RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Monthly E-zine 13 May 2009, Vol. 12, No. 5 (c) 1998-2009 RootsWeb.com, Inc. http://www.rootsweb.com/ * * * Having trouble reading this newsletter? The online version is available at: http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/review/2009/0514.txt or http://ftp.rootsweb.ancestry.com/pub/review/2009/0514.html * * * ROOTSWEB HELPDESK: Check here for frequently asked questions about RootsWeb: http://rootsweb.custhelp.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://rwr.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ ============================================================== IN THIS ISSUE: 1. Using RootsWeb The Digital Genealogist - A Look at File Formats 2. Genealogy Tip Attending Genealogy Conferences 3. Connecting Connecting Across the Pond 4. Bottomless Mailbag: Readers Write In A Thank You to Volunteers Great Grandpa Was Sentenced to Hang Looking For Grandfather 5. What's New: Databases, Freepages, and Mailing Lists 5a. New User-contributed Databases 5b. New/Updated Freepages by Individuals 5c. New/Updated Freepages by Counties, States, and Genealogical/Historical Societies 5d. New Mailing Lists 6. You Found It Unusual Children's Names in the Census A Marriage License Anecdote An Occupation For a Baby? Cause of Death 7. Subscriptions, Submissions, Advertising, and Reprints ============================================================== IN THIS ISSUE: 1. Using RootsWeb The Digital Genealogist - A Look at File Formats By Mary Harrell-Sesniak maryh@volunteer.rootsweb.com "Genealogy is not just a pastime; it's a passion." During natural and unnatural disasters, documents are always lost. But they don't need to be, if time is taken to scan and create a digital copy that you can transmit far away. It's not enough to store backups on one's own computer - it's paramount that copies be shared with others so in the event of that unthinkable computer loss, you'll be able to retrieve these backups. Decisions, Decisions As I see it there are two basic choices for starting on your journey of preserving your documents. Should you scan or take a picture? This decision is likely made based on what equipment you already have available but keep in mind the type of records you are preserving and what files you want as the end result. The choice of a camera setting or scanning format really depends upon the need for resolution, disk space and portability - and whether one image or page needs to be attached to another (for example, a book or wedding album). Taking a high quality picture is best if you want to preserve a book, whereas scanning a wedding license would likely give you a better result than taking a picture. Either way you choose make sure to consult your owner's manual as each scanner has a different process for scanning, and each camera has different capabilities, since you want to make the most of the resources you have. Next on your journey is deciding what file format you should use. It becomes a little difficult when you are simply trying to figure out what the file extensions mean - PDF, PNG, JPEG, TIFF, etc, it seems like another language! Once you are more comfortable with what the file types are and why you may want to use this one versus that one you'll be equipped to complete your journey. Multiple page documents To scan collections of images or books, try Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF). There are many free software options you can use to create a PDF formatted document. One great thing about PDF documents is that they are pretty universal and can be opened by most computer users regardless of the software that they have on their computer - this makes sharing documents in this format very convenient. If you have purchased a book reader, such as Amazon's Kindle, you can scan to a PDF and convert to the reader format (you'll need to purchase software) so your back-up is portable. For all of you who are book readers, these popular upcoming electronic devices are lightweight and about the size of over-sized paperbacks. They are easily toted - but are limited in sharing documents with others, who don't have the same technology. Single images Images or single pages of books can be scanned or photographed in varying formats. Some formats never lose resolution upon enlarging, but most do - the trade-off being large files that waste disk space or loss of quality. In order to retain quality without gigantic images, the scanner or camera will use compression techniques to produce a "lossy" or "lossless" format (partial or no loss of quality). Lossless compression retains all information from the original image, and lossy compression makes allowances through calculations (algorithms). For example, rather than analyze every pixel in an image, patterns may be noted, and emulated upon enlarging. Loss of quality (color or contrast) is minimal, if the enlargement is not too dramatic. File Type Extensions: An extension designating a particular file type is added after a document / image name. Keeping a reference guide to what these formats are will be helpful when deciding how you want to save your documents. BMP, an early format, are rarely recommended, due to size and quality issues. GIF, The "Graphics Interchange Format", popular for web pages, compresses images from millions of colors to 256 or less (not advised for full color images.) JPG, Also known as JPEG, the "Joint Photographic Expert Group" format offers lossy compression options, and is a widely supported Web format. Generally produces quality images, although minor portions of the original are discarded. PNG, The "Portable Network Graphic" format, an improvement over GIF, offers compression, transparency and the progressive loading of images. Resizing is reversible, since a mostly lossless format is produced by identifying patterns. Increasingly popular format. PSD, The "Photoshop Data / Document" format is proprietary to Adobe. One major advantage is layering, which allows enhancement of one area of a picture, without affecting another. Once saved, the image cannot be reverted, so save backups in other formats (ex. TIFF). Adobe Photoshop is widely used by professionals and Adobe Photoshop Elements is a lower-cost, but high quality product. PSP, Similar to PSD, this is "Paint Shop Pro's" proprietary format. RAW, RAW format is determined by camera settings. In theory, the output is lossless and has an advantage over TIFF. But since manufacturers supply their own software, the image may not be viewable in other graphic programs. TIFF, The "Tagged information file format" is a flexible, lossless format used in publishing and high quality digitization. Files sizes are large, as most images are not compressed. Not recommended for websites. For more information on file formats, review these RootsWeb pages: The Pastfinder of South Lake County, Florida: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~flpslc/scanning.htm Enhancing Archival Photographs http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~canthro/eap.html To view a webinar on Saving Family Treasures click here. http://learn.ancestry.com/LearnMore/WebinarVideoPage.aspx?video=http://c.ancestry.com/Affiliate/Knowledgebase/Webinar/122115_flv/ * * * * * * * * * * Advertisements * * * * * * * * * * Ancestor Seekers September 2009 Salt Lake City Research Trip 31 AUGUST - 5 SEPTEMBER 2009 - 10% Early Registration Discount! Join others from throughout the U.S.A. and Canada for the dream genealogy vacation. Spend a whole 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 other optional activities! "Thank you all for such a wonderful experience." (Marsha, Iowa) Visit http://www.ancestorseekers.com/external/rwr, or call TOLL FREE at 877-402-6846 * * * Federation of Genealogical Societies 2-5 September 2009 Mark your calendars for the national Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) 2009 annual conference -- Little Rock Convention Center, Little Rock, Arkansas, 2-5 September 2009. With the theme "Passages Through Time," this year's conference offers 160 lectures and workshops by nationally distinguished genealogists and experts in local history. Topics range from African-American family history to frontier religion, research in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast region, and the land records of Oklahoma territory. For more information about the conference, including the conference program, visit the FGS website at https://www.fgs.org/2009conference/index.php. * * * * * * * * * * End of Advertisements * * * * * * * 2. Genealogy Tip Attending Genealogy Conferences By Joan Young joan@volunteer.rootsweb.com Over the years I've been lucky in that I've had the opportunity to attend many genealogy conferences. A few were national, others regional, and many on the local level. Conferences offer an opportunity to attend programs on topics about which you wish to gain a more in-depth understanding, as well as those about which you know nothing. There are workshops and lectures where you can choose to stay within one track of subject matter covering related areas of research (for example: German or Irish research) or choose from a variety of topics. Banquets and luncheons allow you to socialize in person with your online genealogy friends and mentors. Conferences generally offer an exhibit area where you can browse and shop for genealogical publications, products, and software (often meeting the authors or creators of the products you are considering purchasing). The exhibit area also provides the opportunity to?explore company booths and preview new features being added at Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, and other genealogy companies. New features and products are often scheduled for introduction at large genealogy conferences. Two important annual national conferences are the National Genealogical Society (NGS) conference http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/ and the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) conference. http://www.fgs.org/index.php There are also a variety of regional conferences such as the New England Regional Genealogical Conference http://www.nergc.org/ and special interest conferences like the International Conference on Jewish Genealogy (IAJGS) http://www.philly2009.org/ Contact your local genealogical society or historical society and you may find conferences close to home. It doesn't matter whether you live in the USA, Australia, England or elsewhere? I am sure you will find a conference in your area tailored to your research interests and your desire to network with others having similar interests. Perhaps you would enjoy combining a vacation with the learning experience and camaraderie of a conference? Watch for announcements of genealogy cruises and trips. Cruises and trips may be geared to researching ancestors from a geographic area or even to those using a specific genealogy software program. While you can learn much about family history research via the Internet, attendance at genealogical conferences enhances the learning experience and helps you become a more competent, knowledgeable, and well-rounded researcher. Plus...they are fun! Keep an eye on Cyndi's List Events listings for more information about upcoming conferences and seminars in your area. http://www.cyndislist.com/events.htm 3. Connecting Connecting Across the Pond By William Eade My father's side of the family immigrated to the US from Great Britain to Pennsylvania toward the end of the 1800s. My mother's side came from Prussia just prior to WWI. I put out a "shotgun" announcement on the internet to everyone with our family name. You would think that with a name like EADE this would be a fairly easy task - I was amazed at how many possible relatives there were out there. I was fortunate to find three cousins. One was living in Cornwall, Great Britain, another in Canada, and the third in New Zealand. Between them and my own efforts, we have verified my (our) lineage back to the mid 1500s (Paternal AND Maternal). My cousin in Cornwall has supplied me with copies of many family records from the British files. I have also found a number of shirt-tail relatives through this effort and have found one lady who is related on BOTH my father's fathers and father's mother's side of the line. Information prior to the mid 1500s is murky. I encountered one family with SIX different spellings of EADE - one for each of the children. Evidently literacy was not a big thing back then. Whoever recorded the birth spelled the name the way it sounded to them. I have a lot of work to do on my mother's side of the family. Her mother's name was Smith and HER mother's name was Snyder. Their families had anglicized the family names from the original Germanic names - Schneider to Snyder and Schmidt to Smith. I understand that somewhere in the line she had a Von Rath that changed to Rathvon. There is also at least one Dornsife in the family. Some interesting things came out of this research, including the dual marriage of twin Eade boys marrying twin girls from another family on the same day. 4. Bottomless Mailbag: Readers Write In [Editor's note: The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the editor or of RootsWeb.com.] ------------------------------------------------------------- A Thank You to Volunteers I would like to tell you about a brick wall and the lady who helped knock it down. I had been stuck for many years researching my Ridgeway line. I could only get as far as the 1860 census, where all of the family was listed by their initials. I found a M A Ridgway in AL in 1860 and thought, "Bingo! Here is my relative." Was I wrong! This M A was a Michael A Ridgway from Tallapoosa County AL. At the same time I was looking for an M A Ridgeway in Butler County AL. Two M A Ridgeways in the same state at the same time? I wrote to the Historical Society in Butler County, to see if they could find anything on this family. I had found the info on the other M A previously. Not hearing anything, I figured there was nothing to be found. Was I wrong again. A lady from the Historical Society, named Judy Taylor, emailed me that she had found some info, and asked if I would like all that she found. Of course I said, yes. When I received the information, it opened the brick wall. She had found the probated will of M A's father, naming the parents and all the children's names. Jackpot. My M A is also a Michael A Ridgeway. He was the son of William Ridgeway and Susannah, and William was listed as the son of a Richard Ridgeway from South Carolina. The info Judy sent was an eye opener and of course caused more questions to be formed as usual, but without it, I would still be stuck. Many thanks to her, and all the volunteers out there, who give of their time to help those of us who drive them crazy with our requests. THANK YOU! Barbara Germer in Rhome, Texas * * * Great Grandpa Was Sentenced to Hang During my youth, growing up in a small southern town, I heard the oft-repeated family legend that my great-grandfather had "killed a man with a lightard knot in an argument over a cow." No one seemed to know the details beyond that, except that after his conviction for murder, "his wife rode all over the county in a buggy getting a petition signed, and the governor pardoned him." Needless to say, this was rich fare for an inquisitive young fellow, and I resolved to one day find out more about my great-grandpa's case. I eventually found the transcript of the case in the state archives. The facts were that he had indeed killed a man in an argument, but it was with a pistol in the courtyard of a bar near the courthouse after a court case in which he and his victim were adversaries in a dispute over a piece of land. He was sentenced to hang for murder, but a jury irregularity necessitated a re-trial. I could not find the transcript of that trial, but I posted queries on internet genealogy sites, and one day I received a call from a man who thought he was descended from the man my great-grandfather had killed. He had found and shared the transcript of the second trial with me. In this trial, my great-grandfather was once more found guilty and sentenced to hang, and was sent to jail awaiting the fateful date. The only other record I found was of a vote taken in the state legislature on a bill which had been submitted to pardon him. A slim majority voted in the affirmative. I'm grateful. For 11 years later he had a son which became my maternal grandfather. I have searched for a record of the "petition," but to no avail. Perhaps it is in the governor's records of the time, or it could have been sent to a legislator, or there may never have been a petition at all. Not surprisingly, not all of my relatives were happy about my confirming the family legend, or knowing the full facts. Some of them would have preferred that the skeleton remain in the closet! This was my first and best lesson of how the facts can become distorted in being passed down from generation to generation, and how important it is to take what one finds during research with a grain of salt until documentation is found to verify it. Paul Reeves in Georgia * * * Looking For Grandfather While browsing for genealogy/family history books in East Lyme, CT, I came across a book, "Unbroken Circle." It is the transcription of an oral interview with Mary Jane (McCurdy) Weaver. She is originally from Arkansas, born near Fayetteville in 1855. She lived in AR, TX, AZ and NM during her life time. Some additional surnames mentioned in the book: Appleby, Collins, Cox, Darling, Early, Kifer, Parrs, Pope, Walton, Weineke. It says that the book was a limited edition of 1000 copies. It was printed in 1985. There are pictures of various generations. I read it with great interest though there was no connection to my family. Mary Jane was a woman of great faith, who took what live threw at her and made the very best of it. She was a loving mother and wife. I will send the book at no charge to the first descendant of this sweet lady that requests it through my e-mail. I would love to unite the book with a descendant. Ken Caye in Utah klcaye@gmail.com 5. What's New: Databases, Freepages, and Mailing Lists 5a. New User-contributed Databases at RootsWeb http://userdb.rootsweb.com/submit/ ------------------------------------------------------------- None Submit Your Genealogical Data to a RootsWeb Database at http://userdb.rootsweb.ancestry.com/submit/. 5b. New/Updated Freepages by Individuals To Request a Free Web Account: http://accounts.rootsweb.com/ None If you have a new or substantially revised freepage at RootsWeb and would like to see it mentioned here, send the URL, the title, and a BRIEF description, including major surnames, to Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com. * * * If your genealogy- or history-related site is located somewhere other than RootsWeb, you can add the link to RootsWeb here: http://resources.rootsweb.com/~rootslink/addlink.html * * * 5c. New/Updated Freepages 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 weeks. http://www.rootsweb.com/~xxxxxx[accountname] * * * Note that the ~[tilde] before the Web account name is required. For example, the American History and Genealogy Project Lewis County (Kentucky) website is at http://www.rootsweb.com/~kylewis4/ * * * AHSGR = American Historical Society of Germans From Russia ALHN = American Local History Network CAR = Children of the American Revolution DAR = Daughters of the American Revolution DUVCW = Daughters of the Union Veterans of the Civil War SAR = Sons of the American Revolution UDC = United Daughters of the Confederacy USD1812 = United States Daughters of the War of 1812 USGW = United States GenWeb U.S.A. alechs - Etowah County (AL) Historical Society cahcmcar - Hiram C. Meek Society (CA), CAR cabcdar - Bakersfield Chapter (CA) DAR dechcdar - Colonel Haslet Chapter (DE) DAR garcgs - Rockdale Co. (GA) Genealogical Society ilduvcw - Illinois Department, DUVCW ilgedscv - Lt. George E. Dixon Camp #1962, (IL) Sons of Confederate Veterans ilwinntp - Winnebago County (IL) USGW Tombstone Project ilmpcdar - Midewin Prairie Chapter (IL) DAR inpchs - Portage Community (IN) Historical Society kysar - Kentucky Society SAR kysdcdar - Samuel Davies Chapter (KY) DAR lawcdar - Wharton Chapter (LA) DAR mdkent - Kent County (MD) USGW mdqueena - Queen Anne County (MD) USGW mdtalbot - Talbot County (MD) USGW nhcalste - Alstead City (NH) USGW nhcheshi - Cheshire County (NH) USGW njsussgc - Sussex County (NJ) Genealogy Club ohwwcdar - Wooster Wayne Chapter (OH) DAR ordchs - Douglas County (OR) Historical Society ohduvcw - Ohio Department, DUVCW tnnkhs - North of Kingsport (TN) Historical Society tnrcsr - Reedy Creek Settlement (TN) Restoration Project txjatusd - Captain James Asbury Tait Chapter (TX) USD1812 txlscdac - LaSalle Chapter (TX) Daugher of the American Colonists txreludc - Robert E. Lee 186 (TX) UDC utinterm - Intermountain Chapter (UT) AHSGR vachedar - Chesapeake Chapter (VA) DAR vafaugu3 - Fauquier County (VA) ALHN vaprodar - Providence Chapter (VA) DAR vaprwill - Prince William County (VA) ALHN vtpasds - Poultney Area (VT) St. David's Society wanpcdar - Narcissa Prentiss Chapter (WA) DAR INTERNATIONAL ausrmug - Australian RootsMagic User Group bmusidar - Somers Isles Chapter (Bermuda) DAR cancpcdar - Canadian Prairies Chapter (Winnipeg) DAR engchs2 - England Cheshire Look Up Exchanage jpnscdar - Sasebo Chapter (Tokyo, Japan) DAR 5d. New Mailing Lists To Request a New Mailing List: http://resources.rootsweb.com/adopt/ ------------------------------------------------------------- To find or subscribe to a mailing list, or to search archived posts to more than 30,000 RootsWeb-hosted genealogy mailing lists, go to http://lists.rootsweb.com/. NEW SURNAME MAILING LISTS BUELOW DELPARDO DESJARLAIS DEVOY DOWHANIUK KINALEY MACBETH MACKENDREE MCCARDELL MCCONNICO MRASEK PISCIOTTA SPERVESLAGE STURRE VENTRESCA WENLOCK WORLOCK NEW REGIONAL MAILING LISTS AUS-QLD-WYNNUM - A mailing list for anyone with a genealogical interest in the districts of Wynnum, Manly, and Lota in Queensland, Australia. NEW ETHNIC OR SPECIAL INTEREST MAILING LISTS None 6. You Found It Unusual Children's Names in the Census I found the following funny names in a 1900 census enumeration in Macon County, Georgia: Durrough, Mother, head, age 31 - Big Baby, daughter, age 9 - Sweet Heart, son, age 7 Brian A. Salmons in Orlando Florida [Editor's Note: Most name indexes list the head of household with significant variations.] * * * A Marriage License Anecdote While I was in Butler Co., KY looking for marriages on the James and Butler families and found one that caused me a belly laugh. The clerk had written on the marriage license that "both bride and groom old and ugle". It was a second marriage for both the parties. James Butler, born around 1806, was marrying his first cousin on his mother's side, Elvira Searcy Bracken Turner. I was so distracted by the note that I failed to record the marriage date but have gotten it since - July 1, 1861. Glenda Potts Thacker * * * An Occupation For a Baby? In the 1860 Monroe County, VA census Rufus Houchins is listed as clerk in store. His wife is Margaret. Their one year old daughter Laura has an occupation listed: CRIER. Someone managed to find humor in a fussy baby. Melissa Ball * * * Cause of Death While going through West Virginia Death Certificates for Wyoming County, I found one of our Green family members. The immediate cause of death was listed as "Cremation". The cause of injury was listed lower on the form as "house destroyed by fire." Roy Raymer * * * Found a funny name or humorous tidbit in old records or an amusing entry in census, parish, church, or other records? Send these and other genealogy-related humor/humour items to Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com. For a description of, subscription information to, and an index of the more than 30,000 RootsWeb-hosted genealogy mailing lists go here. 7. Subscriptions, Submissions, Advertising, and Reprints ------------------------------------------------------------- SUBSCRIPTIONS. You received this newsletter because you are subscribed to the "RootsWeb Review." To manage your e-mail communications (i.e., to unsubscribe from 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 editor is considered to be for publication--send 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: Kathryn Davidson, kdavidson@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": 13 May 2009, Vol. 12, No. 5. * * * *