RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Weekly E-zine 18 August 2004, Vol. 7, No. 33, Circulation: 838,091+ (c) 1998-2004 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 share family trees: WorldConnect: http://wc.rootsweb.com/ Learn how to find your ancestors: http://rwguide.rootsweb.com/ Post and read 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/ =============================================================== IN THIS ISSUE: 1. NEWS AND NOTES 1a. RootsWeb's Instant "Fix-it" Option 1b. Editor's Desk: This and That 1c. Tips from Readers: "Keeping Separate Files" 2. Connecting Through RootsWeb: "Cemetery Programs Sought by Volunteer" 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: "Privatizing Certain Information" "Defacing Property" "Librarian Provides Solution" "Censoring Family History" "Locating a Photograph of Civil War Ancestor" "Faces in Boxes" "Examining Statistics More Closely" "Encountering Skeletons at the Courthouse" "Recording Both Lines" 8. Humor/Humour: "Mum's Logic" 9. Submissions, Subscriptions, Advertising, Reprints =============================================================== 1. NEWS AND NOTES 1a. RootsWeb's Instant "Fix-it" Option Let's say you are searching RootsWeb's WorldConnect at: http://wc.rootsweb.com/ in hopes of filling in some missing branches in your BRINKERHOFF family tree and you find another researcher has listed your BRINKERHOFF line as a collateral family in their HUFFNAGEL database. Only he or she has listed the wrong marriage date and place for your great-grandparents, Martin BRINKERHOFF and Sarah KLINEFELDER. Martin and Sarah were married in 1901, not 1911 as the entry shows. You know you have the correct date and place because you possess a copy of their marriage certificate. What can you do when you find incorrect information in a user-submitted database such as those found at WorldConnect? WorldConnect databases include an e-mail contact address, which allows you to notify the database submitter when you have additional or corrected information. However, there is no way to ensure that a submitter will update his file with the corrected information you have to offer. So, to make the correction instantly add your own Post-em Note to the WorldConnect tree. If you come across an incorrect date of death for your grandfather when looking at his death entry in the SSDI (Social Security Death Index) -- http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/ -- what can you do? Once again, Post-em Notes to the rescue. You can add a note to any RootsWeb database offering this option. Here's how: While viewing a record you wish to annotate, click on the link to add a note -- ADD POST-EM or USER ADDED NOTE. The option wording varies depending upon the type of database you are viewing. Select a password of your choice for your Post-em Note, type in your name and e- mail address where requested, fill in the note you wish to post and click on PREVIEW or POST. (If you select PREVIEW first, don't forget to POST it after previewing it). Creating your own password enables you (and only you) to return at a future date to edit or delete your Post-em Note with one exception -- WorldConnect submitters can remove Post-em Notes others have added to their files by using their database password. That's because World- Connect submitters have complete control over their files. User-submitted data like that found in WorldConnect, as well as information found in government records such as the SSDI, may contain errors of facts and/or spelling variants. After all, there are no flawless records, even though they might be "official" ones. While you cannot correct RootsWeb's SSDI listing, which is obtained from the Social Security Administration (you must notify Social Security to have its database corrected), you can let others know the correct date of death by placing a Post-em Note on your grandpa's record. Perhaps granddad's SSDI listing is accurate in all respects and you merely wish to add a note saying "this man is my grandfather -- if you are related, contact me." Your e-mail address will be associated with your Post-em Note. Post-em Notes can be added to the SSDI records at RootsWeb, to its WorldConnect databases, and to many other user- contributed database entries as a means to note an addition, as a correction to a record or as a tool to invite contact from others interested in the same individual. Use Password Central http://passwordcentral.rootsweb.com/ to obtain a list of Post-em Notes that you have posted on SSDI and WorldConnect entries. Additionally, WorldConnect submitters can obtain a list of all Post-em Notes attached to their GEDCOMs by marking the WorldConnect box option under OTHER at the bottom of this webpage. Post-em Notes solve the age-old problem of updating and correcting genealogical information instantly and they enable researchers to make online connections with others interested in the same family lines. Once you have added a Post-em Note, a clickable icon or link will appear next to the entry for which you have recorded the note making it easily accessible to anyone finding the original record to which it has been added. * * * 1b. EDITOR'S DESK. This and That If you are looking for anyone significant from your past; be it family, friend, loved one, military buddy, whomever, go to http://www.ExtremeReunion.com/ and tell your story. If selected, you may be reunited with that person, have the most amazing experience of your life . . . and share it all on American national TV. (Note: You must be a legal resident of the United States and at least 18 years of age.) * * * REMINDER: When subscribing and unsubscribing from any RootsWeb mailing list, direct a NEW e-mail message (not a reply) to the REQUEST address for the list, which looks like this: LISTNAME-l-request@rootsweb.com (for list mode), and to LISTNAME-D-request@rootsweb.com for digest mode. Replace the generic word LISTNAME with the actual name of the mailing list you wish to contact, such as SMITH-L-request@rootsweb.com for example. The subject and message body of your request should include only one word -- either SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE depending upon which action you wish to accomplish. Remember that requests to join (subscribe) or leave (unsubscribe) mailing lists go to a machine for processing and not to the list itself and that adding the word REQUEST to the list address will direct your message to the correct place for automated processing. Messages intended for the entire list (once you are subscribed) should be directed to the actual list address no matter whether you are subscribed in list or digest mode -- LISTNAME-L@rootsweb.com -- and as above, replace the generic word LISTNAME with the actual name of the mailing list to which you wish to post a message. * * * 1c. TIPS FROM READERS. Keeping Separate Files Thanks to: Lynnette Wescovich I am actively researching four major lineages -- DUKE(S), THOMPSON, KERBEL, and WESCOVICH. I keep each line in a separate file. I bring each one down to myself and then stop on my own family. I have one more file I call "Current," which contains information on myself, my children, spouses, etc. This file contains living individuals. Thus I can share any info with either side of the family without overwhelming them with a slew of unconnected names. I can always combine files if I want to do that, too. I've made books for each line and given them out as well. An added benefit of this system is that it keeps the names straight and I know for sure that the CHIPMAN I'm looking at is a direct relative in my mother's line, but a distant relative in my father's line. When I add information from the Internet, etc. that is not documented, I cite the source in the notes. I only worry about true documentation for my direct line and let others worry about documentation of their part of it. Of course, if I have documentation for anything, I add it, I just don't go looking for it. No sense wasting what little time I have on looking for a marriage record for my second cousin's stepdaughter! 2. Connecting Through RootsWeb. Thanks for sharing your stories. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Cemetery Programs Sought by Volunteer By Dena Whitesell RootsWeb has helped me greatly in my research. I am now volunteering to help others within the county I live in and hope to put my county cemeteries on line. Any suggestions on cemetery programs to help my search would be greatly appreciated. I have recently put my homepage online along with contact information. http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/w/h/i/Madena-M-Whitesell/ [Editor's Note: The Association for Gravestone Studies (AGS) of Greenfield, Massachusetts offers AGS Computer Database software with search and report capabilities for recording gravestones and cemeteries at a modest cost. Details and system requirements can be found at AGS: http://www.gravestonestudies.org/store/software.htm ] 3. New Mailing Lists at RootsWeb Request a New Mailing List: http://resources.rootsweb.com/adopt/ ----------------------------------------------------------------- Brand-new mailing lists can be found under OTHER/MISCELLANEOUS until moved to their proper categories. For information and an index to the more than 28,300 RootsWeb-hosted genealogy Mailing Lists and for easy subscribing (joining) options go to: http://lists.rootsweb.com/ NEW REGIONAL MAILING LISTS ITA-SICILY-CALTANISSETTA -- Caltanissetta, Sicily, Italy NEW SURNAME MAILING LISTS AMERINE BROWN-RICHARD-VA -- Richard Brown (wife Freddie), an African-American family from Buckingham, Virginia KINTNER, KUBASIAK MILEHAM, MOHRHARDT ROMU SCHWENKER 4. New Webpages at RootsWeb To Request a Free Web Account: http://accounts.rootsweb.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------- Some of these webpages 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. For example, the Clay Cross (Derbyshire) website is at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~engcclay/ Australia nswgdhs -- Gerringong and District Historical Society (New South Wales) England engcclay -- Clay Cross (city) Derbyshire U.S.A. alahgp -- American History and Genealogy Project (AHGP) State Site (Alabama) araahgs -- Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (Arkansas) ksriley -- Riley County (Kansas) maesscem -- Essex County Cemeteries (Massachusetts) txjfrm -- Jacob Fontaine Religious Museum (Pflugerville, Travis County, Texas) 5. New/Updated Freepages and Homepages -------------------------------------- Do you have a new, updated, or substantially revised website located at RootsWeb (it will have "freepages" or "homepages" in the URL)? 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 ARKANSAS. Hempstead County families, photos, places, and documents. Main surnames currently included are: SAMUEL, HARRIS, HARTSFIELD, POWELL, O'STEEN, DERRYBERRY, EPTON, and HULSEY http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mbardin/ VERMONT. Saint Johnsbury. Tombstone listings from Goss Hollow Cemetery. http://www.rootsweb.com/~vtcstjoh/cemetery/gosshollow.htm Note: Comments and questions about any of these independently authored webpages should be directed to their respective compilers/webmasters. 6. New User-Contributed Databases at RootsWeb ---------------------------------------------- Who Has the Data? Does your state, province, county, parish, church, old military unit or alma mater have material available that you think would be of interest to genealogists and historians? Do you have any compiled lists of names or databases -- other than your personal family tree because genealogies can be posted at WorldConnect: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/ -- that you would like to share and that you think would be of value and interest to others? In most cases, RootsWeb would be proud to host them. http://userdb.rootsweb.com/submit/ * * * The following databases have come online recently. They are searchable, but not browseable. Browse: To view the entire contents of a file or a group of files. Search: To look for specific data or occurrence of text in a file. CALIFORNIA. Merced County. Hilmar. Hilmar High School Class of 1954; 60 records; Karl H Schwerin http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ ILLINOIS. Kankakee County. Bourbonnais. Olivet Nazarene College Class of 1978; 243 records; Lynda Turner http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ Shelby County. Stewardson. Stewardson High School graduates 1900-1950; 745 records; Strasburg. Stewardson-Strasburg High School graduates 1951-1990; 1,582 records; Strasburg. Strasburg High School graduates 1913-1950; 360 records; Norman Lankow http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ NEW YORK. New York County. Wills 1662-1870 for Duryea and related surnames; 93 records; Jodie Lutter http://userdb.rootsweb.com/courtrecords/ Schoharie County. Richmondville. Methodist Episcopal Church, Baptisms 1867-1892; 191 records; Probationers Records 1867-1892; 469 records; Mary K. Phillips http://userdb.rootsweb.com/churchrecords/ PENNSYLVANIA. Philadelphia County. Philadelphia. William Penn Cemetery, (partial listing of burials with ties to Buck County, Pennsylvania); 111 records; Lynn Tinsley http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemeteries/ VIRGINIA. Tazewell County. Tazewell. Tazewell High School, 1927 baseball team 12 records; Paula Lucy Delosh http://userdb.rootsweb.com/alumni/ 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]. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Privatizing Certain Information By Valerie Lisk In response to Kate's question: What do I do when I realize that members of the family have been passing for white for 50 years (one branch of the family) or almost 100 years (another branch)? I include them in my database, they are family. My genealogy software has a place where I can privatize information and another where I can exclude people from calendars and trees. I place these people in my database -- for myself. I exclude them from anything I print out and/or share. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, these people do not exist. I do the same thing for the slave owners and their families I have had to trace to locate my enslaved ancestors. * * * Defacing Property By Diane Delbridge It seems that in RWR 7:31, Mary Harrell is advocating that we write in library books. First off, the librarians will be really mad at us for defacing their property. Secondly, how would a subsequent reader know the source of the interlined information to establish its validity? I have often thought I would like to point out errors that are in print for the help of the next guy that reads it. Would librarians out there mind if we put a note, on acid-free paper, of course, and in pencil not ink, between the pages, giving a source for the correct information? We might also include our e-mail address for the person to contact. It seems like this would do much less harm to priceless old books than ink or Post-It notes. Another option would be to provide the library's reference desk with a correction that is fully sourced, but we still need a way for the person reading the book to know that correction is available. Discussion anyone? * * * Librarian Provides Solution By Susan Scouras, Librarian, West Virginia Archives and History Library, Charleston, West Virginia Our library has a policy of allowing a patron who disputes an entry in a family history book to provide documentary evidence of the claimed correct information. We then type a brief note on acid-free paper with the additional information, plus contact information for the person presenting it. The note is tipped into the appropriate spot in the bound book. (Up to now these have always been self-published or unpublished manuscripts that we have placed in library bindings, not commercially published books, if that makes any difference.) We will not do this unless the person agrees to include at least a name and mailing address. If we find "unauthorized" corrections in any book, we erase them As an alternative, we remind researchers that they can submit their own family trees or narratives for placement in our Surname Files. Surname File submissions must also have a name and mailing address and are usually only a few pages, consisting of a family group sheet or a pedigree chart with a few paragraphs of family history. Most people are pleased to learn that they can leave some evidence of their family history in the archives without having to write a book. (Our Surname Files also contain newspaper clippings about family reunions, 50th and above wedding anniversaries, personal interviews, some obituaries, etc.) We encourage family history writers to include a mailing address in their publications. When library patrons have questions about the contents of a particular book, we suggest they write the authors. Many times local authors have included the information provided in such a manner to correct and/or expand their works for new editions. All parties end up satisfied and the next researcher who comes along will find a better resource to work with. * * * Censoring Family History By Ray Hunt in New Zealand I also have had family members ask for items and events to be deleted from our family history and I have always refused as a matter of principle. The very last paragraph in my family history, "A Family Tree Hunt" (4th Edition) now states: "To those persons still living that shared their stories with me I am most grateful. To those that did not wish to share their stories or family history I make no apology for printing what information I was able to locate. Future generations shall judge us all." * * * Locating a Photograph of Civil War Ancestor By Cari Thomas Oh, how I wish Betty Kittle, who wrote the letter entitled "Shaking Others' Trees," had included the names and locations of those photo- graphs! I cheerfully would prove and provide my connection (with sources) to any that I could claim. It continues to be my dream that someone out there has a photograph of my great-great grandfather Cornelius Trimble RICHMOND, who was MIA (missing in action) on Morrison's farm near Salem Church [Spotsylvania County, Virginia] in the Battle of Chancellorsville on 3 May 1863. Cornelius was a 44-year-old enlistee from the Manyunk/Roxborough area of Philadelphia and a private in Company F of the 119th Pennsylvania Volunteers. He had been married since 1846 to Ellen R. CRISPIN and his youngest child, Phebe Jane, 3, had just sent her father "fourty [sic] kisses" in a surviving letter I have. How I wish I could put a photograph with that letter! Kittle might wish to contact the United States Army Military History Institute (USAMHI) http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usamhi/ because it keeps a database and collection of information and photography on Civil War units and individual soldiers and is open to the public for research. She could make those Civil War photographs MORE accessible to descendants and researchers by giving at least copies to be placed in this repository. Any of Cornelius Trimble RICHMOND's other descendants or any person interested in reading the 24 Civil War-era letters (between Cornelius and Ellen and two later letters from his tent mate, Arthur COMMERFORD, in response to Ellen's questions about possible recovery of Cornelius's body) can now access those letters in his file at the USAMHI. * * * Faces in Boxes By Richard Stewart While rummaging through three barns full of all kinds of interesting things I looked at a box full of old photos. Imagine my surprise when I came across wedding pictures of my mother and father, aunt and uncle, grandmother and grandfather, and a great-aunt and great-uncle, as well as other family pictures. When I told the man running the barn sale that they were my family he gave them to me free! He had purchased the contents of my great-aunt's house and removed them to his barns to sell. * * * Examining Statistics More Closely By Neal Jordan It may be worth noting that statistics on "Life Expectancy" most often include early deaths. This, of course, brings the average or "expected value" down, particularly in eras where infant mortality was so high and childhood illnesses took such a toll. Any genealogist will have noted that infant deaths were more numerous in earlier generations. The old German cemeteries here in Central Texas are populated with headstones marking the epidemics that carried away the young. Once one had survived childhood, there were still medical risks, now vanquished, to contend with but the "life expectancy" jumped up dramatically. Thus it was little wonder that researchers find long-lived ancestors. In the case of the ancient Romans, one had a life expectancy of only 25 at birth, but by age 5 the expectancy had almost doubled to 48. See: http://www.utexas.edu/depts/classics/documents/Life.html By the 18th century, both values were certainly increased and the "tail" of the distribution extended into older ages thus providing plenty of room for long-living ancestors, particularly those who had survived long enough to reach America from Europe. [Editor's Note: See U.S. Life Expectancy by Age, 1850-2001 chart at: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005140.html ] * * * Encountering Skeletons at the Courthouse By Mary Lou Bartee When my father was living and I would mention researching the family he would say, "Oh sis, I don't think you would find anything interesting. No one ever did anything to amount to anything." I would just pick his brain about some names from the past and disregard his statement. Well, as time passed, he died, and by then I had a computer and was about to wrap up my mom's family -- I thought. Anyway I put a query on the Parks RootsWeb mailing list. Nothing. We went on vacation and I unsubscribed and then resubscribed in January. A short time later there was a query that just took hold of me. I couldn't bring myself to answer or delete it for several weeks. Then I finally replied. The connection seemed to be there and yet it did not. I told the other person I would be going to Oklahoma City in late February. Well, we made an emergency run then, but I had no time to research. I finally had time in August -- and within 24 hours I could not believe what I had found. My parents had always said they were married in 1934 in Norman (Cleveland County) Oklahoma. When their names were not listed in 1934, I went straight to the same month in 1935 and there was their marriage certificate. Mom was two months pregnant with me. Then onto the Oklahoma City courthouse. There I asked for copies of mom's divorce to her first husband. Found it. Then I remembered the details of the other lady and her mom's name and asked for copies of divorces for my dad and her mother. Bingo. Also noticed on the list that my mother and father had also gotten a divorce when I was 4 1/2. Got that copy and found out they had gotten it straight and had the divorce set aside before it became final. In due process of time, and after telling a lady I was her half sister I found out that dad left her mother when she was six months along and got his divorce 15 months later on my sister's first birthday. The decree stated his divorce would not be final for 6 months. He married my mother less than a month later. So his marriage was not even legal. My brother died a year before I found all this out, so just my new sister and I have been able to enjoy our relationship. I was not angry, only disappointed that my folks never had the courage to accept the truth and share it with us. I was mature enough to sit in the courthouse and get a big laugh out of it, even though I knew my parents were probably turning in their graves. * * * Recording Both Lines By Connie Trier I have a daughter who was born out of wedlock and adopted by my second husband. I also have a daughter who was given up for adoption. I use information from both families in the tree. The first daughter mentioned always thought of her adopted father as her "real" father. She doesn't know her birth father. In the second situation the child given up for adoption considers her adoptive parents to be her "real" parents. So I have both girls listed and both their birth and adoptive parents listed as well. However, since all are living, this information isn't available online. Genealogy is about bloodlines AND families, and most genealogy software programs allow us to include both. 8. Humor/Humour: Mum's Logic ------------------------------------------------- Thanks to: G. Barkey I once knew someone in Newfoundland named Miles Furlong. When anyone asked him about his name he told them he was the eighth child and his mother figured there was eight miles to a furlong, so that's why he was called that. * * * Found a humorous name or entry in census, parish, church, etc. records? Send to: Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com 9. Submissions, Subscriptions, Advertising, Reprints ----------------------------------------------------- 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 TEXT (please, no attachments) to: Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com Search/download past issues of the RootsWeb Review: http://e-zine.rootsweb.com/ * * * SUBSCRIPTIONS. To manage your e-mail communications (i.e. to subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter, or to sign up for others), visit our newsletter management center any time at: http://newsletters.rootsweb.com/ The RootsWeb Review is a free publication of MyFamily.com, Inc., 360 West 4800 North, Provo, UT, 84604 * * * ROOTSWEB REVIEW ADVERTISING CONTACTS. Ad Sales Operations Mgr. Shana Davis sdavis@myfamilyinc.com U.S., Worldwide Sales: Sacha Yenkana syenkana@myfamilyinc.com * * * REPRINTS. Permission to reprint articles from RootsWeb Review is granted unless specifically stated otherwise, provided: (1) the reprint is used for non-commercial, educational purposes; and (2) the following notice appears at the end of the article: Previously published in RootsWeb Review: 18 August 2004, Vol. 7, No. 33. * * * *