a new site that features immigrant cemetery data from Burgenland ethnic enclaves in the U.S. The BB has a monthly e-mail newsletter distributed to listed members through the courtesy of Roots-L. There are archives of all of the previous newsletters. The BB website also has a link to a Query Site (WorldGenWeb-Burgenland) courtesy of RootsWeb, now showing more than 3,500 Burgenland family history queries and answers. Burgenland Bunch members' names (almost 1,400 worldwide) are listed with family surnames, villages of origin, and places settled. Members can be contacted via e-mail in order to exchange information. Membership is ongoing and the site is maintained by fourteen specialty editors in the United States and in Austria. If you are a descendant of immigrants from the above mentioned area (there were more than 40,000 immigrants for the period 1880-1924 alone, plus more following WWII), or feel you may have a link to such, you would do well to visit this site: http://www.burgenland-bunch.org/ 5. New at RootsWeb 5a. New User-contributed Databases at RootsWeb http://userdb.rootsweb.com/submit/ ------------------------------------------------------------- The following databases have come online recently. They are searchable, but not browseable. Search: To look for specific data or occurrence of text in a file. Browse: To view the entire contents of a file or a group of files. KENTUCKY. Lewis County. Aills marriages in Lewis County, Kentucky. 116 records. Nance Shaw. http://userdb.rootsweb.com/marriages/ ILLINOIS. Selected Erickson obituaries. 5 records. Karyn Erickson. http://userdb.rootsweb.com/obituaries/ CALIFORNIA. Santa Clara County. Palo Alto. 1902 Leland Stanford Junior University alumni. 167 records. M. Hellam. http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ 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 * * * No New/Updated Freepages and Homepages by Individuals 5c. New/Updated Freepages and Homepages by Counties, States, and Genealogical/Historical Societies To Request a Free Web Account: http://accounts.rootsweb.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------- Some of these Web pages 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/~xxxxxx[accountname] * * * DAR = Daughters of the American Revolution USD = United States Daughters of 1812 USGW = USGenWeb U.S.A. azcwcdar -- Cactus Wren (Arizona) Chapter DAR azhodpar -- Hereditary Order of Descendants of the Loyalists and Patriots of the American Revolution (Arizona) azwdaha -- National Society Women Descendants of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Co. (Arizona) casjcms -- San Joaquin Colony Mayflower Society (California) mobgtusd -- Brigadier General Thomas A. Smith (Missouri) Chapter USD njcjhdar -- Captain Joshua Huddy (New Jersey) Chapter DAR njobtdar -- Old Barnegat-Tennent (New Jersey) Chapter DAR nswwfhg -- Wyong Family History Group NSW (Australia) txkgs -- Kingsland Genealogical Society (Texas) txschs -- Smith County Historical Society (Texas) usgwgc -- Grievance Committee USGW 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/ 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/ NEW SURNAME MAILING LISTS LOVINGGOOD NEW REGIONAL MAILING LISTS No new Regional Mailing lists NEW ETHNIC OR SPECIAL INTEREST MAILING LISTS No new Ethnic or Special Interest Mailing Lists 6. Humor/Humour A chain of funeral homes in Buffalo, New York, is called Amigone Funeral Home. It is pronounced Am-a-gone, but reminds me of "Am I gone?" --Thanks to Kathy * * * We met up with some friends while on holiday in Devon, England, where their ancestors originated. The wife declared her marital name to be "Bowdy"; however, her husband pronounced it as "Body." As we passed the local church we saw the vicar leaning on the wall in the sun. "Hello," said our friend, "Can you tell me if you have any Bodys in the graveyard?" "Many," said the vicar. "Which particular one were you interested in?" It took a minute for us to explain to the vicar what the laughter was about, as well as to our friend. --Thanks to Jean * * * 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: 1 August 2007, Vol. 10, No. 31. * * * *