RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Weekly E-zine 9 January 2008, Vol. 11, No. 2 (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/2008/0109.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. NGS and FGS Conference Registrations 1b. Website Worth Looking At--The German Emigrants Database 2. Using RootsWeb: Newspaper Research Tips 3. Connecting Through RootsWeb: The Search for My Grandmother and Her Siblings 4. Bottomless Mailbag: Don't Put Off 'Till Tomorrow Separating Pages in Old Documents RE: A Sticky Photo Problem (2) Too Lazy to Work 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. NGS and FGS Conference Registrations Now is the time to register for the NGS (National Genealogical Society) and FGS (Federation of Genealogical Societies) national conferences, held 14-17 May in Kansas City, Missouri, and 3-6 September in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, respectively. For more information visit the society websites: http://www.eshow2000.com/ngs/2008/ http://www.fgsconference.org/index.php 1b. Website Worth Looking At--The German Emigrants Database The German Emigrants Database (Deutsche Auswanderer-Datenbank/DAD) is now available on the Bremerhaven Museum website. The database comprises information on emigrants who left Europe for the United States of America between 1820 and 1939, primarily from German ports. It is constantly being added to, but already contains data on 4.4 million emigrants. The current data stock covers the years 1820-1833, 1840-1891, 1904, and 1907. http://www.deutsche-auswanderer-datenbank.de/index.php?id=51 2. Using RootsWeb: Newspaper Research Tips By Mary Harrell-Sesniak maryh@volunteer.rootsweb.com "Genealogy is not just a pastime; it's a passion." Pam Walton of the Humble Area Genealogical Society recently presented a program titled "Getting the Most Out of that Newspaper" at Kingwood College in Kingwood, Texas. Here are some of her research tips, which I thought you might enjoy. 1. If you find an article abstracted from a newspaper, find the original source. The more times something is rewritten, the more removed it is from the original copy and the more prone it is to errors. 2. Request newspapers from other libraries by using interlibrary loan (ILL). Upon receipt, you will have a couple of weeks to examine it before returning it. 3. Expand research to neighboring communities and order more than one newspaper for the time-frame you are researching, since articles can differ drastically from paper to paper. For example, search newspapers from smaller and larger neighboring cities; they may have reported on the same event you are researching. 4. Order issues printed ten days prior to and ten days after an event, since certain items have follow-ups. For example, a death notice, funeral notice, burial notice, and obituary would be published on different days and would include different data. 5. Watch for items frequently overlooked by researchers, such as juror lists and letters left in post offices, which indicate someone had left the area. Even advertisements can be useful; for example, you could learn about a family business. 6. Keep a research log to avoid duplicating your work. Some useful headings for your research log include the date you ordered or looked at the newspaper; the name of the paper; the names, dates, and items you are researching; your findings; and whether or not you made photocopies. 7. If possible, photocopy the whole page of the newspaper, including the title and date, even if this makes the article too small to read. Then, make an enlarged, readable copy of the article itself. Label everything on the back, including the name of the paper, the publication location and date, the volume, the page number, and the column. 8. Organize your copies carefully. One method is to create files for individual males' surnames, sorted alphabetically by the first name, and another set for females' married surnames, sorted the same way. [Columnist's recommendation: You can also keep a set with maiden names and cross-reference the files by including a sheet of paper that references the other file.] 9. Use Easybib.com or Elizabeth Shown Mills's book "Evidence Explained" to cite newspaper references properly in your family tree and other citations. * * * * * * * * * * Advertisements * * * * * * * * * * REQUEST A SEARCH FOR YOUR ANCESTORS AT THE WORLD'S LARGEST GENEALOGICAL LIBRARY ANCESTOR SEEKERS researchers at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City will search this vast collection for your ancestors from the U.S.A., Canada, Australia, or Europe. Friendly service, affordable prices. For a no-obligation research plan and quotation visit http://www.ancestorseekers.com/research/ For help from professional genealogists in England or Scotland visit http://www.britishancestors.com/research/ Or join us 13-18 April for our TENTH SALT LAKE CITY RESEARCH TRIP--the dream genealogy vacation! * * * * * * * * * * End of Advertisements * * * * * * * 3. Connecting Through RootsWeb: The Search for My Grandmother and Her Siblings By David R. Ryan My grandmother always told us that her father died from spotted fever in Montana and that her mother placed her and her siblings in an orphanage. She never saw her mother again. We knew she was born Bertha Dishman in Louisville, Kentucky, on 8 September 1895. We knew she had two sisters, Dona Hill and Erma Dickinson, and possibly a brother. We also found a letter to her stating that her sister, Lettia Gassmann, had died in Louisville in 1941. Thirty years after her death--on Christmas Eve, 1966--I saw a childhood photograph of her with four siblings in checkered, uniform-like dresses. Curiosity aroused, I began searching. Eventually I found relatives with the same photograph, along with some surprises and heartaches. Although I will not go into the full details of the search, I will let you know what we have found so far. First of all, my grandmother had six siblings, not four. The 1900 Kentucky census lists Haywood Dishman and Josephine Phillips, born in Tennessee, with daughters Birdie, Ethel, and Willie, and with a son named Goble. The 29 April 1903 issue of the Daily Missoulian has J. Hayward Dishman's obituary. It says he died of spotted fever, leaving a wife and six small children. He's buried in Florence, Montana. On 25 October 1905, Mrs. Josephine Dishman released to the Montana Children's Home Society orphanage the following individuals: Bertha, born 8 September 1895 Ethel, born 1 January 1897 Willie Ann, born 11 March 1898 Goebel, born 20 July 20 1899 Ermie, born 10 February 1901 Mabel, born 11 June 11 1902 Josie married Truman Persons at Missoula, Montana, on 14 November 1905. She poignantly penciled to the orphanage 3 December 1905, "I never will see nothing only trouble in this life." A 15 February 1906 note stated, "you wanted the babey when you was after the others now I must say that you can have her to any time that you want her. Better for me an her to." Dona--the sixth sibling and seventh child--was born 10 October 1903, after Haywood died, and went to the orphanage in 1906. Also, Goebel actually never went to the orphanage, so the children in the photograph are Bertha, Ethel, Willie (Lettia), Erma, and Mabel. Josie handmade their dresses. Bertha, Erma, and Dona married and had children. Ethel, adopted at ten, had a child by her adopting family's son when she was fourteen and he was twenty-three. They married when she was fifteen. They had five children (one died at birth) and divorced about 1919. The husband took three children to Iowa. Ethel kept a deaf mute daughter. The 1920 Missoula census lists Ethel and Goebel in a boarding house. Obituaries for Ethel Dishman in 1957 and Goebel Dishman in 1980 list Ethel as Goebel's wife. We found no marriage records. They are buried together in Missoula, Montana. Willie married but had no children. Mabel was adopted and died at age five. Spokane, Washington, court records show Josie divorced Truman on 13 January 1910 because he continually beat and whipped her. We suspect he made her give up her children, too. The 1909 Spokane postal directory shows Josie moved to Athol, Idaho, on 25 May 1909. There the trail ends. Did she remarry or have children? What happened to Josephine Phillips Dishman Persons? Where is she buried? Will we ever find out? 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.] ------------------------------------------------------------- Don't Put Off 'Till Tomorrow By Shelly Langley Camden, Tennessee Butlersldy1861@aol.com It is all too recent in my mind that I was saying to my maternal grandmother, "Mammaw, I'm going to come spend a few days with you and go through your old pictures and write down who these people are in the photos. When you are gone we won't know who they are." Of course her reply was, "OK Honey, I look forward to your visit and reminiscing about old times." We talked on a regular basis, and we often talked about when she was a little girl and about her family. This past summer, my daughter and I went to visit her and make good on my promise. She was feeling good at the time although she was eighty- four and not generally in good health anymore. We laughed and talked and listened to some bluegrass music that we had brought with us. As we went through the pictures, I wrote on the back of them who the people were, along with a date or ages if Mammaw knew. Her mind was still very sharp. We went through every picture that I could find and I even picked some to make copies of for myself, because I knew that if something happened to my grandmother the pictures would be divided between her children and I would not have anything for my efforts. On 14 December 2007, my grandmother passed away and I was glad that my daughter and I had not put off going to spend some quality time with her. Now my ten-year-old daughter will fully remember spending time with her great-grandmother, and I will cherish the laughs we had and the enjoyment of reliving old memories with her firsthand. * * * Separating Pages in Old Documents Jennie Vertrees Princeton, Missouri I just wanted to share with you how to separate pages in fragile documents that are stuck together. A few years ago, I was granted permission by the state archives department in Jefferson City, Missouri, to hand copy some of the pages from the original 1880 census for Mercer County, Missouri. I ran into some pages that were so tightly stuck together that I couldn't get them apart short of tearing them, which I didn't want to. So I asked the person in charge of these old documents if she knew how to get them apart without damaging them. She took a sheet of acid-free paper and "see-sawed" it gently between the two sheets of the document; they came apart without much effort. She stated that the sheet of paper had to be acid-free or it wouldn't work. I've tried it since then and it has worked every time for me. * * * RE: A Sticky Photo Problem By Carol Simmons Minden Ontario I work at a local museum. We have been faced with the problem of having photos stuck to album pages many times. People often donate photo albums, and since we are charged with their safe-keeping, we attempt to remove and conserve the photos. We have found waxed dental floss to be a blessing. We slide a piece of floss back and forth--much like using a cross-cut saw--between the photo and the backing material. It works great; the photo doesn't get bent or creased. As a side note, make sure to remove all photos from the albums that have sticky pages and a clear film over-sleeve. These are horrendous for photos. * * * RE: A Sticky Photo Problem By Richard A. Danca Newton, Massachusetts Here's an idea for removing pictures stuck to pages in those so-called "magnetic" photo albums, where the supposedly tacky substance meant to hold photos on the page can set over time. You can safely remove those photos by carefully using a hand-held hair dryer set to "Low" or "Warm." Heat one edge of the photo and pry it away slowly as you continue to direct the warm air back and forth under the photo. A bit of the goo sometimes sticks to the photo, but probably not enough to worry about. After removing the photo, put it in a proper, acid-free photo album. * * * RE: Too Lazy To Work By Robert Woodley I was amused by the recent post "Enumerator Concurs" from 12 December 2007, describing a situation in which the census enumerator recorded an individual as "too lazy to do anything." I can do that one better with the enumeration of Ulysses Blaker of Plunket's Creek, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. His wife, Isabella, was described as "K. H., as dirty as the DEVIL"; his daughter, Elizabeth, as "at home but better be out at work"; and his daughter, Caroline, as "at home, too lazy to work." These poor women are forever thus branded. To read "Enumerator Concors," from the 2 January 2008 issue of the RootsWeb Review, visit: http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/review/2008/0102.txt 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. TENNESSEE. Crockett County. Young Cemetery. 137 records. Cristie Sanders Wright. http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ TENNESSEE. Crockett County. Cemetery. 246 records. Cristie Sanders Wright. http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ ALABAMA. Madison County. Death records. 45,650 records. Stephen W. Scott http://userdb.rootsweb.com/deaths/ 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 * * * 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 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 Covington County Genealogy and Historical Society website is at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~msccghs/ * * * USGW = USGenWeb AHGP = American History and Genealogy Project U.S.A. msccghs -- Covington County Genealogy and Historical Society (Mississippi) pasusqu2 -- Susquehanna County (Pennsylvania) AHGP tnkys -- Kingsport Yearbook Society (Tennessee) 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 ALMODOVAR ASENCIO AVILES BEHA BELLO BELVIN BIDEZ BREZINSKI CARABALLO CARMONA COTTO DECOURCEY DELGADO FIGUEROA FORNER GARDINIER GERENA GIBLEON GILKER HOPF JUETT KREIN LAMMERING LAROCCA LECH LUCKEL MACAGY MACCORKLE MACGILL MACHUCA MACLEARY MACUNE MAWHORTER MCCLASKEY MCCUDDEN MELENDEZ MERCADO MINNIUM MONIZ NADAL OKANE OMER OVENS PERU-SURNAME RECKSIECK ROSADO SANTANA SOSA SOUTHTON SCHLANGENSTEIN SERMONS SESCO THRON TUSHAUS VIANA VIERA VOLLBRACHT NEW REGIONAL MAILING LISTS No New Regional Mailing Lists NEW ETHNIC OR SPECIAL INTEREST MAILING LISTS AUS-LEGACY -- This mailing list is a question and answer service for Australian users of Legacy Family Tree genealogy software. SBAGS -- This mailing list is for members of the South Bend Area Genealogical Society (SBAGS) and interested non-members. The list will provide a means for people to share information regarding the society, research techniques, and other related genealogical topics. WINN-DNA -- This mailing list is for sharing information regarding the application of DNA testing to genealogical research on the Winn surname and variations. 6. Humor/Humour I have a great-niece and a great-nephew that call their two grandmothers Grammy Near and Grammy Far. The one grandmother lives very close to them and the other one lives several miles away. --Thanks to Peggy Follmer Penna * * * One of my college professors was named Homa Thomas. He had a twin brother named Okla. Yes, they were born and raised in Oklahoma. --Thanks to Jimmie Bacon 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: 9 January 2008, Vol. 11, No. 2. * * * *