RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Weekly E-zine 14 June 2006, Vol. 9, No. 24 (c) 1998-2006 RootsWeb.com, Inc. http://www.rootsweb.com/ * * * Editor: Myra Vanderpool Gormley, Certified Genealogist Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com Certification: http://www.bcgcertification.org/certification/ * * * ROOTSWEB HELPDESK: Check here for announcements: http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/ * * * ========================================================= IN THIS ISSUE: 1. 1a. EDITOR'S DESK: NEWS, NOTES, AND SOME SITES WORTH SEEING NEWS: UK's OPCs BOOK NOTES: California SITES: Kentucky, Wisconsin, 1850 U.S. Census Instructions 1b. Tips from Readers: Digging in the Past Uncovers Unpleasant Surprise 1c. Using RootsWeb: Tracking Ancestors in Census Records 2. Connecting Through RootsWeb: Changing of a Vowel 3. New User-contributed Databases 4. New/Updated FreePages and HomePages 5. New at RootsWeb 6. RootsWeb Review's Bottomless Mailbag: Good Testatrix . . . Bad Testatrix Volunteers Enable Researcher to Smash Brick Wall Creative Thinking Required 7. Humor/Humour: You Work -- Where? 8. Subscriptions, Submissions, Advertising, Reprints ======================================================= IN THIS ISSUE: 1a. EDITOR'S DESK: NEWS, NOTES; SOME SITES WORTH SEEING NEWS: UK's ONLINE PARISH CLERKS: Focus on Lancashire. All the data provided through these sites have been compiled and transcribed by volunteers, so the actual data available and parishes covered depends on the availability of volunteers to carry out this work. An online parish clerk should not be confused with parish clerks, who work for parish or town councils. The OnLine Parish Clerks project for the County of Lancashire site is extracting the records from the various parishes and provides online access to that data, free of charge, along with other data of value to family and local historians conducting research in this locality. The OPCs have chosen their particular parish because of their interest in the town or village where their ancestors lived. While some may live in their chosen parish, many do not, indeed many live in other countries. Data and records are presented from the earliest records that can be found up to approximately the end of the 19th century. At that time there were almost 400 parishes within the pre-1974 county boundaries of Lancashire. Data is gathered from a multitude of sources, including parish registers, census records, cemetery records, churchwardens' accounts, overseers' accounts, land tax records, wills, business directories, postal directories, church and village histories. http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/home.html All OnLine Parish Clerks welcome enquiries and will do their best to help, but please remember their time will always be limited, and that many will be busy transcribing records for their chosen parish. Where possible, an OnLine Parish Clerk is appointed to direct the extraction of records and data for each parish. New volunteers for the County of Lancashire are always welcome. http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/volunteers.html Online Parish Clerks -- also known as OPCs -- are volunteers who collect, collate, and transcribe records for specific parishes in the United Kingdom. A list and links to these OPCs are available on Cyndi's List and currently include: Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Sussex, Warwickshire, and Wiltshire. http://www.cyndislist.com/volreg.htm#OPCs * * * BOOK NOTES: California CALIFORNIA. The Yorba Linda Star Death Notices and Obituaries, Volume I (1920-1929) was published by the Genealogical Society of North Orange County, California in 1993. It has 192 pages, is indexed, and still available for $20 (postpaid) by writing to: GSNOCC, PO Box 706 Yorba Linda, CA 92885 The Yorba Linda Library has continued with extractions from the Yorba Linda Star, 1930-present. This is the community's only local newspaper, and it began publication in 1917. It contains an abundance of genealogical information, as well as material regarding the development of Yorba Linda and Orange County. More than 20,000 citations are included in this database, which is searchable by date, subject, and headline. This index can be searched at http://yorbalindahistory.org/star/ * * * SOME SITES WORTH SEEING: KENTUCKY. Due to the tremendous number of people trying to access the Kentucky Vital Records Project site that was provided in last week's RootsWeb Review it caused technical difficulties, which the Kentucky group is working on to fix. Please be patient and try again later -- next week or next month. WISCONSIN. Pre-1907 Vital Records. Search for birth, death, and marriage records by surname, first name, county, and/or year. http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/vitalrecords/ 1850 U.S. CENSUS. Instructions to the marshals and assistant marshals; What were the enumerators suppose to ask your great-great-grandparents? Their instructions included: "He (the assistant marshal) is to approach every family and individual from whom he solicits information with civil and conciliatory manners, and adapt himself, as far as practicable, to the circumstances of each, to secure confidence and good will, as a means of obtaining the desired information with accuracy and dispatch. "If any person, to whom application is made for information should refuse to give it, or should designedly give false information, the assistant should inform him of the responsibility he thereby incurs, and that he renders himself liable to a penalty, according to the fifteenth section of the act of Congress. "The act provides that 'the assistant marshals shall make the enumeration by actual inquiry at every dwelling house, or by personal inquiry of the head of every family, and not otherwise.' This requirement must be strictly observed." Read the rest here: http://www.ipums.umn.edu/usa/voliii/inst1850.html * * * 1b. TIPS FROM READERS: Digging in the Past Uncovers Unpleasant Surprise By Cynthia Brott Biasca I wonder if a mix-up I found years ago is rare or if others have had a similar experience. I was beginning my genealogical research on my great-grandfather, Oliver BROTT, and found he was married to Sarah Jane TALBOT, daughter of Michael and Nancy. Following censuses on microfilm, I found Michael in 1860 in Johnstown, Fulton County, New York in jail; offense -- robbery. The man whose name preceded his on the page was in jail for rape. When I wrote my sisters about finding him, I said, "At least he wasn't in for rape!" A couple of years later, we went to the courthouse in Johnstown looking for data. Checking the actual 1860 census book, I was amazed to find that Michael's name now preceded the other name and that it was he who was in jail for rape. This was verified by court records we found in the basement. I mentioned the discrepancy to a clerk in the room where we were working and she said that was impossible, I must have made a mistake. Recently I spent a week in Salt Lake City at the Family History Library and had a chance to compare the original census book from Johnstown with the federal census records, both on microfilm there. Indeed I was right. In the federal census records the two names had been reversed, but not the data following the names, thus making Michael a robber not a rapist. Too bad the federal census wasn't the right one. * * * 1c. USING ROOTSWEB: Tracking Ancestors in Census Records Dating back to the very earliest written history we can read of man's attempts to keep statistical records of population figures and data about the people living in specific geographic locations. Sometimes the records were kept as a means of gathering information so that taxes might be properly assessed. Even the Bible mentions the enumeration of people living in various towns and villages. In 1086 the Domesday Book recorded an early count of England's population. Census records, whatever their original purpose, both early and recent, are valuable resources in tracing our family history as long as we have some clue where to look for our often-migratory ancestors. The task is made easier if we have access to indexes or online search tools. Whether we are just beginning our genealogical research and starting with what we know in very recent generations or if we have reached a dead end with 2nd-great-grandfather Percival PLIMPKIN, born in 1848 census records can be one approach in furthering our knowledge. In many countries censuses are taken at regular intervals. In the USA as well as the United Kingdom and elsewhere, federal censuses are done every 10 years. In some places the intervening gaps can be filled by using local or state censuses and/or tax lists thus creating a timeline of sorts for our ancestors. To learn more about census records, and for a listing of RootsWeb mailing lists for census lookups, see: http://lists.rootsweb.com/ Look for census lists under the Other category. There are two census projects that are called USGenWeb Census Projects, although neither is formally associated with the USGenWeb Project. They can be accessed here: http://www.us-census.org/ http://www.rootsweb.com/~census/ Check both project pages for volunteer transcriptions of some federal (and state) censuses. Remember that transcriptions may contain copying or typographical errors. Check the original, filmed, or digitized images when you have the opportunity. To view actual census images, Ancestry.com's U.S. subscription includes access to all extant U.S. (federal) census images beginning with the 1790 census and up through 1930. The 1930 U.S. enumeration is the most recent census that has been released to the public. Ancestry's world subscription includes all census images currently online in the database. Some tips about using census records: --It is best to begin with the most recent records available and work your way back in tracing your family just as you would with any other aspect of your research. Trying to work from an earlier date to the present, or skipping around in time, often results in making leaps of faith and connecting the wrong individuals from one census to another. --Write down the census data exactly as you find it and make a note of exactly where the family was living at the time of the census. Note names of close neighbors as well. Don't assume accuracy and do not be overly concerned about small age discrepancies or name spellings. --For the U.S. enumerations from 1790 through 1840 (the census years where only the head of household is named) don't assume all individuals in the household are family members -- they might be servants or farmhands. --Don't assume that children in a household are the children of the head of household unless so specified, and don't assume the wife of the head or household is the mother of the children without additional evidence to support this as fact. --Remember that data in the U.S. census reflects the facts as of the official census day and not necessarily the date the enumerator recorded the information. For instance, let's say your great-grandfather James SMITH died in late January 1920. The official census date for the 1920 census is 1 January. James should be listed on the census even if the enumerator came to the house after James' death. Census records are among the most valuable records available to us. May your ancestors have left an easy trail to follow in them. * * * * * * * * * * Advertisements * * * * * * * * * * FREE $10 gift card with your $50 order Save now . . . save even more later with this special offer: FREE $10 gift card with your $50 merchandise order. Shop our values for women, men and home. Shop clearance buys, too, at up to 70 percent off. Plus enjoy 99-cent shipping -- each item, online only. http://microurl.com/383028134 * * * REQUEST A SEARCH FOR YOUR ANCESTORS AT THE FAMILY HISTORY LIBRARY ANCESTOR SEEKERS researchers at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City will search this vast collection for your ancestors from the USA- Canada, Ireland, Germany, Poland, Russia, Holland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. If you commission the work (there's no obligation to do that!) prices start from $52 (US). For a FREE! initial e-mail consultation visit http://www.ancestorseekers.com/research/rwr/ For help in finding ancestors from England or Scotland request a FREE e-mail assessment from http://www.britishancestors.com/ or join us OCTOBER 23-27 for our Sixth Salt Lake City Research Trip -- the ideal genealogy vacation! * * * * * * * * * * End of Advertisements * * * * * * * * * * 2. CONNECTING THROUGH ROOTSWEB: Changing of a Vowel By Laurie S. Dunham http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~teeterkinmy/ I found my dear "grama's" tombstone and got her death certificate. It was quite a feat. She was born 1 June 1892 in Ohio at Upper Sandusky as Ophelia May ROBACKER, the daughter of Samuel J. ROBACKER who was born in Ohio in 1864 and died in Oregon in 1945 and Mattie AUNGST ROBACKER (born in Ohio in 1867 and died in Oregon in 1940) Ophelia married 1 May 1, 1912 at Oregon City (Clackamas County) my "grampa," Clinton Ellsworth BLACK (born 1886 in Ohio; died 1973 in California). He was the son of Frank and Margaret (CURRENT) BLACK and they had three children -- Robert C., James W., and Ellen May. In contacting the archives of Oregon, I could not locate marriage or death records for my precious "grama" -- Ophelia May (ROBACKER) BLACK who died of pneumonia at age 26 in April of 1919. Her grandmother, Eliza (CRUNKILTON) AUNGST, had died a few days earlier. Clinton BLACK took his three motherless children to California where his parents raised them until he remarried. I posted messages on RootsWeb and received support and direction. I asked the archives researcher to please look for BLOCK as well as BLACK and voila, there appeared my "grama" Ophelia's death records. However they were recorded under BLOCK and not BLACK (her married name) as: Orpha Fay BLOCK and they had her birthdate, which my mother always thought was 12 June, as 1 June as someone had crossed out the 2. I ordered the death certificate and her marriage certificate (it was also found under BLOCK instead of BLACK) and found even more. Ophelia is buried next to her mother, Mattie, at the pioneer cemetery in Oregon City. I was able to obtain divorce papers for her parents, Samuel J. ROBACKER and Mattie (AUNGST) ROBACKER who divorced in 1917 the last time. These papers (17 of them) were wonderfully humorous and well as informative. Sam and Mattie had married and divorced three times. Mattie was a nurse and owned a rooming house. In the divorce, Sam said that Mattie called him a tightwad and left him for 60 days on a nursing job and that she had separate sleeping quarters and would not walk with him to the lodge. Anyway, Sam did remarry to a Rosa [--?--] and I have death certificates for Ophelia, her husband Clinton BLACK, and her parents, Sam and Mattie. I was married with Annie's wedding ring that my mother had given to me. I was ecstatic in finding all the data that I have. The cemetery folks even sent me pictures of the gravestones. There are a lot of wonderfully kind and helpful folks out there. I sent the death certificates to my mother who then lived in Virginia and who was failing. She passed away the next year, but it brought her much closure. I also managed to get pictures of Ophelia (the only one we ever saw) and of her mom, Mattie, this one my mom did not get to see. For mom and all my ancestors and my children and my grandchildren and posterity, I am so happy and pleased. Do not give up in your searches. * * * Did you leap over some brick walls or cleverly figure out where your grandmother was hiding in a census? Do tell! Dazzle us with your brilliant sleuthing or uncanny luck. We're all ears. Send your tales of genealogical adventure to: Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com 3. New User-Contributed Databases at RootsWeb http://userdb.rootsweb.com/submit/ ---------------------------------------------- SHARING OPPORTUNITY. Does your alma mater, old military unit, church, parish, province, county or state 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 genealogy) 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 such material. http://userdb.rootsweb.com/submit/ TEXAS Smith County. Tyler. Miscellaneous Tyler obituaries. Mid-may, 1971; 7 records; Jane Engbrock http://userdb.rootsweb.com/obituaries/ Wichita County. Wichita Falls Times Record News obituaries. 2 July 1998; 14 records; 13 December 1965; 13 records; Jane Engbrock http://userdb.rootsweb.com/obituaries/ VIRGINIA. Spotsylvania County. Potomac, Fredericksburg and Piedmont Railroad Company Time Book. 1910-1916; 83 records; Paula Lucy Delosh http://userdb.rootsweb.com/groups/ 4. New/Updated Freepages and Homepages -------------------------------------- Can your cousins find your website at RootsWeb? Has it ever been mentioned here or do you have a new, updated, or substantially revised website at RootsWeb (it will have "freepages" or "homepages" in the URL)? Send the URL (its Web address), along with a brief description, including the major pertinent surnames and what is available on your site, to: Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com DANNER and STEWART GENEALOGY. These families were from southwest Virginia and western North Carolina -- the counties of Rowan, Surry, Ashe and Watauga (North Carolina) and Scott and Wise (Virginia). http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~rdanner/ 5. New 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/~xxxxxx [accountname] U.S.A. mnusd -- State Society (Minnesota) USD mtpcpl -- Petroleum County Public Library (Montana) nciredel -- Iredell County (North Carolina) Key: USD -- US Daughters of the War of 1812 * * * 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 29,800 RootsWeb-hosted genealogy Mailing Lists and for easy subscribing (joining) options go to: http://lists.rootsweb.com/ No new mailing lists were created this week. 6. 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]. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Good Testatrix . . . Bad Testatrix By Andrew Billinghurst in Australia From the codicil of the voluminous will of Anne BRIDGES (d. 1764, Avington, Hampshire, England) there is the following extract: ... whereas to my great concern the parish church of Avington hath been for many years past very remissly served on account of the nonresidence of the rector or vicar thereof and being desirous to encourage the minister for the time being constantly to reside in the parish therefore give and bequeath to my said Trustees and the survivor of them and the Executors and Administrators of such survivor the sum of one thousand pounds upon trust and to the intent and purpose that they do invest the same in government or land securitys as to them shall seem best and do pay and apply the sum of twenty pounds yearly and every year to the rector or vicar for the time being of the said parish church of Avington as and for an encouragement for his and their constant evidence in the said parish and for the better service of the church there for the benefit of the parishioners thereof but in case he or they neglect so to reside for the intents and purposes aforesaid within six months next after my decease or within six months after every such new rector or vicar shall be instituted and invested thereto thou I do hereby ex- pressly order and direct that neither the incumbent that shall be living at the time of my decease nor any other succeeding rector or vicar shall have or receive any part of the said yearly sum of twenty pounds but the same shall go and be paid to and amongst such poor and decayed old housekeepers as shall live in the said parish or the adjoining parishes of Avington in such manner as to my said Trustees in their direction shall seem meet which I do give and bequeath accordingly . . . * * * Volunteers Enable Researcher to Smash Brick Wall By Linda Ziemann in Keller, Texas One of my brick walls was my great-great-grandmother, Mrs. Wm. (Frances STRATTON) EWING. I began my research on this family line in 2001. I had found Frances who was born in England and learned who her parents were. I found them on ship's records -- and know they eventually ended up in the USA -- in Indiana and then Illinois. From Illinois Mr. and Mrs. Wm. EWING moved to Iowa with their older son. Another descendant had posted his genealogy effort on the LDS site. This descendant, I learned later, is now deceased -- and none of his family knows exactly what happened to his genealogy files. For this grand- mother, Frances EWING, he posted her date of death as 17 Feb. 1890, Creston, Iowa. In 2002, an effort to locate her in Creston, Iowa, came up empty. There was nothing documented on the death ledger at the courthouse -- there were some deaths recorded for that month and year, but not for her. I physically went to the courthouse to search. I looked in the microfilm at the IGS library in Des Moines, also. Nothing. I could only assume that the family member who posted her death date knew the correct date of death. I even had volunteers looking in Creston for a burial place for her there -- nothing. Then in March, I tried once more. I found a dear lady in Creston, Iowa who is wheelchair-bound who does look-ups. She has some documentation and index copies in her home provided by the local genealogy society. I explained to her who I was looking for and I gave her the date of death that I had. She explained she would search and get back to me. She got back to me by e-mail in a few days. She thought she had come up with a zero, but then did say that she found a EWING burial in the Graceland Cemetery at Creston. The index she had just said EWING -- no first name, no date of death. Well, that could be anybody! Right? I told her that I was grateful; that was more than I had found out previously. It was a start. This lady gave me the name and address of the sexton of the Graceland Cemetery. I wrote to him and provided a stamped self-addressed envelope for his reply. I asked him to check the cemetery ledger book for any identification of this EWING grave. Within a week I had that envelope back from the sexton with a copy of the ledger page that included that EWING grave. I was ecstatic. The information I received was still just the name EWING, the block and lot number in the cemetery. According to the ledger page copy, there was a tombstone, but no date of death or burial. I could tell that others on the page and in the same block section had been buried in the 1880s through the 1890s. The clincher to identifying this grave as my great-great-grandmother is that the "purchaser of the grave" was J. W. EWING. Wha-la! J.W. EWING was her oldest son. It is a single grave. I visited Creston again in April of 2006. I went to the cemetery and the correct block section. From the ledger paper copy, I could determine just where she was buried because of the others around her who still have stones identifying the burial place. My great-great-grandmother no longer has a stone that says EWING. But I was able to finally "lay her whereabouts to rest" because of all the wonderful information that I was given -- first by Irma Miller, the helpful volunteer, and then the sexton of the cemetery. I want to praise these volunteers for their time and expertise. While in Creston, I called Ms. Miller. She had asked me to do that. We had a nice conversation that afternoon, as I was sitting in my car at Graceland Cemetery looking out over the block section where my great- great-grandmother's body is at rest. God rest her soul. * * * Creative Thinking Required By William Campbell Snouffer in Portland, Oregon There was an interesting item in the RootsWeb Review by Jeanne Klavac on name spelling challenges, which brought some of my experiences to mind. The SCHNAUFFER-SNOUFFER-SNUFFER clan of Germans who came to Philadelphia in 1751 is the one that I have had to struggle with. The original spelling was SCHNAUFFER -- but the name was pronounced with a long o, as in snow. So it sounded something like Schnow-fur. Anyway, pity the poor English clerks at the docks in Philadelphia in 1751 trying to figure out the names of hundreds of Germans, many of whom did not read or write English and who did not know how to spell their names [in English, plus no hard and fast spelling rules about names existed in the 18th century]. Jim WOOD, in his excellent book "The Snuffers" (published 1989), has collected many of the early spelling variations. His line of SNUFFERS began with a 1790 census report listing the name as SNUFFER. Many of the rest of us descendants use the SNOUFFER spelling. In my research over the years I have encountered more than 21 different spellings of the name. And many times I have seen a census index list one spelling, while the handwriting on the page clearly is different -- e.g., the census report may read SNAUFFER, while the indexer spelled it SNAFFER. I've just returned from two weeks in Italy. My Italian language ability is zip; luckily most Italians speak some English. Still, even though I spelled out my surname to hotel clerks, the spelling on the receipt was often different. We pronounce the letters of the alphabet differently than do Italians, so the confusion is understandable. The lesson is that, in doing this kind of research, you must be really creative -- think of all possible spelling variations of the name pronounced correctly, and then think of other pronunciations and how they might be spelled. And, then, of course, there were always the jokers who must have deliberately given the census takers false or funny names! 7. Humor/Humour: You Work -- Where? ------------------------------- Thanks to: Roy Howard When I was a young library assistant at Norwich Library in Norfolk, England you had to give your occupation on the form when joining the library. You can imagine the titters when a somewhat brawny man put down as his occupation "whorehouse keeper." Nobody had quite the nerve to ask him if he meant "wharehouse [warehouse] keeper." * * * Found a "proper name for the job" or humorous sign, amusing entries in census, parish, church, etc. records? Send them to: Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com 8. Subscriptions, Submissions, Advertising, Reprints ----------------------------------------------------- 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/ If you use a spam-filtering program, in order to receive the RootsWeb Review please make sure that you're allowing e-mail from: newsletter@reply.myfamilyinc.com The RootsWeb Review is a free publication of MyFamily.com, Inc., 360 West 4800 North, Provo, UT, 84604 * * * 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. The announcement of books and products is provided as a community service and is not an endorsement in any way. 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 and please include your full name and e-mail address in the text. * * * ROOTSWEB REVIEW ADVERTISING CONTACTS. Ad Sales Worldwide: Shana Davis, creative@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: 14 June 2006, Vol. 9, No. 24. * * * *