RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Weekly E-zine 10 October 2007, Vol. 10, No. 41 (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/2007/1010.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. UK National Archives Digitizes NonConformist BMDs 1b. "New York Times" Online for Free, 1851-1922; 1981-1987 1c. Book Notice 2. Using RootsWeb: Getting Your Message Across on Mailing Lists and Message Boards 3. Connecting Through RootsWeb: Meeting By Chance 4. Bottomless Mailbag: Armie Cannon Springfield Baby Girl First Name "Baby" Old Photos Old Photos Donated and Available 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. UK National Archives Digitizes NonConformist BMDs The UK National Archives holds 5,000 registers for nonconformist (not conforming to the Church of England) congregations. These registers contain birth, marriage, and death information for thousands of individuals from 1567-1840. Records are from Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Protestant Dissenter, Independent, and some Roman Catholic communities. To read more about the new database, visit: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/news/stories/172.htm To search the registers, visit: http://www.bmdregisters.co.uk/ 1b. "New York Times" Online for Free, 1851-1922; 1981-1987 Now, you can search the "New York Times" for articles from 1851 to the present and view those from 1851-1922 (in the public domain) and from 1981-1987, for free. To visit the "New York Times" Online Archives: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/nytarchive.html 1c. Book Notice Descendants of Obadiah Seward Jr. By James R. Kuttler This book greatly expands on the 1948 book by Frederick Whittlesey Seward, Jr., "Obadiah Seward of Long Island, New York and his Descendants," corrects some mistakes in that book, and adds many more descendants. The book consists of 1,461 pages of text, a 156-page index, and a five- page bibliography. The book is on CD and costs $20.00. To order, write to: James R. Kuttler 10380 Boca Raton Drive Ellicott City, Maryland 21042 Or, send an e-mail to jim.kuttler@jhuapl.edu. 2. Using RootsWeb: Getting Your Message Across on Mailing Lists and Message Boards By Joan Young joan@volunteer.rootsweb.com In July, I wrote about the importance of attracting readers to your mailing list and message board queries with a meaningful subject line. (See "Getting to the Heart of the Subject: Are You Guilty?" at http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/review/2007/0725.txt.) Getting the reader's attention is the most important factor in getting quality responses, but, once you have his or her attention, you must hold it and keep him from moving along to the next e-mail. So what distinguishes the query that makes the reader take notice and want to help you from the one that doesn't? Let's start with what makes the reader run in the opposite direction. When I read queries on the lists and boards, I often come away shaking my head and wondering exactly what the author is asking or why she bothered to post. Misspellings, omitted information, impossible dates (such as children who are married before they were born)--I've seen all that and worse in queries. It doesn't make me eager to assist the person posting. If the poster can't be bothered to carefully explain what he is looking for, why should I play detective? When drafting a query for a list or board do the following: PLAN AHEAD Take time to think about what it is you hope to learn from posting your query. Gather all the data you have already obtained. Who are you asking about; when and where did he live? Is there any other pertinent information that might interest the reader? Does your query concern a specific ethnic group, religious or church group, or occupation? DRAFT YOUR QUERY--BE THOROUGH BUT CONCISE Once you have written down everything you know and what you hope to learn, condense the text as much as possible. Be concise and to the point. Put yourself in the place of the reader, who is not familiar with your research or your family. If the ancestor about whom you are posting ever did anything unique that would be of interest to non-family members (e.g., he published a book, had a town named for him, fought in a war, etc), include this information. If there were stories of Native American blood in the family, or you know that a coat of arms was granted to your ancestor, that they were leaders in their church group, or that they included several generations of blacksmiths, for example, include this type of information. It may attract the reader who has expertise in researching these areas. List the facts that you do know. If you don't have a date or location, list as much supporting information as possible. Perhaps you don't have the date of birth for your ancestor but you do know when he married or you have a sibling's birth date. This information will, at the very least, give the reader some sense of the time period during which your ancestor lived. Perhaps you can't find your ancestor on the 1901 census in Canada but you know she lived in Montreal in 1891 and that she died in Calgary, Alberta, in 1910. This information may help a reader locate your ancestor in the intervening years and provide information about historic migration routes. SELECT THE MOST APPROPRIATE PLACE FOR POSTING YOUR QUERY Think about what you hope to learn and then consider which board or list might be best for posting your query. Don't cross-post in many places; instead, select the most likely one or two lists or boards where experts may be able to help you. If you are posting primarily about a family who migrated from one location to another and you are trying to trace them back another generation, a surname list or board might be your best bet. If your family remained in one location for many generations a locality list or board may be more appropriate. My mother's BORTON ancestors came to America from England in 1679 and settled in Burlington County, New Jersey. Our branch of the family never left southern New Jersey. So the Burlington County board or list would probably be a good place to make contact with others researching the same branch of this family. The board is gatewayed to the corresponding mailing list--an extra bonus. The BORTONs were Quakers, so the QUAKER- ROOTS list or board would also be a good source of information, especially if I'm looking for information that might be found in Quaker records. On my father's side, our SMITH ancestors proved to be fairly easy to trace despite the extremely common surname because several generations were stonemasons by trade. A list or board devoted to an ancestor's occupation could be your best option. While the surname is common, the occupation is less so. Ancestors who worked as master glassblowers often traveled in communities and intermarried within the community. Once again, the occupation could be the clue to tracing migration patterns. The secret to successful queries lies in careful planning. Once a concise, accurate, and informative query has been posted in the appropriate place, all that remains is to be patient and await a reply. To read even more about effective queries, see: "Knock, Knock . . . Anybody There?" at http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/review/20030903.txt. * * * * * * * * * * Advertisements * * * * * * * * * * ANCESTOR SEEKERS RECRUITING PART-TIME RESEARCHERS Due to the continued success of their research service, Ancestor Seekers is currently seeking people with skills in German, Italian, Russian, or Polish research to conduct research at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. For further information contact http://www.ancestorseekers.com/about/researchers.php * * * * * * * * * * End of Advertisements * * * * * * * 3. Connecting Through RootsWeb: Meeting By Chance By Barbara On a lovely fall Labor Day a few years ago I decided to seek out a rural cemetery in southwestern Michigan that contained the resting place of an ancestor I had little knowledge of. I did know the burial site of a part of his family but not his particular burial plot. Setting off with my copy of a DeLorme atlas--its country roads shown in detail--I found the small cemetery without difficulty. I parked just inside the entrance and started looking at all the tombstones going in a clockwise fashion. I was approaching the final section of the cemetery when a car pulled up near the entrance and parked at the side of the road. An elderly gentlemen walked with confidence into the area I was approaching and stopped at a site to stand with his head down and hands folded, looking at a tombstone. I hesitated a moment, but then approached him and inquired if he knew where an Amasa Munger was buried. Looking up he said that I was standing on Amasa's plot. In that moment I found a distant relative and made a new friend. He lived on a farm nearby and had set out to find some peaches when he decided to stop and check on the gravesite of our mutual ancestor. The timing was serendipitous. 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.] ------------------------------------------------------------- Armie Cannon Springfield By Mary Lou Inwood Wilmington, Ohio Last week, Judy K. Wilson wrote in about her ancestor named Armie Cannon Springfield, musing about why his parents would give him such a name. Perhaps she should look for a Massachusetts connection. The parents may have had some connection with the Springfield, Massachusetts, Armory, which dated back to Revolutionary times and was used as an arsenal to hold--among other things--cannons. The Springfield rifle was also produced there. A history of the Springfield Armory can be found at: http://www.nps.gov/archive/spar/history.html. To read Judy's submission from last week, visit: http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/review/2007/1003.txt * * * Baby Girl By Pat Almquist While doing some research in Gregg County, Texas, I came across the record of my birth. I was listed simply as "Baby Girl" Granger. There I was, standing in the County Clerk's office, with an employee who had known me since the 1950s, and she said she could not change the records to reflect my correct name. So, even though my name has been Patsy Jean Granger for seventy-one years, I am still "Baby Girl Granger" in Gregg County, Texas. Thank goodness I know who I am. * * * First Name "Baby" By Sue Martin Lake Forest, Illinois Nancy's contribution in last week's newsletter suggests that an exhausted new mother may have been unable to decide on a given name for her child; hence, the transcription "Baby Girl (Surname)" on the birth certificate. That is possible, but in my experience this can also indicate an adoption. In many cases of adoption the mother was not permitted to see or name her child, although she was expected to immediately sign irrevocable surrender papers. Many an adoptee has labored long and hard to find his birth family because original birth certificates are "sealed" in the case of adoption. This altering of legal records began in the 1930s and was implemented in all states except Kansas and Alaska. The emerging profession of social work deemed it necessary "to protect the child from the stain of illegitimacy." It was not intended, as has been posited recently, to shield the birthmother or father. In the 1970s, social workers repudiated the practice. They said it contributed to loss of identity and created damaging family secrets. However, the lobby of adoption attorneys prevailed and records stay sealed today--not merely from the public, but from the persons they concern. My husband discovered he had been adopted when he needed his birth certificate for a passport. He became curious when, upon receipt of the certificate, he found the word "Amended" stamped on it and the doctor's name was typed rather than signed. Fortunately, he was able to obtain his original certificate and find his birth family. Again, fortunately, he and I were able to obtain the original certificate for our own adopted son, which reads, "Baby Boy (Birth Mother's Surname)." This will enable our son to locate and choose whether to know his birth family. Lest everyone who discovers an amended certificate become convinced of an adoption, let me add that there are other reasons a certificate gets amended. The scenario Nancy pointed out in her submission was true in my own case. My parents could not agree on my given names before my mother and I left the hospital, so I have both a "Baby Girl (Father's Surname)" original certificate and an amended certificate with my full name on it. To read Nancy's submission, titled "First Name 'Baby,'" visit: http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/review/2007/1003.txt * * * Old Photos By Cathy Herrin Wasilla, Alaska Mary Harrell-Sesniak's recent article on photos really touched a nerve with me. All the years I have been associated with my husband's family his mother said her photos were labeled. On occasion we would take out a photo and yes, there was usually a first name on it. Little did we know the real situation. In December of 2004 she passed away (her husband was already gone) and the family albums came to rest with us. I decided instead of breaking up the albums and giving pieces to each family member I would scan the collection of nearly 6,000 photos and make a DVD of all the photos for each family member. Wow. It has been almost three years now and I am still working on my project. I cannot work on it during the summer when I am working and the short summer here in Alaska demands 100 percent attention. So every fall I drag out more albums and start labeling. Yes, I said labeling. The first 3,000 photos that went back to the 1920s were not labeled. Or they said "Grandma," or "me and my girls," or something equally useless. These were people my husband did not even recognize. And all these years we thought they were labeled. Fortunately my husband's mother has a living brother and sister in Illinois we have been able to fall back on. Through the wonders of the Internet I have been able to scan and send photos I needed help with to them and they replied with answers or best guesses. I was also able to take comments from the photos, compare them with the information in my genealogy program, and make educated guesses about the people in many of the other photographs. Unfortunately, I am finding distant relatives in more recent photos who are more difficult to pinpoint. With no last names recorded, and no e-mail contacts to help me, I am having a harder time identifying individuals. Now my rules are: Label pictures with first AND last names. You might know these people, but your descendants in a couple generations will not. Think about your grandkids looking at them sixty years from now. Do NOT label anyone just "Grandma" or "Uncle," or, worse yet, "Me." Again, a few generations later, no one will know who "Grandma" or "Uncle" is. Even with a first name, it can be confusing. My family has several "Uncle Bills," so a label like "Uncle Bill's first wife" is meaningless. Record the location, including states. Families move around a lot and genealogically this will be good information. Put the whole date on the photograph label if known. Finally, do it now! Not tomorrow; not next week. Now. SCANNING TIPS If you are thinking about a project like this I have a tip for you. Identify each photograph with its own unique identifying number. If you do not do this, the computer will sort them in all kinds of unsavory ways that do not relate to the order you found them in the albums. The way I went about it was to assign a number to each album. Since there were twenty-four of them the number had to be two digits, as in 01, 02, etc. Then I numbered each page in the album in an upper corner near the spine or rings (one page included a front and back of the page). Again, if there were sixty pages in the album it had to start as a two-digit number. Then I numbered each photo. If the page held six photos on one side and six photos on the other, I labeled them 01-12. For example, a photo from album five, page ten, photo seven would be labeled 051007. I included dates, names, and locations as follows: "120511 1923-02-05 Joe Smith, Jackson Hole, WY." This allowed the computer to sort the photographs neatly by the ID number. For tidiness, while I was scanning I created a separate folder for each album. They are simply labeled, "Album 01 1923 to 1941," etc. Again, use two-digit numbers or they will not sort in proper order. For the sake of speed I took out and labeled each photo with pencil, putting the ID number in small letters on the back of the photo. Then I put about 100 or so pictures into Ziploc bags until the whole album was empty. At that point I scanned all the photos starting with the first bag. When all photos were scanned I sat down and put them back in the album at once. With the ID numbers on the back it was simple to place them in the right spot. Sorry this was so long-winded, but it has been a long, hard process of trial and error for me and I thought it might save somebody some time. * * * Old Photos Donated and Available By Jim Brown, Jr. Retired Cam-Art Studio Gastonia, North Carolina jimbrown848@bellsouth.net I worked as a professional photographer for thirty-five years, shooting thousands of portraits of people living in my community as well as making copies of photographs of people's ancestors for them. I have donated my complete negative collection as well as some old glass plates of the Cherryville, North Carolina, area that were given to me from a photographer by the name of Glenn Stroupe, to the Gaston County Art and History Museum. The agreement with the museum was that they would preserve the negatives and always make them available to the public for reproduction. Unfortunately, not much has been done by the museum. I strongly suggest to all professional photographers throughout the world that they give their negative files to the official government archive or historical repository of their state or region. Most states have very complete facilities for preserving negatives and, for a very small fee, they will reproduce prints for the public. Further, most of the states have computerized their files, which makes it easier for them to locate a person's ancestors or any other photograph by description. This is the least we as professionals should do for the history of our country. Trying to sell the negatives to another photographer for a few dollars defeats historical values. I also believe the states will give photographers tax credit for the donation of their photo files. Many photographers may not have even thought about the historical value to their communities of properly preserving their images. I challenge all photographers and state photography associations to establish programs for such a purpose. Let's be a part of preserving the history of our country. 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. MISSOURI. Greene County. CARR gravesites at Evergreen Cemetery. 17 records. Dona Lynn (Carr) Mooring. http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ VIRGINIA. Roanoke (Independent City). "Roanoke Times" obituaries for September 2007. 725 records. Lisa H. http://userdb.rootsweb.com/obituaries/ 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 genealogy- or history-related site is located somewhere other than at RootsWeb.com, you can add the link here: http://resources.rootsweb.com/~rootslink/addlink.html * * * OUR MATERNAL AND PATERNAL ANCESTORS: 350 YEARS OF HISTORY IN AMERICA. Features three separate family sub-sites as follows: (1) DELLINGER, KNECHT, PFEFFER, SILAR, and allied families; (2) BOZARTH, PEIFFER, QUIGLEY, RHUBART, and allied families; (3) MORELAND, MCVICKER, PINNELL, SCRUGGS, and allied families. View new and updated webpages added between 1 July 2007 and 30 September2007 at: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~tqpeiffer/ 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 be accessible yet. 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] * * * Note that the ~[tilde] before the Web account name is required. For example, the California Cemeteries website is at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~cacemete/ * * * DAR = Daughters of the American Revolution DRT = Daughters of the Republic of Texas ALHN = American Local History Network USGW = USGenWeb NSCDS = National Society Colonial Dames Seventeenth Century U.S.A. cacemete -- California Cemeteries kyeshp -- Eastern State Hospital Project (Kentucky) USGW mtcemete -- Montana Cemeteries ncmcdow2 -- McDowell County (North Carolina) USGW sccdar -- South Carolina State Chapter DAR tncarter -- Carter County (Tennessee) ALHN tnhawki3 -- Hawkins County (Tennessee) ALHN CANADA qccanton -- Canton-de-l Est (Quebec) WGW * * * 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 No New Surname Mailing Lists 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 firm of solicitors based in Sligo, Ireland, whose offices are located directly opposite Sligo Courthouse, must surely have the most appropriate business name in the world: Argue and Phibbs. These names belonged to two real men, Mr. W. H. Argue and Mr. Talbot Phibbs. --Thanks to Eileen M. O Duill * * * My grandmother, who lived to be nearly ninety-seven, would never tell me her middle name. It was always just Juanetta B. Lee. Finally, when she was in her late eighties she told me what it was: Belle. Say it quickly: Juaneta Belle Lee. --Thanks to Mike Lee * * * Found a funny or "proper name for the job" in old records, or an amusing entry in census, parish, church, or other 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: 10 October 2007, Vol. 10, No. 41. * * * *