ROOTSWEB REVIEW: RootsWeb's Genealogy News Vol. 3, No. 13, 29 March 2000, Circulation: 413,663+ (c) 1998-2000 RootsWeb.com, Inc. RootsWeb.com, Inc., P.O. Box 6798, Frazier Park, CA 93222-6798 Editors: Julia M. Case and Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG RootsWeb HelpDesk: Advertising: Media Contact: DONATIONS HELP ROOTSWEB HELP YOU AND ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED. For details about support levels, benefits, and payment options (check or credit card), e-mail or visit . Mailing address: RootsWeb.com, Inc., P.O. Box 6798, Frazier Park, CA 93222-6798. (Please write your e-mail address on all correspondence and checks.) IN THIS ISSUE: o News and Notes at RootsWeb (WorldConnect Tip: How to Update or Correct Your GEDCOM; WorldConnect Milestone; Web Page Design Contest Winner to Be Announced Next Week; RootsWeb's Guide to Tracing Family Trees) o More Hidden Treasures at RootsWeb o Connecting through RootsWeb o New Genealogy Mailing Lists o New Genealogy Web Pages o GenConnect o USGenWeb Archives o Letters to the Editors o Humor o Reprint Policy, Back Issues, How to Subscribe/Unsubscribe * * * * * NEWS AND NOTES FROM ROOTSWEB WORLDCONNECT TIP: HOW TO UPDATE OR CORRECT YOUR GEDCOM. To update or correct information for the GEDCOM that you have submitted to WorldConnect , revise the data in your genealogy file and create a new GEDCOM. Use the same user code and password that you used originally to upload the new file. (If you don't remember your user code and/ or password, you can have them sent to you by e-mail from Password Central .) The new file will overwrite the old one as long as you use the same user code and password. Specify the location of the new GEDCOM in the appropriate box on the set-up page either by typing it in or browsing to it on your computer. If no path is shown in this box, WorldConnect will expect you to update options for the existing GEDCOM rather than upload a new one. Click on the upload/update button and wait for the new GEDCOM to be uploaded to replace the old one. Wait for the message confirming that the upload was successful. If you only have one or two minor corrections or updates to make to your GEDCOM, you might list them in Post-Em Notes rather than upload a new file. * * * WORLDCONNECT MILESTONE. This week, WorldConnect passed the 10,000 GEDCOMs uploaded mark. As of today, the WorldConnect database contains 25,618,772 names. * * * WEB PAGE DESIGN CONTEST. The winner will be announced in next week's issue. * * * ROOTSWEB'S GUIDE TO TRACING FAMILY TREES. In addition to brief, interactive online genealogy lessons, you'll find links to resources at RootsWeb and elsewhere on the Internet. Index to Lessons **PAID ADVERTISEMENTS** What are the reasons for FAMILY CHRONICLE becoming the most popular genealogy magazine in America and Canada in just over three years? We feel that our self-help style articles, written by leading genealogy writers and our colorful illustrations, photographs and maps are an important part of the reason. FAMILY CHRONICLE is a constant companion that you can read and enjoy whenever and wherever you have a few minutes to spare. Visit us at or call toll free 1-888-326-2476 and find out how you can obtain a trial copy so you can judge for yourself, with no obligation. About a year ago we sent out a questionnaire to 2000 FAMILY CHRONICLE readers asking if they would be interested in a magazine covering social history. A startling 89% responded positively. The result is HISTORY MAGAZINE which is growing even faster than FAMILY CHRONICLE did at a comparable period. Our fourth issue is off the press and reader acceptance has been outstanding. We invite you to visit our Web site at or call toll free 1-877-731-4478 and find out how you can receive a trial copy of this exciting new magazine. Check out HISTORY MAGAZINE's new Web site-only feature, TODAY IN HISTORY, compiled by history writer Nancy Hendrickson, and find out what historic event happened on this day at **************************************** FREE TWICE-MONTHLY EMAIL NEWSLETTER Dozens of Books & CDs at Publisher-Only Sale Prices in Each Issue Message "subscribe email newsletter" to heritagebooks@pipeline.com HERITAGE BOOKS, INC. 1540 Pointer Ridge Place, Bowie MD 20715 **************************************** MAC AND PC COMPATABLE CDs High quality scanned in images of hand written records. You can zoom in and still have very good quality. Get the actual census, city directory or church vital records scanned in from the archives. Vital records from National Archives for VA, ME, RI, MD, MA, NC, CN, NJ $49.99 Baltimore, Maryland 1860 Census CD wards 11, 12 & 13 $19.99 Baltimore, Maryland 1860 Census CD wards 14, 15 & 16 $19.99 Baltimore, Maryland 1860 Census CD wards 17 & 18 $19.99 Baltimore, Maryland 1890 Census CD $24.99 Maryland Roman Catholic Church Marriage and Death Records 1839 to 1962 $19.99 Maryland State Archives Records MSA M 1686 $14.99 Boston, Massachusetts City Directory 1789-1842 $24.99 Also Available: SAR Patriot Index $39.95, SAR War Graves Register $29.95 MAC and PC compatible Civil War CD $69.95 To order, visit You can also call to order from the Family Storehouse Sales Department at 1-800-725-5013. With every purchase RootsWeb gets a 10% donation. **END PAID ADVERTISEMENTS** MORE HIDDEN TREASURES AT ROOTSWEB by Robert R. Tillman, President and CEO Here are some tips and more treasure maps to lead you to some of the gold buried at RootsWeb. Come back often, as many megabytes of nuggets (new material) are added daily. o FreeBMD (Free Birth, Marriage and Death Index). If you have English or Welsh lines, you'll want to search the growing number of entries from the civil registration index information for England and Wales being compiled by volunteers. The civil registration system for recording births, marriages, and deaths in England and Wales has been in place since 1837 and is one of the most significant single resources for genealogical research back to Victorian times. However, there is no master index to the records. Tens of thousands of new entries are added daily to the more than a million records in the database. Take a moment to read "How to get the best from FreeBMD" to insure that your search does not return excessive numbers of records and that you do not miss the record you want. For more links and information about English and Welsh research see RootsWeb's Guide to Tracing Family Trees, Lesson 28. o GenConnect Message Boards. Search RootsWeb's message boards, which contain thousands of messages relating to surnames, locations, various document types, and topics of genealogical interest. Type in a surname of interest and request a global surname search. Set the type of search and sort order parameters to meet your needs. Search the entire country or the world, or search for a specific county or state. More questions? Read the GenConnect FAQ board's FAQ on Searching the Boards: Get your picks and shovels -- there's lots of gold buried at this site. o GenSeeker. Search the Web sites at RootsWeb. Although GenSeeker is undergoing revision and does not index all Web sites at RootsWeb, it still allows one to search very large amounts of data. Its search form has three search options: ANY, ALL, and BOOLEAN. Experiment with all of them as you search for the buried treasures, which range from homepages with names of your ancestors hidden under another surname to such things as online cemetery and census records. o Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild. Search thousands of ship passenger lists at . You can also browse each thousand ship volume of ship passenger lists by ship's name, port of departure, port of arrival, passenger's surname, and captain's name. o Volume #1 o Volume #2 o Volume #3 Learn the secrets of tracing your immigrant ancestors using RootsWeb's Guide to Tracing Family Trees, Lesson 15. o RootsLink. Here's another little-known treasure where you can search by word or phrase rather than surname to find genealogy- related sites on the Web. A search for "military," for example, turned up: 15th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War, which includes a unit history, rosters, biography, letters, diaries, genealogy and reenactment information, as well as a link to "Aircraft my Dad Flew" with pictures of various aircraft such as C-133 and PT-19. A search for obituaries leads to sites with obituaries, such as personal pages, county pages, and those found in U.S. and Canadian newspapers in "Free Obituaries On- Line." o RootsWeb Surname List. Find genealogists with research interests in common with you. This database has more than 800,000 surname entries on file. o Roots-L Library. This contains numerous genealogical resources compiled over the past 13 years by Roots-L Mailing List volunteers. Three great articles for those just starting out can be found here also. o USGenWeb Archives. Here is a virtual King Solomon's Mine where you'll find jewels such as transcriptions, databases, and books that have been contributed to the archives. They are listed by state. Browsing through Iowa's archives uncovers gems such as the 1856 state census, Orphan Trains to Iowa, the 1882 Iowa State Gazetteer, Iowa's Township Names, Civil War, World War I and early military records, plus many, many treasures listed under each county. Check out your state(s) of interest: o USGenWeb Archives United States Digital Map Library. This contains historical maps for states, counties, and other geographical divisions in the United States. o USGenWeb Project. Here are links to Web sites listing resources available for genealogical research for each of the U.S. states, plus more than 3,100 counties in the United States. o Genealogy-Related Web Sites on FreePages. These sites pertain to a wide variety of genealogy-related topics. Check them out at * * * * * CONNECTING THROUGH ROOTSWEB. Thanks for sharing your stories. I have been working on my genealogy for 20 years, but only when I got on the Internet in 1998 did I make some real headway. (Thank you, RootsWeb!) In December 1998, a CHENARD cousin, Mel KOENIGS, answered a query I had left on the Wisconsin GENCONNECT board listing the name SNOW that was intertwined with three generations of my DESCHENES/DUSHANE in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. DESCHENES/DUSHANE was in his SNOW records, and neither of us knew why. We met, shared information and have been working together ever since. We've had some obstacles, notably the family name changing from CHENARD to SNOW and the fact that our mutual great-great-great-grandfather, Joseph CHENARD, was the "leve par" -- adopted, not natural son -- of Pierre CHENARD. I had suspected that Joseph CHENARD and his wife, Therese BILODEAU, had more children than my great-great-grandmother, Charlotte, but she was the only one listed in any records that were currently on the Internet and then it was only her marriage to Theophile DESCHENES, not her birth record. Mel's great-great- grandfather, Isidore SNOW, wasn't even listed, and that CHENARD/ SNOW name thing was really a problem. Through the CHENARD Web page I was contacted by Rodrique CHENARD, who graciously sent me a listing of 13 children of Joseph CHENARD and Therese BILODEAU. The real question soon became why were four Joseph CHENARD children listed, one for 1813, 1814, 1816, and 1818, and no Charlotte or Isidore on the entire list? Rodrique said it was a puzzlement to him, too, and since he had taken that information from a book someone had written on the families of Riviere Ouelle, he would check the actual records. He found that the author of the book had mistakenly taken the father's name, Joseph, written in the margin of the Notre Dame de Lisse records, as the infant's name in both cases of the records for Charlotte and Isidore. The first Joseph born in 1813 died in early infancy. Charlotte was actually the "Joseph" born in 1814 and Isidore was the "Joseph" born in 1818. Rodrique sent me JPG files of the actual records, so there is no doubt. The sharing of information is what makes RootsWeb so powerful, but all of us need to be aware that it is vital to verify the information shared. Many thanks to Rodrique CHENARD for actually looking at the original record for me. Mel and I are so pleased to have verification of our great-great-grandparents' relationship and look forward to finding the rest of the CHENARD/BILODEAU children -- maybe we'll find the real "Joseph" born in 1816! Kelly Ward * * * I had struggled for a long time to find birth dates and Irish counties of origin for my great-grandparents Patrick EGAN and Ellen McCARTHY, who had emigrated from Ireland at different times and were married in the United States in 1855. Patrick worked first in the big mill in Lowell, Massachusetts, then (as the mills began to close after the Civil War) moved to Beacon Falls, Connecticut. Patrick and Ellen had six children under the age of four who died within a period of about six years. Ellen died soon after the last child's death and about three years later Patrick committed suicide. Only my grandfather, away from home in the Army, and his 14 year old sister survived. I contacted Marg LaMadeleine, a Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness volunteer in Connecticut (whom I had met on a RootsWeb list) with a request to look up the death information for the six little ones who died, both to see what had actually happened to them and in case there was additional information to be had. She did that -- and then she set out with her sister to find the children's and parents' graves in St. Bernard's Cemetery, New Haven (we had the HALE INDEX showing the cemetery and plot numbers). The sisters found that there was no longer any paperwork on these people in the cemetery office, but went out to the HALE INDEX location to look around. [The cemetery was badly overgrown, but after a diligent search, they glimpsed] a mostly-buried stone and began to dig in the heavy turf with their hands and then their shoes; eventually they had emptied their four bottles of drinking water on the spot and were scraping off the mud when they uncovered two flat gravestones, one for Patrick and one for Ellen and three of the babies. There was a Celtic cross incised at the top of each stone, then the legends: "In Memory of Ellen McCarthy -- wife of Patrick Egan -- Native of Dingle, County Kerry -- Ireland -- died 27 Feb 1876 -- AE 39 -- May she rest in peace" [the inscription then chronicles the deaths of Eugene Patrick, an unnamed infant, and Katie Margaret]; and "Sacred to the Memory of -- Patrick Egan -- a Native of County Leitrim -- Ireland -- Who Departed This Life -- Jan 25 1879 -- aged 53 -- Erected by His Affectionate -- Son & Daughter -- He is Dead But Not Forgotten." I am so grateful to the two intrepid women who dug and scrabbled and found the stones. The genealogical community is a marvel, embracing as it does the wondrous Random Acts volunteers and all the other kind folks who so willingly share their knowledge and expertise. My warmest thanks to Marg LaMadeleine and her sister. Ginny Crawford * * * In the years since my parents' deaths and my relocation from Massachusetts to New Hampshire, then Delaware, then Georgia, I had lost track of my living New England cousins. Finding them was difficult as my father was an only surviving son so none of them were RICHARDSONs. . . When RootsWeb put the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) online, I had my key to the past. My father had a sister whose married name was TONICKI. I had no idea how it should be spelled but . . . it sounded Italian, so I tried TONICCI using the Soundex mode and up came 12 names. My aunt Grace was last on the list, which said she had died in Acton, Massachusetts. I went to the Massachusetts Public Library directory site , looked up the Acton library, and obtained an e-mail address. I then wrote to the library asking for an obituary for my aunt, providing her death date from the SSDI and the first names of her two daughters, and advising that I was looking for additional information that would help me to locate them. The next day I not only received a summary of the obituary, but also my cousins' married names, addresses, and phone numbers. A few hours later I had talked to both and to two others whose names and numbers they had provided. I now have a dialogue with family I hadn't been in touch with for more than 30 years. When the Christmas card list broke down, RootsWeb saved the day. David C. and Emma J. Richardson * * * * * MAILING LISTS. For an index to most genealogy mailing lists hosted by RootsWeb, visit NEW MAILING LIST REQUESTS. 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 are interested in Latin American census records, send your SUBSCRIBE message to NEW SURNAME MAILING LISTS, GENCONNECT BOARDS, AND CLUSTERS Ahlf, Aiello Berrer, Birdsey, Bisler, Bittinger, Bokers, Bowder, Brinkerhoff Cornett-Wilburn (Wilburn/William Cornett of Martin County, Kentucky and descendants), Cuypers Daellenbach, Dacamara, Davis-William (William Davis, Jr. of Logan and Mingo counties, West Virginia and descendants), Deaver, DeFore, Dufel Fonville Harrop, Hippard, Hochintravanug, Howell-Surname Irizarry Keinadt, Komonczi, Kraling, Kruck Lucente Moczygemba, Morck Orford Pitner, Proos Rease Sawey, Sears-surname, Stibbs, Studstill Teesdale, Titzer, Trevino Utt VanBlarcom, VanGiesen, VanRiper Zabriskie, Zatovich NEW REGIONAL MAILING LISTS CANADA CAN-NUNAVUT -- Nunavut U.S.A. GA-ROOTS -- pertaining to the Colony and State of Georgia NEW ETHNIC, SPECIAL INTEREST, AND MISCELLANEOUS MAILING LISTS CENSO-LATIN-AMERICA -- Censuses in Latin American and documentation of Latin American immigrants FURTRAPPERS-MOUNTAINMEN -- Descendants of fur trappers and mountain men KY-COALMINERS -- Coal miners of eastern Kentucky MOUNTAIN-ROOTS -- Genealogy and history of the residents of notable mountain ranges in the U.S.A. (Focus is on Appalachians, Ozarks, and Nevadas.) TAGS -- The Alliance Genealogical Society UK-WORKHOUSE-HOSP - U.K. genealogists with workhouse or hospital connections USCENSUS2000 * * * * * 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 Quaker Family History Society (England) Web page, go to ENGLAND engdor -- Dorset engqfhs -- Quaker Family History Society U.S.A. cafcgs -- Fresno County Genealogical Society (California) idclearw -- Clearwater County, Idaho mapgsm -- Polish Genealogical Society of Massachusetts midgs -- Dearborn Genealogical Society (Michigan) miigsm -- Irish Genealogical Society of Michigan mohspcm -- Historical Society of Polk County, Missouri nyfhc -- New York Family History Center ohmadiso -- Madison County, Ohio paplyhs -- Plymouth Historical Society (Pennsylvania) scycghs -- York County Genealogical and Historical Society (South Carolina) sdbags -- Brookings Area Genealogical Society (South Dakota) utsaltla -- Salt Lake County, Utah varchs -- Radford City Historical Society (Virginia) wycgs -- Cheyenne Genealogical Society (Wyoming) SOME NEW HOMEPAGES AND FREEPAGES ADGATE Family in America AMERICAN CROSS RACE GENEALOGY RESEARCH COON Families of East Central Indiana COVELL Tree CRICH PARISH, DERBYSHIRE, U.K. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~dlhdby/crichparish.htm DAVIS and Allied Families DETHICK, LEA & HOLLOWAY, DERBYSHIRE, U.K. EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN TENNESSEE SYNOD (1890 history excerpts) http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~janelle/lutherans.htm FIRESTONE (FEUERSTEIN, FEYERSTEIN, FIRSTINE, FERSTONE, etc.) HARDCASTLE One-Name Study der HUND Haus IRISH AMERICAN GENEALOGY (free databases added regularly) KENNEDY (The Only Mother She Ever Knew) http://freepages.family.rootsweb.com/~josephkennedy/Default.htm MAYFIELD MOULD Family Page Irish NICHOLLs OROSZ and NAGY Families http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~go2will/orosz/index.html PRESLAR, PRESLEY, PRESSLEY, PRESSLER, BRESSLER ROEKLE Ancestors of Mariana BEAN RUGGLES and Bertrand Frank RUGGLES Glen SEDRICK's Family Tom and Sharons Family Surnames George SWAINSTON Sr. & Ancestors Gerald and Tammy Howard WESTMORELAND **PAID ADVERTISEMENTS** ========================================== AMERITRADE has been linking people to Wall Street for 25 years. Tap into the link with a minimum balance of $500 to open and fund an account. Start trading online. http://www.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ameritrade/ =========================================== Receive a FREE pack of Wildflower seeds from mySEASONS.com. mySEASONS is the ultimate gardening resource. We bring you more than a century of gardening know how, expert advice, and the finest perennials, bulbs, shrubs, fruit trees and roses from America's best-known gardening brands including Breck's and Spring Hill. mySEASONS.com is your gardening partner for all seasons. Get your FREE pack of Wildflower seeds now! **END PAID ADVERTISEMENTS** GENCONNECT. RootsWeb hosts many surname GenConnect boards that are in need of people to maintain them. o For a complete list of adoptable GenConnect surname boards o For the form to request to adopt a GenConnect surname board (the same form is used for surname mailing list requests) Have you found a genealogical treasure, such as a photo album or an old Bible containing a completed family record page, that you would like to see reunited with its family? If so, in addition to submitting a notice for publication in the "Somebody's Links" section of MISSING LINKS or in the SOMEBODY'S LINKS NEWSLETTER (to subscribe, send e-mail that says only SUBSCRIBE to: , you can read and post notices to the GenConnect SOMEBODY'S LINKS board: * * * * * USGENWEB ARCHIVES -- THE ARCHIVES NEWSLETTER contains the current USGenWeb Archives submissions from the last week. 27 March 2000 issue http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/newsletter/2000/mar/mar27.htm USGW-ARCHIVES-ANNOUNCE-L is a read-only mailing list for weekly announcements of new updates and submissions to the USGenWeb Archives. To subscribe, send e-mail that says only SUBSCRIBE in the body of the message to this address: * * * * * LETTERS TO THE EDITORS may be posted to the GenConnect board at http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/RWR-LettersToTheEditor or e-mailed to RWR-Editors@rootsweb.com. * * * HelpDesk board 28 March 2000. I have just become a sponsor of RootsWeb mainly because of the many available services which I recently used to find my grandfather's family in Ireland. I was assisted in my search by other list members who were very helpful. Were it not for them I could never have found all these wonderful relatives. [I] am enjoying contact with many of them. I want to thank RootsWeb and everyone connected with them for all the help I received. Audrey B. Ford * * * I have posted inquiries to RootsWeb in one form or another for the last three years without so much as a nibble. The other day I received a message via the Personalized Mailing List (PML) seeking information on one Abraham Alexander MESLER. I had no such information, but advised the sender that I knew about a Jacob MESLER, my great-great-grandfather. It turns out Abraham was Jacob's older brother. Not only have I broken through the brick wall, but also I have a "new" cousin. Thanks to RootsWeb. Neil Mesler * * * I enjoyed my morning with your tribute to St. Patrick's Day. It was really well done. Thanks. Clare Chesney, Cambridge, Ontario, Canada * * * [A friend's loss through an accidental house fire of all of his family's possessions, including computer equipment and CD-ROMs on which he had backed-up genealogical files, photos, and scanned materials, made me realize that I have an off-site records repository -- a FreePages Web page and a GEDCOM posted at RootsWeb's WorldConnect ] RootsWeb has created a wonderful resource, multifaceted and economical, to ensure the continuance of our family records. . . Jeanine Grant Lister * * * * * HUMOR: DON'T THEY ALL? This is a real incident that happened today [23 March 2000]. My fifth graders are working on a family history unit. Each day they bring in information about one generation and we add it to their family tree chart. Today we were discussing great- grandparents and I asked my usual question, "What did you find out that you didn't know already?" One student responded, "My mom got mad when she found out stuff about my ancestors. She says our family tree goes around in a circle!" Suzanne Russell * * * * * 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.com, Inc., RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Genealogy News, Vol. 3, No. 13, 29 March 2000. RootsWeb: BACK ISSUES OF ROOTSWEB REVIEW may be read online or downloaded from TO SUBSCRIBE OR UNSUBSCRIBE from ROOTSWEB REVIEW and MISSING LINKS, send e-mail with only SUBSCRIBE (or UNSUBSCRIBE) in the message area to: .