RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Weekly E-zine Vol. 6, No. 47, 19 November 2003, Circulation: 941,133+ (c) 1998-2003 RootsWeb.com, Inc. http://www.rootsweb.com/ Editor: Myra Vanderpool Gormley, Certified Genealogist Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com Certification: http://www.bcgcertification.org/certification/ * * * Search and post messages on all relevant surname, locality, and topic Message Boards and Mailing Lists: Message Boards: http://boards.rootsweb.com/ Mailing Lists: http://lists.rootsweb.com/ Find and share your ancestors: WorldConnect: http://wc.rootsweb.com/ Learn how to trace your family tree: http://rwguide.rootsweb.com/ * * * SUBSCRIPTIONS: Do not send any subscription requests or e-mail address changes to the editor. Use these special e-mail addresses: RWR-on@rootsweb.com -- this adds you to the RWR Mailing List. RWR-off@rootsweb.com -- this removes you from the RWR Mailing List. * * * If you need assistance please visit the HelpDesk: http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/help.cgi Search/download past issues of RootsWeb Review: http://e-zine.rootsweb.com/ =============================================================== =============================================================== IN THIS ISSUE: 1. NEWS AND NOTES. 1a. Mailing Lists: "Watch Out for Snakes"; 1b. Editor's Virtual Desk: "Windows on the Past" and "Letters from the Great War" 1c. Tips from Readers: "Check County Courthouses First for Discharge Papers" 2. Connecting through RootsWeb: "Tiny Clue Blasts Brick Wall" 3. New RootsWeb Mailing Lists 4. New Webpages at RootsWeb 5. New/Updated FreePages and HomePages 6. New User-contributed Databases 7. RootsWeb Review's Bottomless Mailbag: "No 'Pen' Intended"; "Untangling Enumeration 'Facts'"; "Offending Our Cousins"; "Virtual Introductions"; and "Leaping Assumptions Lead to Wrong Roots" 8. Humor/Humour: "Some Grave Matters" 9. RWR Reprint and Submissions Guidelines; Archives; Addresses; Subscription Modification Instructions ================================================================== ================================================================== 1. NEWS AND NOTES 1a. Mailing Lists: Watch Out for Snakes At least once in your life when you couldn't find the car keys or "lost" your reading glasses, bet someone has pointed you in the right direction and told you, "If they were a snake they would have bitten you." There are a few help items at RootsWeb that mailing list subscribers often overlook or take for granted that are "hiding in plain sight." Some are "as plain as the nose on your face," as granny use to say. The welcome letter you receive when you first subscribe to a mailing list often contains customized text about the rules, policies, and procedures for list members to follow on the specific list to which you have just subscribed. Since RootsWeb's volunteer list administrators are given a great deal of leeway in administering lists, careful attention should be given when you receive each new welcome letter. Each administrator's list rules and instructions will vary. Save all your welcome letters and don't assume "if you have seen one, you have seen them all" because many welcome letters contain unique information and a customized introduction to that specific list. If you lose your welcome message, you can obtain a new copy for any list to which you currently subscribe by sending an e-mail to LISTNAME-L- request@rootsweb.com if you are subscribed in mail mode, or LISTNAME-D- request@rootsweb.com if you are subscribed in digest mode, replacing the generic word LISTNAME with the actual list name. Put the word "archive" (without quotes) as the subject and the words "get welcome.txt" (no quotes) on the first line of the message body and no additional text. Turn off any signature files. Since this is a command to a computer, your e-mail must be formatted exactly as shown above in all lower-case letters with one space between the command get and welcome.txt (the file you want the computer to send you). List administrators also often customize information contained in the list digest "administrivia." The administrivia is the text that you find in every digest immediately following the index that explains how to unsubscribe from the digests, how to contact the list administrator, and often other helpful information such as a link to a corresponding message board. Mail mode subscribers can benefit by paying attention to the rotating taglines many list administrators place at the bottom of every list message. The taglines may contain such information as instructions for subscribing and unsubscribing, how to contact the administrator, links to the archives for the list, links to helpful webpages where list rules or other pertinent information can be found, information about how the message board gateway works if the list and board are gatewayed and possibly a link to the corresponding message board. List taglines are set by the individual volunteer administrator and are as varied as the interests and knowledge of the individual admin- istrators. Taglines are often changed from time to time . . . so it pays to look and not assume you have read them before. Not all administrators use list taglines, but those who do put the reminders there for a reason -- to keep list members informed of important information they need to know. Savvy list members pay attention to taglines. Don't be an "I didn't know that" or "I can't find it" list subscriber. Pay attention to the list guidelines provided for you in your welcome letters, digest administrivia, and list message rotating taglines. And don't let the snake bite you -- look at what's in plain sight. * * * 1b. EDITOR's VIRTUAL DESK. Windows on the Past. You can peer into the lives of America's rich and famous by taking a look at the growing number of Michael John Neill's linked images of the 1850 and 1930 censuses. Perhaps your ancestors were neighbors or you are related to some of these well-known personalities. The 1850 census images include links to the enumeration of such people as: Andrew Carnegie, Buffalo Bill Cody, Nathaniel Hawthorne, John Deere, Thomas Edison, Henry Longfellow. Abraham Lincoln, Sam Houston, Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens), and others. http://www.rootdig.com/1850census/ These 1930 census images show various movie stars and producers, athletes (especially baseball players), politicians, authors, musicians, aviators, architects, captains of industry, and media moguls. http://www.rootdig.com/1930census/ * * Letters from the Great War: Somewhere in France: World War I Letters and War Diaries. Includes information from the Canadian Archive's War Diaries on the 11th and 12th Canadian Machine Gun Company (CMGC), a photo gallery, and Canadian World War I letters written by the STOTHERS family. Follow the Letters, Diaries, Photo Archives and Links tabs at the top of the page to many more Canadian and World War I sites. http://www.stothers.com/ * * * 1c. TIPS FROM READERS. Check County Courthouse First for Discharge Papers By Stella Love pslove@theriver.com When looking for a U.S. military discharge don't forget to check at the county level. Many veterans registered them with the county clerk or recorder (or equivalent). My husband registered his after World War II and insisted that my two sons register theirs. My Dad was discharged in 1919. We found out last year that he had registered his discharge in 1949 in the county he was living in at that time -- not in the county from which he had entered the service and lived for 27 years after his discharge. I'm one of eight children and none of us had a clue about him having registered his discharge. It does pay to keep digging. And, aren't we all glad we have this forum for bouncing ideas and tips around? [Editor's Note: After the U.S. Civil War (1861-1865), discharge certificates were given. Copies of these records, especially for the Civil War and World Wars I and II veterans, were often recorded in the local county records--sometimes in whatever book was handy. See also Curt B. Witcher's article "Military Records Off the Beaten Path" http://www.ancestry.com/library/view/ancmag/4789.asp ] 2. Connecting Through RootsWeb. Thanks for sharing your stories. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Tiny Clue Blasts Brick Wall By Gene Booth GBooth@reporters.net http://www.BoothMarkBooks.org/ I've had a solid concrete wall for five years of active searching, and 25 years of casual looking around. My great-great-grandfather -- Andrew Franklin BOOTH -- was born in 1831 in Virginia, and first surfaced for me in Mason County, West Virginia. He and his wife, Betsy GARRETT, raised 12 kids. While I found out about descendants from a genealogy published by cousin Pearlene VAN OOTEGHEM of Parkersburg back in 1987, nobody knew who his parents were. Cousins surfaced now and again -- remote relatives from Andrew's children -- but none knew any more than what I had found in Pearlene's family tree. I kept searching all the genealogy sites on the Web, but could only come up with the tree I had published. On the BOOTH message board, I published a plea for any information on the parents of my patriarch. Nothing happened for many months. Then on 10 October I received an e-mail from Anna ROSEBURG, a descendant of one of the kids. She thought my Andrew might be the son of Joseph BOOTHE, who married Jane CROMWELL in Russell County, Virginia. They had eight kids, with Andrew Franklin the seventh in line. Anna wrote that she had information about an Andrew "in a letter" and thought he might be my forebear, too. It turned out that this letter was just about the only mention of Andrew to be found. Prior to this, he was not listed on any BOOTH genealogy I saw. In fact, "The Boothe Family: Descendants of Adam de Boothe" by Jane LOCKHART had Joseph listed twice -- once with a wife Susannah and two kids and once again with Jane and two other kids. No one had ever heard of Susannah. And my Andrew wasn't listed under either. Another cousin, Scott DRAKE at Ohio State University, had done some research earlier and felt the answer was somewhere in Russell County. There were lots of BOOTHS and GARRETTS there, he said. Turned out he was right, but finding the right guy was tough. So now, with the LOCKHART work and what I've discovered, the BOOTH line goes straight back to the ancestral home at Dunham Massey, Cheshire, England -- and the knights of old. 3. New Mailing Lists at RootsWeb Request a New Mailing List: http://resources.rootsweb.com/adopt/ ----------------------------------------------------------------- For more information and an index to the more than 27,400 RootsWeb- hosted genealogy Mailing Lists and for easy subscribing (joining) options go to: http://lists.rootsweb.com/ NEW SURNAME MAILING LISTS BUBECK CAUSE, CORA, CORNTASSEL COLEMAN-JAMES -- The ancestors and descendants of James COLEMAN of Georgia (born ca 1800 in eastern Georgia) DAYWALT, DURNEY FILLIUS GOGAS, GRASSICK HARRIS-AZ -- The HARRIS surname in Arizona HARRIS-DC -- The HARRIS surname in District of Columbia (D.C.) HARRIS-ID -- The HARRIS surname in Idaho HARRIS-KS -- The HARRIS surname in Kansas HARRIS-MN -- The HARRIS surname in Minnesota HARRIS-MT -- The HARRIS surname in Montana HARRIS-ND -- The HARRIS surname in North Dakota HARRIS-NE -- The HARRIS surname in Nebraska HARRIS-NM -- The HARRIS surname in New Mexico HARRIS-SD -- The HARRIS surname in South Dakota HARRIS-UT -- The HARRIS surname in Utah HARRIS-WA -- The HARRIS surname in Washington HARRIS-WI -- The HARRIS surname in Wisconsin HARRIS-WY -- The HARRIS surname in Wyoming MONHOLLEN NIES OAKDEN VANDERBRANDT, VOSBURG ZAGORSKI NEW ETHNIC AND SPECIAL INTEREST MAILING LISTS AUS-WAR-GRAVES -- Coordination list of volunteers, working with data donated by Commonwealth War Graves Commission, to photograph Australian War Graves associated with WWI and WWII FITZ-RANDOLPH-NJ -- Family society - The FITZ RANDOLPHS of New Jersey UPPER-DUBLIN-FAMILIES -- Companion list to the Upper Dublin Families website: [Note: 2-line URL; copy and paste carefully] http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~dynamo53/UpperDublin/ UpperDublinFamilies.html 4. New Webpages at RootsWeb To Request a Free Web Account: http://accounts.rootsweb.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------- Some of these pages might not yet be accessible. They are created by volunteers, so if one that interests you isn't up yet, please check again in a few days or next week. http://www.rootsweb.com/~[accountname] Note that the ~[tilde] before the Web account name is required. Example: The Alaska State Page (AHGP) website can be found at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~akahgp/ U.S.A. akahgp -- Alaska (AHGP) State Page alpscdar -- Princess Sehoy (Alabama) Chapter DAR flcsecd -- Col. Samuel Elbert (Florida) Chapter DAR inwells2 -- Wells County (Indiana) nccrhc -- Charlotte (North Carolina) Regional Historical Consortium 5. New/Updated Freepages, Homepages, and WorldConnect Uploads ------------------------------------------------------------- Note: Comments and questions about any of these independently authored webpages should be directed to their respective compilers/webmasters. When your new, updated, or substantially revised personal pages located at RootsWeb (they will have "freepages" or "homepages" in the URL) are up and ready for visitors, please send the URL (Web address), along with a brief description, including the major pertinent surnames and what is available on your site, to: Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com No new ones reported this week. 6. New User-Contributed Databases at RootsWeb http://userdb.rootsweb.com/submit/ ---------------------------------------------- The following user-contributed databases have come online recently. These are not Web pages where you can browse for a name -- these are databases that are searchable. They are not necessarily comprehensive, inclusive or complete and might be only a part of an on-going project. ARKANSAS. Phillips County. West Helena. West Helena High School (also known as Woodruff); Class of 1930; 15 records; Bill Ray http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ GEORGIA. Appling County. Big Creek Primitive Baptist Cemetery; 14 records; Ashley Dietrich Murray Pierce County. Lake Chapel Primitive Baptist Cemetery; 11 records; Ashley Dietrich Murray Mill Creek Primitive Baptist Cemetery; 50 records; Ashley Dietrich Murray http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ ILLINOIS. Cook County. Chicago. Mercy High School; all students in 1930; 906 records; Denis Edeline http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ MICHIGAN. Kent County. Grand Rapids. Ottawa Hills High School; Grades 7-11; 665 records; Denis Paul Edeline http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ NEW HAMPSHIRE. Cheshire County. Fitzwilliam Town Cemetery; 1,491 records; Joanne M. Gonsalves http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ NEW YORK. Warren County. Bolton. Federal Hill Cemetery; 157 records; Cathy Converse http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ TENNESSEE. Putnam County. Winchester Cemetery; 7 records; G. Hayes http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ TEXAS. Dallas County. Dallas Morning News -- Obituaries, November 9-12, 2003; 162 records; Jane Engbrock http://userdb.rootsweb.com/obituaries/ TEXAS. Wichita County. Wichita Falls Times Record News -- Obituaries, November 9-12, 2003; 62 records; Jane Engbrock http://userdb.rootsweb.com/obituaries/ VIRGINIA. Fredericksburg. Free Lance Star -- Obituaries 8/29/2003 through 11/5/2003; 229 records; Paula L. Delosh http://userdb.rootsweb.com/obituaries/ WEST VIRGINIA. Marion County. Fairmont. Fairmont City Cemetery; 333 records; Gena D. Wagaman http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ 7. FROM ROOTSWEB REVIEW'S BOTTOMLESS MAILBAG [Editor's note: The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the editor or of RootsWeb.com]. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- No 'Pen' Intended By Barbara Thomas BLTGenealogy@Hotmail.com It seemed a bit odd that I had been unable to locate my husband's great- grandfather (let's call him "J.H.") in the 1870 census. I had found his first wife and their 1 1/2-year-old son (Oscar) living with J.H.'s parents in Bourbon County, Kansas. Then there was the interesting gap between children: Oscar was born October 1868 and George was born in March 1875. When the 1870 census on Ancestry.com began to become available, I tried a search for on J.H.'s surname, just for fun. His name came up in Joliet, Will County, Illinois. Imagine my surprise after clicking on the link for the census image to see J.H. listed as a "convict" in the Illinois State Penitentiary! A Google search led me to a page of the Illinois Trails History and Genealogy detailing information about the Joliet facility, and I learned that the Illinois State Archives has maintained prisoner records, which are available on request (fee for out-of-state requesters). In fact, the information available far exceeds anything we have been able to obtain on J.H. to date -- we don't even have a picture of him. Following is the information available (from the State of Illinois Archives website): REGISTERS OF PRISONERS. August 29, 1833-November 31, 1841; May 15, 1847-June 27, 1975. 172 vols. Index (RS 243.201). Registers are of prisoners received at the Alton prison (1833-1860) and the Joliet/Stateville site (1860-1975). Registers variously provide the prisoner's registration number and name; date received; names of aliases used; name of the county in which the crime was committed; description of the crime; sentence term; prisoner's plea; his age, height, complexion, hair and eye colors, birthplace, and length of residence in Illinois; indication that his parents are living or dead; their residence; his marital status and, if married, his wife's residence; his religious affiliation, habits (e.g., drinks, smokes, chews), and education; the term of the court which convicted him; and his disposi- tion (e.g., discharged, paroled, escaped, sent to insane asylum, died). Beginning October 1885 also provided are the prisoner's weight, occupation, former prison record, age he left home, parents' birthplaces, the number of children he fathered, and his prison work assignments, conduct record, and medical treatment history. After July 1895 the prisoner's race, names of associates, hereditary diseases, conditions of heart and lungs, addresses of correspondents, and parole record are given. Starting January 1914 the prisoner's naturalization status is provided and after July 1936 indication of past service in the U.S. armed forces is given. For the period February 15, 1854-September 27, 1878; September 14, 1881-September 3, 1885 a separate commutation section is provided. It shows the date of commutation, the prisoner's registration number and name, the name of the county with jurisdiction, the length of the original sentence, the length of the commuted sentence, and the name of the Governor granting the commutation. I have requested a copy of J.H.'s record and can't wait to get it. For those who might have had an ancestor or relative incarcerated there, this appears to be a gold mine of information. Here's the link to the Illinois Trails History and Genealogy page for more information: http://www.iltrails.org/convictregister.htm [Editor's Note: On a related subject, see also George G. Morgan's article, "In Our Ancestors' Debt" http://www.ancestry.com/library/view/columns/george/6921.asp ] * * * Untangling Enumeration 'Facts' By Dolores Sandine dsandine@aol.com What delightful information we get from the census. While checking the 1900 U.S. census I was overjoyed to locate my grandfather and grand- mother. Since this was only two generations back I knew most of the family history and having made many visits to the cemetery over the years I was aware of when most of the last two generations died. In reading the census it looked pretty accurate with grandpa and grandma's birth years checking out and length of marriage (9 years) number of children (5) number of children living (2). STOP. What's this? There are three children listed. I knew from reading the tombstones that there had been two children stillborn and one that lived only four months. But low and behold, those two "stillborn" children were listed as ages eight and six on the 1900 census, which would have been their ages if they had lived. The third child was correct as he didn't die until 1928, but another child having been born in 1898 was not even listed. While grandma did, indeed, give birth to five children before 1900 only one of them was listed on the census (along with two deceased ones) and the other living one was absent. How do you forget a two-year-old? Well, I guess she didn't forget him entirely as she did say she had given birth to 5 children. Maybe someone else had him that day -- guess we'll never know. * * * Offending Our Cousins By Helaina Hinson Burton boatrokr@hotmail.com It annoys me to no end to get e-mails from strangers I don't know and have never heard of accusing me of "stealing" their data and "posting it with wrong dates." I get a barrage of e-mails from people like this who have websites I've never heard of and have certainly never visited insisting that I "credit" them. People should realize that everyone has access to the same public records. I don't post anything BUT my own research to ensure that if there IS a mistake, it's MINE, and not someone else's. But you can't tell these people that. Please be careful before you rip out a nasty e-mail and hit "Send." You may be alienating not only a relative, but someone who might have been very helpful to you had you only greeted them cordially. * * * Virtual Introductions By Harry Duckworth hdckwth@cc.umanitoba.ca The letter by "a. sharp" (stemmatis@aol.com) on "Handling Enquiries Properly" demands some kind of reply, if only because there's another point of view. As I understand it, the author finds a GEDCOM file on the Web, with genealogical information of interest, and e-mails the person with a request for the source materials on which the research is based. The author is then offended when people ask "who are you?" -- not being satisfied to correspond with an unknown, anonymous person such as "a. sharp" must appear to them. The author regards such inquiries as "wholly inappropriate" and "an invasion of my privacy"; he/she wishes that the exchange of information could just be full and free, with no exchange of personal details. Perhaps "a. sharp" has forgotten that people you contact via the Internet are just that -- people -- and not computer servers that respond automatically to all requests, wherever they come from. People like to be treated with respect, and not simply expected to field peremptory requests for information from strangers who are unwilling to reveal their identities. Someone who posts a GEDCOM has chosen to make that information available to all, but as soon as an Internet researcher asks for more details, it's really an invitation to a one-on-one relationship -- the inquirer is asking for something to be done just for them. All questions about sources require a customized reply, perhaps quite a bit of time looking up details in research notes, and all this for the benefit of one person who is unwilling to reveal anything about who they are beyond an e-mail address. The GEDCOM poster may well be hoping for an exchange of information, and instead is treated like an inanimate object. We all have our own standards of politeness, but if "a. sharp" wants a stranger to give genealogical help, beyond what's freely available already, he/she shouldn't be surprised to be asked to establish some credibility first. When we deal with strangers face-to-face, we introduce ourselves first, then ask our questions. Why should the Internet be different? * * * Leaping Assumptions Lead to Wrong Roots By Carole Cole cnjcarole@msn.com The ongoing discussion on taking others' research for your own and posting incorrect information struck a chord with me also. A few weeks ago I received a telephone call from an elderly woman who inquired about a French name I had absolutely no acquaintance with. She said she was given my name and number as someone who had posted information that made a connection with the name, which happened to be the same as that of her father. Her father had disappeared from her life when she was just a young child and she had spent the past 30 years of her now lengthy life searching for more information about him. She was so very disappointed to discover that I knew nothing about him or any of her family by that name. In tracking down how my name and contact information came to be connected to her search in that way, I discovered that someone had just copied wholesale my entire family tree, including my Greek ancestry, which could not possibly be his, and posted it as his own. Then his wife and daughter compounded the totally erroneous assumption by adding my tree to their posts as well. This man -- I don't know whether to call him stupid or ignorant or both -- had a single surname that matched my main line of research -- not a matching person -- but just the surname in his family tree. Using that incredible assumption that our ancestry thus came from a common source, he simply plugged in my entire pedigree and corresponding information. Of course trying to contact him, his wife or his daughter resulted in bounced e-mail with addresses no longer valid. I am not naive enough to be outraged that this happens, but I am very sad that this poor elderly lady who at last thought she had found a promising lead had to once more face a dead end and spend precious time tracking down totally irrelevant information. Because we constantly gain new researchers or "newbies" in this work who tend to leap first and then look at what they've done, I don't hold much hope for ever eliminating this problem. I did post a note on the site explaining this error, but due to the length of time elapsed between when he posted and when I discovered the problem, who knows how many others have been mislead? But as my husband's Danish grandfather used to say, "Oh vel." We just move on and hope for the best. 8. Humor/Humour: Some Grave Matters ----------------------------------- Thanks to: Gary Welch gcwelch@frontiernet.net Reading the diaries of my great-great-great-grandmother, Maria (HUYCK) SOURS, from the 1870s in Huron, New York, I found the statement, "Pa [her husband Reuben SOURS] and I dug a grave." I looked back a few entries but there was no indication of who had died. After finding several more similar entries I realized that the couple, in addition to many other activities, served as gravediggers for the cemetery adjacent to their farm. The grave digging did not appear to be related to the times on winter days when, according to the diary, they went "slaying." 9. Submission Guidelines, Advertising Contacts, Reprint Policy ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. All mail sent to the RootsWeb Review editor is considered to be for publication -- send in plain ASCII text (please, no attach- ments) to: Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com * * * ROOTSWEB REVIEW ADVERTISING CONTACTS: Ad Sales Operations Mgr. Shana Davis sdavis@myfamilyinc.com U.S. West Coast: Sacha Yenkana syenkana@myfamilyinc.com U.S. East Coast: Dan Arnold darnold@myfamilyinc.com * * * 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: Vol. 6, No. 47, 19 November 2003. * * * *