ROOTSWEB REVIEW: Genealogical Data Cooperative News Vol. 2, No. 24, 16 June 1999. Circulation: 314,600+ (C) 1998-1999 RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative P.O. Box 6798, Frazier Park, CA 93222-6798 Editors: Julia M. Case and Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG DONATIONS TO HELP SUPPORT ROOTSWEB ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED. For details about support levels, benefits, and payment options, visit or send e-mail to . RootsWeb's address is: RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative, P.O. Box 6798, Frazier Park, CA 93222-6798. (Please include your e-mail address on all correspondence and checks.) * * * * * CONTENTS. News and Notes at RootsWeb (RootsWeb Guide to Tracing Your Family Tree; U.S. Town/County Database Interactive Search; RootsWeb Review in Two Parts; IIGS Newsletter; Anonymous Age Survey Results); RootsWeb's Common-Sense Acceptable Use Policy; The Jolly Gene Giant; Connecting through RootsWeb; Mailing Lists; Web Pages; Letters to the Editors; Humor; Reprint Policy * * * * * NEWS AND NOTES AT ROOTSWEB ROOTSWEB'S GUIDE TO TRACING YOUR FAMILY TREE ("RootsWeb Guide") . Designed with the beginning genealogist and new RootsWeb user in mind, each lesson will include text, suggested reading list, links to some of the relevant resources hosted by RootsWeb, and links to some relevant resources found elsewhere on the Internet. Lesson One, "Where to Begin," is online now. Lesson Two is scheduled to be posted next week. Additional lessons will be posted most weeks thereafter. Even experienced genealogists and long-time RootsWeb users might learn some useful new things. Please stop by. * * * UNITED STATES TOWN/COUNTY DATABASE INTERACTIVE SEARCH. . Have you heard the name of a place where your ancestors might have lived, but not had a clue in what county (and sometimes in what state) it was? There's no need to fear, RootsWeb is here. Now when you are faced with this situation, there is an easy way to solve the problem. Simply type in the town's name and a list with links to the states/counties in which there is such a place will appear. * * * ROOTSWEB REVIEW EXPANDING TO TWO PARTS STARTING 23 JUNE 1999. At the request of billions and billions of readers, RootsWeb is expanding its weekly genealogy e-zine to include more genealogical how-to tips and articles to help you trace your ancestry both online and in musty repositories. Beginning with next week's issue, RootsWeb Review will be sent in two sections on Wednesday evenings: Part 1 will be "RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Genealogy News," and Part 2 will be "Missing Links: RootsWeb's Genealogy Journal." Both parts of the expanded RootsWeb Review will be sent automatically to the mailing list for RootsWeb Review (everyone subscribed to a RootsWeb-hosted mailing list and those who have submitted information to the RootsWeb Surname List (RSL) are on the list) and will be clearly identified in the e-mail subject line. Both parts will share the same mailing list, so it will not be possible to receive one part and not the other. If you prefer not to read one of the parts, please delete it. Back issues of RootsWeb Review will continue to be available from and back issues of Missing Links from . * * * INTERNATIONAL INTERNET GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER. The May-June issue of the IIGS Newsletter is available online at . * * * ROOTSWEB ANONYMOUS AGE SURVEY RETURNS. Here are RootsWeb's anonymous age survey results after three weeks. A total of 8,302 RootsWeb users have responded: less than 20 -- 27; 20-29 -- 248; 30-39 -- 781; 40-49 -- 1,544; 50-59 -- 2,548; 60-69 -- 1,968; 70-79 -- 1,061; 80-89 -- 107; 90-99 -- 5; 100-109 -- 2; 110-119 -- 0; and 120 and counting -- 8. All doubts have been dispelled. RootsWeb has the greatest reach of any Web site in the 120+ segment of the population. To participate in this anonymous survey, visit . * * * * * ROOTSWEB'S COMMON-SENSE ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY by Dr. Brian Leverich RootsWeb exists to allow you to interact with other people who share your interests. We also often preserve those interactions, so you can readily see and learn from discussions that have occurred in the past. To be able to provide you with the best possible environment, we ask you to agree to the following before using our facilities: (1) HAVE FUN. Well, we can't *require* you to have fun, but we really think you should. (2) YOU OWN YOUR POSTS. When you post messages to lists, message boards, and other facilities at RootsWeb, those posts remain your property under copyright law. (3) ROOTSWEB MAY ARCHIVE AND REDISTRIBUTE. So we can provide current and future users with access to your posts, by posting here you do give RootsWeb a permanent license to archive and redistribute those posts. This policy may be superseded in specific circumstances by other commitments made by RootsWeb. (4) POST ONLY MATERIAL YOU *DO* OWN. When you post to RootsWeb, you must either be the copyright holder (that basically means you wrote it), have written permission from the copyright holder, or the material must clearly be in the public domain. (5) YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR POSTS. If you post anything that results in RootsWeb being sued, you are responsible for any costs you incur. We may also hold you responsible for any costs we incur defending ourselves. (6) YOU SHOULD NOT DECREASE THE ENJOYMENT OF OTHERS. Your posts should not flame or otherwise harass other users and should be reasonably on topic for the areas where they appear, and you should otherwise adhere to the principles of netiquette. (7) OTHER POLICIES MAY APPLY AND ALL POLICIES MAY CHANGE. In addition to this general acceptable use policy, other specific policies may apply to Web sites, mailing lists, message boards, and other facilities at RootsWeb. These policies may change with time, but current versions will be publicly accessible on RootsWeb's site. (8) ROOTSWEB HAS LIMITED RESPONSIBILITIES. Hard disks fail and other catastrophes occur. While RootsWeb strives to provide the most reliable possible service, we are not liable for service interruptions and loss of data. In *no* case, technical failure or otherwise, will RootsWeb be liable for damages exceeding any payments you make to us. (9) COMMERCIAL ACTIVITIES REQUIRE PERMISSION. RootsWeb's intent is to provide a friendly and, as much as possible, noncommercial environment. Any activity that involves the exchange of money requires prior permission from RootsWeb. (10) ROOTSWEB RESOURCES MAY NOT BE RESOLD. No RootsWeb facilities -- for example, Web sites, mailing lists, and message boards -- may be resold. Public domain content on RootsWeb may not be harvested for commercial or other use, other than as would have been permitted by the Fair Use provisions of American copyright law if the material had been copyrighted. Material written and posted by an individual may not be harvested for commercial or other use, except with the permission of that individual or as permitted by Fair Use. (11) ROOTSWEB MAY REFUSE SERVICE. For violations of this agreement or other policies posted on the RootsWeb site, RootsWeb may revoke the violator's right to use part or all of the RootsWeb site. (12) MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE. Upon request, RootsWeb will terminate any services we are providing to you, and refund your last annual contribution. [Ed.: Information about netiquette is available on many Web sites, including these: ; ; and .] * * * * * Advertisement THE JOLLY GENE GIANT: GenealogyLibrary.com Puts Census Images and Indexes at Your Fingertips by Soren Rasmussen The Broderbund Home Productivity unit of Mattel, Inc. GenealogyLibrary.com combines a giant collection of online genealogy databases with valuable family-finding tools. You can quickly and easily search this impressive library for your ancestors across a wide variety of sources. In addition, GenealogyLibrary.com now includes an extensive offering of more than 200,000 U.S. census images, so you can get information about your ancestor from the original census document. Subscriptions to this indispensable family history tool are available on a monthly or annual basis, and you are almost certain to find an ancestor -- if not today, then tomorrow. Capture the birthplace and birthdate of your ancestors, names of family members, and demographic information such as age and occupation -- all from a copy of the original census image. GenealogyLibrary.com is introducing more than 200,000 images from the 1850 U.S. census for you to access. They cover Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia. View the images in your Internet browser, print them out, or save them on your computer for use in other genealogy software programs. These census images give you a great advantage over early census indexes, which include only names of heads of household. The 1850 census images include the names of all the people living in the household, giving you the opportunity to find family members from the primary source. However, the indexes provide you with information about the head of household, which is your key to finding the images you need. To that end, you will find indexes for U.S. censuses from 1790-1880 at -- nearly 30 million names. * * * * * CONNECTING THROUGH ROOTSWEB. Thanks for sharing your stories. My father's mother died when he was about three. His father died a few years later. He had one older brother. My parents were divorced when I was about three, so I had no knowledge of my HOFFMAN family. About 11 years ago, I received a letter from a genealogical society in Boston stating that they were seeking the heirs of a Henry Ellis Hoffman who turned out to be the grandson of my grandfather Hoffman by a first marriage. He had died intestate. All descendants received a small inheritance, but, more importantly, I received the name of a first cousin. He and his wife were in their 90s and leery of a stranger seeking information. However, their daughter found my letter of inquiry, and we began corresponding. After many phone calls, letters, and years, she visited me in Seattle, and two years later I visited her in Florida. Now the exciting part: She had two Bibles, picture albums, land records from 1836, wills, and a letter from my grandmother to my father and his older brother written as she was dying. That letter had been written on my birthdate -- 100 years before I received it. Tears flowed. I was getting acquainted with my father's family. My cousin loaned me everything she had, and, due to another miracle, I was able to reproduce all of it with the help of my oldest son who had just returned home. He had been injured in Vietnam, and, like many of those boys, chose to live in the wilderness. He was given a broken-down computer which he started playing with, found books, and began developing computer skills. At my invitation he came home about two years ago, entered school in computer science, and has been able to do a professional job in scanning and restoring about 125 old photos and about 75 newer ones. He has put each one in .JPG files so I could enter them into my Hoffman book. What a blessing. I hope to get them online as soon as we have the equipment. And, as if that weren't enough, I found a listing, through RootsWeb, of letters written by my grandmother and her family. I immediately called and wrote for "the McNeal Letters." They were written between 1850 and 1865 -- 28 letters written to and from several members of my grandmother's family, waiting for me in the Flint Genealogical Society. Imagine. They had been thrown on the trash pile when the parents died; a little girl asked to have them for the stamps. She saved them. Years later she had a son who fell heir to the letters when she died, and gave them to the Flint Genealogical Society in 1985. The letters contained a wonderful glimpse into the kind of people they were, and also a few clues for future research. Another spine-tingler: When I named my youngest son "Alexander," I didn't know that "Alexander" was the name of my paternal grandfather! Wouldn't you think I would be satisfied with all that? Of course, a genealogist is never satisfied! I am now looking for the people who were listed on the death pages of my great-grandfather's Bible, and for my great-grandmother Catherine (LeRoux) Hoffman who seems to have floated in on the air. I'll be visiting France this summer. Too bad I don't have a clue as to where I might search for Catherine's roots. Evelyn Hoffman * * * * * 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. 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 Mennonites from the Volhynia area of what is now Ukraine, send a SUBSCRIBE message to: . NEW SURNAME MAILING LISTS (Note that new surname mailing lists were created this week only for surnames that did not already have a Surname Resource cluster page. Requests for new surname lists for which there are existing Surname Resource cluster pages will be processed in the order in which they have been received, once all relevant staff members are back from well-earned and all too brief vacations. We appreciate your patience.) AHAUS BARLITT BIFFLE BOALES BOCHAT BONIFACE BOWLS BURCHER DAUBERT DONNEWALD FICKE FITCHETT FRANTZ-SAMUEL (descendants of Samuel FRANTZ, born 1823 in Pennsylvania) GLOMB GRIMMETT GUTHRIDGE HEGLE HIEBER ISHMAEL JANTZ KOVACH MCCOSH MCCOUCH MCERVALE MINGUS MOSCROP PAYNE-PRE1700 (PAYNEs prior to 1700 with emphasis on the period before the 1660 English Restoration) POLL-SURNAME ROSENER RUBERG SCHOELLHAMMER SIMPSON-REUBEN (descendants of Reuben SIMPSON, died about 1832 in Wayne County, Kentucky, and his wife Sarah Sherrill) STUDLEY SWEETSER TREEBY (includes TREBY) WICHTERMAN (includes WICHTERMANN) WITTIG WOLBERS YOTSLER (includes YUTSLER) ZARLEY NEW ETHNIC, SPECIAL INTEREST, AND MISCELLANEOUS MAILING LISTS ALIAS-AKA -- Given names or surnames that have been changed, primarily without leaving any legal record; absolutely no adoptions UNLESS prior to 1890. AUS-HIST-WOMEN -- The history of women in Australia. CANADA-CENSUS-CAMPAIGN -- This list will deal specifically with efforts to have post-1901 census information in Canada released to the public. It will NOT be used for census lookups and inquiries of that nature. MO-ABSTRACTS -- Features abstracted names, dates, events, and other pertinent information to aid researchers in their search for Missouri ancestors. Read-only. No queries. Submissions will be accepted with permission from listkeeper. OBIT-LOOKUPS -- Lookup services for obituaries in their local area and also for people to request obituaries. This list is for old obituaries, for newspapers that no longer exist but are available in libraries around the world. It is also a place to share information on finding obituaries, libraries that offer lookup services and those that allow interlibrary loan of microfilm. VOLHYNIAN-MENNONITES -- Mennonites from the Volhynia area of old Polish Russia, now known as Ukraine. * * * * * 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 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada Web page, go to . AUSTRALIA ausnorfo -- Norfolk Island CANADA mbwinnip -- Winnipeg, Manitoba PACIFICGENWEB fsmwgw -- Micronesia melwgw - Melanesia pyfwgw -- Polynesia U.S.A. alchambe -- Chambers County, Alabama argchs -- Garland County (Arkansas) Historical Society cadelnor -- Del Norte County, California camerced -- Merced County, California flflagle -- Flagler County, Florida flstjohn -- St. Johns County, Florida gasumter -- Sumter County, Georgia idreserv -- Reservations in Idaho kywckfra -- West-Central Kentucky Family Research Association maessex -- Essex County, Massachusetts mdcecil -- Cecil County, Maryland mibenzie -- Benzie County, Michigan mileelan -- Leelanau County, Michigan nccchs -- Carteret County (North Carolina) Historical Society nvhumbol -- Humboldt County, Nevada nvlander -- Lander County, Nevada tnwcogs -- Wilson County (Tennessee) Online Genealogical Soc. tnwillia -- Williamson County, Tennessee vaunknow -- Unknown County, Virginia * * * * * 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. I was one of those who just never got around to contributing. Two or three weeks ago in response to your stepped-up campaign, I sent in $25. Since then I have certainly had my money's worth in new discoveries and opportunities to correspond with others in my areas of interest. Membership has unexpectedly opened up so much. To all those who have not yet joined I can only say -- you don't know what you're missing. Adrienne Moralee Bell * * * RootsWeb *can* produce results. I encourage everyone who sees this to support this great cause with a financial gift. Although the research on my family tree still has to cross the mighty, raging Atlantic, I can proudly tell the tale of the success I have attained in less than 18 months, for about 18 months ago I barely knew much about my grandparents. I knew their names, but nothing much beyond that. Talk about difficult searching -- my father's family name, IRELAND, and my mother's side, THEYS, barely show up in places like [computerized databases]. However, thanks to information and encouragement provided by some RootsWeb members, I was able to trace the Irelands back to Wallace and Mary Ireland's arrival in Pittsburgh from Ireland in 1803. I even have obtained a copy of his request for naturalization. Since then, I have shared my work and come into contact with dozens of "long lost relatives" from around the country. In fact, some of my distant cousins and I will meet for the first time in August. On the Theys side, a tip from a kind lady online led me about two hours east of here to suburban Johnstown, Pennsylvania (yes, the place where destructive floods have occurred). There, I made first contact with my great-grandfather's niece, a 93-year-old gem of wisdom, wit, and charm, and her family. We are now like old friends and she has filled in that part of the family tree, in addition to giving me photos of my great-grandparents and the great-great-grandparents who originally moved here from Belgium to work the coal mines 100 years ago. What started as a search for names, places, and dates of the departed past has turned into a living, enriching episode of my life. Plus, I now have information to pass along to all of my "family" members, close and distant, so someone like me won't have to do all this work over again 10, 20, 50, or 100 years from now! If you haven't unearthed the roots of your family tree yet, keep digging. And don't forget to support RootsWeb, which helps all of us with the shovels to dig into new adventures. Don Ireland Pitcairn/Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania * * * * * HUMOR. Thanks to Bob Tillman for this programming tale. AIR WARGAMES SIM -- URBAN LEGEND AUSTRALIAN STYLE This is supposedly a true story from a recent Defence Science Lectures Series, as related by the head of the Australian DSTO's Land Operations/Simulation division. They've been working on some really nifty virtual reality simulators, the case in point being to incorporate Armed Reconnaissance Helicopters into exercises (from the data fusion point of view). Most of the people they employ on this sort of thing are ex- (or future) computer game programmers. Anyway, as part of the reality parameters, they include things like trees and animals. For the Australian simulation they included kangaroos. In particular, they had to model kangaroo movements and reactions to helicopters (since hordes of disturbed kangaroos might well give away a helicopter's position). Being good little programmers, they just stole some code (which was originally used to model infantry detachments reactions under the same stimuli), and changed the mapped icon, the speed parameters, etc. The first time they've gone to demonstrate this to some visiting Americans, the hotshot pilots have decided to get "down and dirty" with the virtual kangaroos. So, they buzz them, and watch them scatter. The visiting Americans nod appreciatively -- then gape as the kangaroos duck around a hill, and launch about two dozen Stinger missiles at the hapless helicopter. Programmers look rather embarrassed at forgetting to remove *that* part of the infantry coding -- and Americans leave muttering comments about not wanting to mess with the Aussie wildlife. As an addendum, simulator pilots from that point onwards avoided kangaroos like the plague, just like they were meant to do in the first place. * * * * * 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. 24, 16 June 1999. Please visit RootsWeb's main Web page at . TO SUBSCRIBE OR UNSUBSCRIBE, send e-mail that says only SUBSCRIBE (or UNSUBSCRIBE) to: .