ROOTSWEB REVIEW: Genealogical Data Cooperative News Vol. 2, No. 17, 28 April 1999. Circulation: 291,900+ (C) 1998-1999 RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative Editors: Julia M. Case and Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG RootsWeb HelpDesk: CONTENTS. News and Notes from RootsWeb (Making New Facilities Happen at RootsWeb; Patty Lindsay Joins RootsWeb Staff; Surname Helper; Threaded Archives Update; Colorado USGenWeb Photos Project; RootsWeb Report on TalkSpot; FamilyPoint) Connecting through RootsWeb; Mailing Lists; Web Pages; GenConnect Boards; USGenWeb Archives Project; USGenWeb Census Project; Letters to the Editors; Humor; Reprint Policy * * * * * NEWS AND NOTES FROM ROOTSWEB MAKING NEW FACILITIES HAPPEN AT ROOTSWEB: The staff and volunteers at RootsWeb are committed to providing the best possible resources to the genealogical community, and resources that are open to *everyone*. We'd like to be providing Web sites, mailing lists, and GenConnect message boards for the equivalent of counties in every country in the world *and* for virtually every surname in the world. We'd like to be providing even more support for activities like the USGenWeb Archives, which are bringing primary data online where it can be freely accessed by all Internet genealogists. And there's a lot more we'd like to be doing. The one thing that limits what we can do is the extent to which the genealogical community supports us. Right now, fewer than 7% of our users are Contributors. The kindness of our Contributors has made RootsWeb what it is, but we just can't do more without more support from the community. If you are interested in helping RootsWeb provide more facilities, visit: or send e-mail to: RW-info@rootsweb.com While RootsWeb wants to continue growing and providing new services, the one thing we don't want to do is really hound our noncontributors with guilt or lock up our resources to force folks to support us. So one thing RootsWeb is doing to fund new facilities is actively pursuing partnerships with commercial firms. The recent partnerships with Surfree and FamilyPoint are examples. In all these partnerships, though, RootsWeb is going to be looking for a relationship that delivers value to genealogists as well as supports new facilities at RootsWeb. Another thing that RootsWeb is doing is launching new hobby communities, the first of which will be for pet owners, then cooking and home crafts, gardening and home improvement, and travel. We hope that spreading the cost of developing software and operating servers across several communities will enable us to provide many new facilities for genealogists. Thanks again to the Contributors who have made RootsWeb's facilities open to everyone! The staff and volunteers at RootsWeb hope that we'll be able to provide you all with even better facilities as time goes on. * * * PATTY LINDSAY JOINS ROOTSWEB STAFF. RootsWeb welcomes Patty Lindsay to the staff. Patty is a cgi-bin hacker and the author of the extremely popular CC Helper and Surname Helper software. * * * SURNAME HELPER is a "surname only" search engine. "Surname only" means that searches for "Husband" should only produce links to sites that have the surname HUSBAND, not to sites where the word "husband" is used in a sentence. Surname Helper participating sites include the GenConnect boards, among others. Surname Helper provides each participating site with an index of surnames and a search page for just that site, such as the surname index pages for GenConnect boards. As of 26 April 1999, Surname Helper indexed 4,678 sites, including 2,176 of the 3,098 USGenWeb county sites in every state except Hawaii, 818 WorldGenWeb sites in 99 countries, and 949 surname sites with 247,961 surnames indexed for 2,413,023 items. * * * THREADED LIST ARCHIVES. Marc Nozell reports that the interest in the Rootsweb Threaded List Archives continues to be tremendous. Currently there are 15,126 registered users viewing the 2,167 mailing lists being archived here. As of midnight, there were 195,950 available messages in 1,657,202,742 searchable bytes of data -- that is more than one and one-half gigabytes of information -- 1.6GB to be exact. Read these messages using your Web browser by visiting . * * * COLORADO USGENWEB PHOTOS PROJECT . This is for all researchers to show their Colorado ancestors as well as photos of first businesses, first schools, teachers, doctors, banks, post offices and more. Colorado has 64 counties and currently there are photos from 35 of them. Recent additions include a photo of Pueblo, Colorado in the second flood of 1921 and a photo of the headstone of C.C. Aldrich (1812-1906), Co. H. 1st Colorado Cavalry. Unless more information is obtained, the latter photo will remain in the Unknown County category. * * * ROOTSWEB REPORT ON TALKSPOT. Every Saturday between 4 and 6 p.m. U.S. Pacific time (midnight to 0200 GMT) you can hear the "RootsWeb Report" on "Generations -- Find Your Roots" . The theme of this week's show is "Interviewing Your Living Relatives," and the special guest is author and software specialist David Birley. * * * PRIVATE FAMILY SITES AT FAMILYPOINT. RootsWeb is actively looking for partners who can provide additional benefits for the genealogical community. FamilyPoint is one such site. It is completely free to its users, and families who use FamilyPoint can have private areas with features like: o The "Fridge" where users can share notes, stories, recipes, and more. o A photo gallery that lets you privately exchange photos. o Discussion areas by topic. o A calendar that provides an easy way to stay on top of family events with instant notification to others when you schedule an activity. o An e-mail greeting card even using your own photos. o Live chat with family members. o A "family favorites" database where you can store favorite places, recipes, and more along with their descriptions. o An address book where contact information can be shared. One additional nice thing about FamilyPoint is that they can coordinate their site to work with any other site, and RootsWeb is considering working jointly with FamilyPoint to build such a site. If you have time, RootsWeb would appreciate it if you would visit the FamilyPoint site at: , sign in as a member, build your site, e-mail your family, look around, and then e-mail us at: and tell us whether you think we should coordinate with FamilyPoint to create a RootsWeb-FamilyPoint site and what other features you'd like that joint site to have. Joining FamilyPoint is completely free to you, and FamilyPoint will donate $2 to RootsWeb for each of our users who join their site. It's a win for everyone, and RootsWeb would really like to know if you would like us to offer this sort of site in the future. Please visit FamilyPoint. * * * * * CONNECTING THROUGH ROOTSWEB. Thanks for sharing your stories. RootsWeb has sparked my lagging interest in family research. I thought I had reached a dead-end after 28 years of research. Since the Wundrock family in the U.S.A. is relatively small (125 people since 1884), I was at an impasse. Through the Internet I was able to find and contact a small group of Wundrocks in Germany. I am working diligently to close the family loop with long-lost relatives still in Europe. I am also finding other relatives (biographies and obits) via RootsWeb connections. Bob Wundrock Just wanted to let you know that I just had a most successful search from a Genconnect Board. I found someone with the same great-grandparents and hope to attend a reunion as a result of this finding. Many thanks for the wonderful work you do. Wish everyone subscribed so you could be financially well supported. Many, many thanks for your great works. Dorothy Place Guthrie I am a new genealogy researcher. We had been looking for the location of my grandfather since 1914. Both my deceased uncles searched for him for 70-some years. I started research on the Internet in 1996. I was so excited when they updated the Ohio Death Certificate Archives on the Internet and there he was in 1931 in Cincinnati. Thank you a million times. J. A. Brennan" I just wanted to say thank you for RootsWeb. I advertised on one of your surname lists about a year ago for my husband's grandfather. My father-in-law wasn't raised by his father, so my husband knew little about his grandfather. We listed what we did know and were contacted a second cousin within a few weeks. He had information going back many generations. The best part of the story is that we have made new friends and family contacts. Nancy Riley I have been in contact with this individual for several months. With her permission, I am forwarding her letter. I am a USGenWeb volunteer for Sweet Grass County, Montana, which has a relatively small population, so I am able to help searchers a little more, especially those who are new to the Internet. Dr. John and Dr. Will Moore were the first doctors in Sweet Grass County. I am also working to help her share her information with the local museum. Although she calls it the "Crazy Horse Museum," it is the "Crazy Mountain Museum." Joan Shurtliff I want to let you know that you gave me the clue on my family research that has led me down some interesting and productive paths. With the names of Dr. John and Dr. Will Moore's parents in Canada I have found . . . bits and pieces everywhere: death certificates, verification of medical school graduation; 1871 Ontario census (copy on its way); but best of all, on the CanadaGenWeb site . . . I saw two inquiries for Moore with the appropriate dates. I asked each if any of my names were familiar. One said no, hers were from Ireland, but the other one was a direct link to the family through my great-grandmother. . . . It is so amazing what connections can be made via the Internet. More amazing is that my new contact . . . lives about 1 1/2 hours from me. I also received a wonderful packet of information from Bev at the Crazy Horse Museum that had much information . . . I have enjoyed reading letters and newspaper articles, and found dates I didn't have. When I have all this exciting new stuff organized, . . . I will be more than happy to share since this is the most fun of doing a genealogy. . . Thanks so much for getting me started. Dianne Pierce * * * * * MAILING LISTS. For an index to most user mailing lists hosted by RootsWeb, visit . IF YOU DO NOT HAVE WEB ACCESS but would like to know if a RootsWeb-hosted mailing list exists for a particular surname, send a SUBSCRIBE request in accordance with the instructions below, filling in the desired surname where the example shows [name of list]. If the list exists, you will receive confirmation that your address has been added to the list. If the list does not exist, your message will bounce back to you with a message advising there is no such address. Try alternate spellings. For example, there is no list for KLINE, but there are KLEIN and CLINE lists. You have nothing to lose but the time it takes to prepare and send the SUBSCRIBE request. NEW MAILING LIST REQUESTS. USGenWeb and WorldGenWeb hosts may have FREE locality mailing lists for the areas they host and for that purpose may ignore the "Contributors-only" warning on the list request page. Please request new mailing lists at: TO SUBSCRIBE OR UNSUBSCRIBE from any RootsWeb-hosted mailing list, send an e-mail message with only the word SUBSCRIBE (or UNSUBSCRIBE) in the subject and the body of the message to [name of list]-L-request@rootsweb.com (for mail mode) or to [name of list]-D-request@rootsweb.com (for digest mode). FOR EXAMPLE, if you have interest in surname origins, send a SUBSCRIBE message to: . NEW SURNAME MAILING LISTS AARON (ARNN, ARON, ARUN, AARONS, etc.) ABSHIRE (AHSEAR, ABSHERE, IPSHER, etc.) AFFLECK (AFFLICK, AUCHENLECK, etc.) ARMENTOR BOJSEN (BJSEN, BOISEN, BOYSON, etc.) BOUTON (BOUGHTON, etc.) CARNAHAN (CARNAGHAN) CASCADDEN (CASCADEN, CASCADDAN, CAS HADDIN, etc.) CASPER FALK FINNEY (FINNIE, FINNY, PHINNIE, etc.) GILCHRIST (See also: ) HARDMAN (HARDEMAN, HARDIMAN, HARDYMAN, etc.) HASH HATTRUP HEINZE (also HEINZ) HOSTRUP (especially descendants and ancestors of Jens Christian HOSTRUP, of Denmark in the early 1800s) HOWELLS-SOUTHERN (HOWELLS that migrated to the southern United States, primarily to Alabama, Tennessee, and Texas) HUIE HYDEN KENDRICK (KINDRICK, etc.) KORNGIEBEL KRALMAN LAMONT (LAMOND, etc.) MALLARD (MELLARD, etc.) MASSENGALE-REDERICK (descendants of Rederick MASSENGALE) MCMANAMAN (MCMANAMON, etc. ) PACE (especially the descendants of early American immigrant Richard PACE) PEARCE (and variants) PILLOT POTTER POWE RABENSTEIN (RABENSTINE, RAUBENSTINE, etc.) RANDLES (and variants) RAVENSCRAFT SCOFIELD (SCHOFIELD, etc.) SECCOMB (SECCOMBE, SECOMBE, SECOMB, SEACOMB, SEACOMBE, etc.) SIGSBEE (and variants) SMITH-MISSOURI (SMITH in Missouri) TUNNELL (includes RUNNEL) ULENBERG (or UHLENBERG) WEIKLE (WICAL, WYKLE, WIKLE, WEIGLE, WICHAEL, etc.) WILKIE (WILKE, etc. ) ZACHARIAS NEW REGIONAL MAILING LISTS CANADA NS-CAPE-BRETON -- Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia PEI-GREENWICH -- Greenwich, Prince Edward Island SPAIN SPAIN-ISLAS-CANARIAS -- Canary Islands U.S.A. ARHEMPST -- Hempstead County, Arkansas ARMONTGO -- Montgomery County, Arkansas ARPERRY -- Perry County, Arkansas GAGREENE -- Greene County, Georgia GAHENRY -- Henry County, Georgia INHENDRI -- Hendricks County, Indiana MOPETTIS -- Pettis County, Missouri NCHERTFO -- Hertford County, North Carolina NYNIAGAR -- Niagara County, New York NYORANGE -- Orange County, New York VAMATHEW -- Mathews County, Virginia VANANSEM -- Nansemond County, Virginia NEW ETHNIC, SPECIAL INTEREST, and MISCELLANEOUS MAILING LISTS OH-CW-AfricaAmer -- Ohio African Americans in the Civil War RIVER-JAMES -- James River families in 17th-century Virginia SURNAME-ORIGINS -- Discussion of etymology (word origin) of any surname, as well as the geographic origins of surnames TEXAS-ROOTS -- Genealogy and history in the state of Texas ULLANS -- The Ulster-Scots Language Mailing List is for those who want to know more about the Scots language in Northern Ireland and Donegal. It is for those who want to support the present-day language or just want to learn more about the history of the language and its speakers. You don't have to speak or write Ullans to belong. USRW-BRANDYWINE -- Genealogy and history of the Revolutionary War Battle of Brandywine USWARS -- This list goes with the USWARS GenConnect boards at and is for genealogical questions not directed to a specific war or military action. * * * * * NEW WEB ACCOUNT REQUESTS. Please see the instructions at . NEW WEB SITES. Some of these might not yet be accessible. If one that interests you isn't up yet, please check again in a few days or a week. . Note that the ~[tilde] before the account name is required. FOR EXAMPLE, to visit the main MediterraneanGenWeb page, go to . AFRICA namwgw -- Namibia ENGLAND engess -- Essex EUROPE medwgw -- MediterraneanGenWeb bltwgw -- BalticSeaGenWeb U.S.A. archmaps -- Maps -- USGenWeb Archives gaoldwal -- Old Walton County, Georgia mdfreder -- Frederick County, Maryland mdwashin -- Washington County, Maryland miingha2 -- Ingham County, Michigan (2) mttoole -- Toole County, Montana tncampbe -- Campbell County, Tennessee tngreene -- Greene County, Tennessee tnhaywoo -- Haywood County, Tennessee tnloudon -- Loudon County, Tennessee tnmaury -- Maury County, Tennessee tnobion -- Obion County, Tennessee txcomal -- Comal County, Texas txgilles -- Gillespie County, Texas * * * * * GENCONNECT REGIONAL BOARDS. 145 new regional GenConnect boards were activated 18 April through 24 April 1999, as follows: ALHN 2 ARCHIVES 1 USWARS 1 USA Al 23 Ca 25 Ct 1 Fl 1 Ga 10 Il 14 Mi 2 Mo 11 Ms 8 Mt 4 NC 2 NJ 1 Ok 4 Or 7 Pa 6 SC 1 Tn 7 Tx 1 Va 1 Wi 12 GENCONNECT SURNAME BOARDS. 199 new surname boards include the following : Affleck, Armentor, Badget, Bence, Black, Bojsen, Bradley, Brauker, Bryan, Burtcher, Carnahan, Cottrell, Cowan, Crawford, Crosby, Darling, Eason, Eaton, Eichelberger, Grady, Griffee, Hall, Havens, Hines, Honea, Hostrup, Joiner, Kayser, Kerschen, Knapp, Langhorn, Lutz, Maguire, Mallard, McDermitt, McMackin, Mesler, Neises, Ogden, Poston, Quinn, Ramsey, Raschke, Renza, Rinearson, Rinebold, Roberts, Rosier, Secord, Shaffer, Slack, Slafter, Sockwell, Spear, Stull, Weitzel, Weldon, Wilder, Wilkie * * * * * USGENWEB ARCHIVES PROJECT -- CENSUS IMAGES ALABAMA. 1850. Fayette County ALABAMA. 1860. Fayette County IOWA. 1870 Dallas County NORTH CAROLINA. 1900 Transylvania County TEXAS. 1910 Waller County USGENWEB ARCHIVES PROJECT -- OTHER SUBMISSIONS KENTUCKY. Clay County Archives KENTUCKY. Owsley County Archives KENTUCKY. Owsley County 1860 Census KENTUCKY. Perry County Archives OHIO. Erie County 1880 Oxford Township Census OHIO. Erie County. History of Kelly's Island OHIO. Geauga County Cemetery Records -- Burton Township OHIO. Jefferson County Docket Book 1825-1828 OHIO. Morrow County Cemetery Index, Volume V * * * * * USGENWEB CENSUS PROJECT ARCHIVES -- TRANSCRIPTIONS ALABAMA. 1860 Tuscaloosa County (Partial) ALABAMA. 1840 Washington County (Southern District) FLORIDA. 1860 Brevard County FLORIDA. 1850 St. Lucie County (18th. Div.) GEORGIA. 1860 Washington County KENTUCKY. 1850 Bracken County KENTUCKY. 1830 Nicholas County KENTUCKY. 1820 Ohio County KENTUCKY. 1830 Ohio County MISSISSIPPI. 1840 Simpson County MISSISSIPPI. 1840 Tunica County (Northern District) NORTH CAROLINA. 1850 Greene County NORTH CAROLINA. 1860 Stokes County (Partial -- Danbury) PENNSYLVANIA. 1820 Bedford County (Partial -- Napier, Southampton, Greenfield Twps.) PENNSYLVANIA. 1820 Schuylkill County (Partial -- Manheim, Pinegrove, Rush, Union, Schuylkill, Orwigsburg Borough, Lower Mahantango Twp., West Penn Twp., Norwegian Twp.) PENNSYLVANIA. 1850 York County (Partial -- North Codorus Twp.) TEXAS. 1850 Hays County * * * * * LETTERS TO THE EDITORS may be posted to the GenConnect board at http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/RWR-LettersToTheEditor or sent to RWR-Editors@rootsweb.com. Re: Charlie Gardes' advice. I'll bet poor Charlie is reeling over the response to his (I'm sure) well-meant and solid advice. Having found so many helpful and sweet people over the Internet since beginning my genealogical research, I have been rather surprised at the tone of some of the responses to his message. Rather than being snobbish about technique, I feel certain that Charlie was only interested in warning new genealogists that there is a plethora of inaccurate information in this world, and that the Internet has increased both the volume of such information, and the speed with which it is disseminated. I am reminded of the story of a researcher I know who published her findings in a book, in order to be helpful to other researchers. Some time later, she found one ancestor for whom she had two different death dates, and so was pleased to uncover a relative on the 'net who claimed to have the definitive answer. Upon receiving the information, she was both bemused and embarrassed to find that the "definitive" source was her own book, into which she had incorrectly transcribed the date from a tombstone! When I began my own research, I started foolishly, with only a legal pad to jot down reference book numbers. By the time I fully realized just how massive my results were going to be, it also hit me that (unlike those scientists we should try to emulate) I could not duplicate my results. Worse yet, whenever I came across a second source that gave a different date than the one I had in my book, I couldn't even decide which one to give the most credence. I had to go back over a great deal of explored ground just to decide which source to trust most. Today, I keep records of every source of every scrap of info, so that I have SOME inkling of its authenticity. Charlie's advice was both sensible and timely. Enjoy the thrill of discovering an ancestor through the data of others, but temper that thrill with a sense of realism. "In God We Trust (all others must show sources)." David Woody * * * * * HUMOR: I was unaware how much my two grandchildren knew about my family history research until recently. We were in the car headed for a Boy Scout banquet. My grandson was decked out in full Indian dress that he had proudly made himself. His little sister was in awe. With total admiration she said "Oh Kristopher, I want to be an Indian just like you." There was a moment of silence. Then with exasperation in his voice that only a big brother can express he replied, "Corrina, you're Polish." Lorraine Busch * * * * * 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: Written by Previously published by RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative, RootsWeb Review, Vol. 2, No. 17, 28 April 1999. Please visit RootsWeb's main Web page at . * * * * * TO SUBSCRIBE OR UNSUBSCRIBE, send e-mail that says only SUBSCRIBE (or UNSUBSCRIBE) to: . BACK ISSUES OF ROOTSWEB REVIEW are available for download from: . * * * * * MISSING LINKS: A Weekly Newsletter for Genealogists, edited and published by Julia M. Case and Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG, is a free e-zine distributed on Fridays. Back issues are available for download from . To subscribe to MISSING LINKS, send an e-mail message that says only SUBSCRIBE to: Missing-Links-L-request@rootsweb.com ____