Back to newsletter listDate:
Wed, August 08, 2007 04:47:46 PMFrom:
Rootsweb Review
Subject:
Rootsweb Review, 08 August 2007, Vol.10, No. 32
RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Weekly E-zine
08 August 2007, Vol. 10, No. 32
(c) 1998-2007 RootsWeb.com, Inc. http://www.rootsweb.com/
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IN THIS ISSUE:
1. Editor's Desk: News and Notes
1a. English Research: A Website Worth Looking At
1b. The Official Guide to RootsWeb.com
1c. Book Notice (3)
2. Using RootsWeb: Lessons I'm Learning While Publishing a Family
Genealogy
3. Connecting Through RootsWeb:
Family Found in the U.S.A.
4. Bottomless Mailbag:
Nominative Determinism Continued
Clarke County Historical Association Catalog Goes Online
New Rotary History Project
FamilySearch Indexing
5. New at RootsWeb
5a. New User-contributed Databases
5b. New/Updated Freepages and Homepages by Individuals
5c. New/Updated Freepages and Homepages by Counties, States,
and Genealogical/Historical Societies
5d. New Mailing Lists
6. Humor/Humour
7. Subscriptions, Submissions, Advertising, Reprints
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IN THIS ISSUE:
1. Editor's Desk: News and Notes
1a. English Research: A Website Worth Looking At
"Expert Links: England Family History and Genealogy" is a new page on
the Price and Associates Genealogical Services website. It organizes
nearly 400 important websites for English genealogy in one place.
Categories include sites where you can obtain civil registration files
and indexes, vital records, probate records, emigration records, and
more. Links are organized by national sites first, then by county in
alphabetical order. For-a-fee sites are set apart with a different
color.
http://www.pricegen.com/english_genealogy.html
1b. The Official Guide to RootsWeb.com
If you missed our earlier announcement about "The Official Guide to
RootsWeb.com," which came out earlier this year, you may want to look
into purchasing a print or electronic version for yourself.
Written by former RootsWeb Review editor Myra VanderPool Gormley and
the author of "The Official Guide to Family Tree Maker," Tana Pedersen
Lord, this guidebook gives you a great look at RootsWeb's history and
the many features it has available for you.
I learned a lot by reading it, as did other RootsWeb staff members
I've talked with.
http://www.therootswebstore.com/ProductDetail.aspx?p=mfsku4406(shops)&Shop=All&Terms=the+official+guide+to+rootsweb
1c. Book Notice (3)
Three published books by Eva Joann Caravito:
FOOTPRINTS OF THE PAST: CRUISE AND RELATED FAMILIES (2001)
Hardbound, fully indexed, 320 pages, some photographs. Families of
Virginia. Surnames: CREWS, CRUISE, MARTIN, BELCHER, HARRIS, HYLTON,
WADE, BALLENGER, DAVIS, FOLEY, LAWSON, COCKRAM, PEDIGO, ELKINS, BOYD,
WARD, HELMS, WILLIAMS, WHALING. (Available on CD only.)
FOOTPRINTS OF THE PAST: HALEY AND RELATED FAMILIES OF DUNKLEY,
SHELTON, AND CLIFTON (2005)
Hardbound, fully indexed, 333 pages, some photographs. Families of
Virginia and North Carolina. Surnames: HALEY, DUNKLEY, SHLETON,
CLIFTON. Cost: $40.00 plus shipping.
FOOTPRINTS OF THE PAST: WIGINGTON, WIGGINTON FAMILIES (2007)
Hardbound, fully indexed, 332 pages, some photographs, WWI
registration information, and Pocahontas descendants. Families of
England, Virginia, and North Carolina. Surnames: WIGINGTON, WIGGINTON,
WILSON, BOLLING. Cost: $40.00 plus shipping.
Order from:
Eva Joann Caravito
2912 Eldon Drive
Uniontown, Ohio 44685
jocaravito@earthlink.net
2. Using RootsWeb:
Lessons I'm Learning While Publishing a Family Genealogy
By Mary Harrell-Sesniak
maryh@volunteer.rootsweb.com
"Genealogy is not just a pastime; it's a passion."
My cousin Dorothy Hudson and I are working on a family genealogy book
centered around our Miesse family ancestry. Our research builds upon
that of earlier generations, most notably that of Ezra Miesse, Gabriel
Miesse, and A. J. Ruble.
It's been a wonderful process, but the problem with writing a
genealogy is not in finding information; it is in gathering too much.
Ancestry.com, Heritage Quest, RootsWeb.com and other sites provide
data and document images, and if your family was composed of high
achievers as ours was, you will find more in libraries and
courthouses.
And that is the problem. Every day we discover more.
Recently we found passenger lists at Ancestry.com. Too bad my family
traveled, as now we cannot resist temptation to record when and where.
Too bad they were involved in their communities.
And too bad they were buried in style. Dorothy and I have made a
scavenger hunt of visiting graveyards. When we find an unreadable
stone, we apply a nontoxic, colored, wetted sand to the crevices,
which allows us to read the epitaph. What a neat trick. Dorothy then
takes a picture with her 35 millimeter camera, and I wonder why she
avoids a digital. Perhaps it is because she sees how I take hundreds
of shots at any one time. Processing is a big job, I admit, but it is
wonderful to have them on my computer.
KEEPING ON TASK
As all of you authors know, sticking to a schedule is challenging. We
fell behind, but have accomplished a lot. We have published a Miesse
database on WorldConnect, and we now have long shelves lined with
obituaries; estate and land records; and birth, marriage, and death
certificates--not to mention Bibles and those pesky passenger lists
that keep multiplying.
Our fear is that the project has turned into an encyclopedia. We met
last month and agreed to stop gathering items, fully intending to
finalize the genealogy. Dates and places would be transformed into
narratives, documentation would be checked, and we weren't going to
stop until we finished.
But there was a problem, a huge problem. Dorothy's computer crashed
and about half of her directories were gone. Now those 35 mm original
photos and copied documents were important. But there were many
documents and digital pictures sent by others via e-mail. Some were
backed up and others weren't.
I firmly believe God puts people together with different abilities for
a reason. As a computer troubleshooter, it was up to me to use my
skills to help her.
Luckily, there was not a virus or mechanical issue. It was impossible
to determine the cause, but the solution was to purchase a recovery
program. It identified more than 24,000 deleted files. Most were
trivial, but an overwhelming number of pertinent files were restored.
In a follow-up article, I will present ideas on backing up and the
sorting methodology that helped us cope with the crash. But before I
do, I'd like to pass along some tips on using photographs in your
family histories. These were written by my colleague, Judy Borich.
A GOOD PLACE TO START: USING FAMILY PHOTOS
Judy and Bruce Borich run a small publishing house in Fort Lauderdale
and are professional photographers. They are popular speakers on
publishing and have a wealth of information on photography. I asked
for advice on photography and family histories, and Judy sent back her
input. Since I couldn't have stated it better, I am including some of
her excerpted thoughts.
"Sometimes a good place to start with your family history is with your
photographs. Put them in chronological order. Do this by using a
sticky or a post-it note. Do not write on pictures, even on the back.
After you number the pictures, write corresponding captions for them.
Sometimes this gives you a better idea of how to organize your book,
and it can often help with ideas for chapter titles. Photographs in
your book can either run throughout the book, or a more economical way
to display them is all together in a section in the center of the book
text.
"Most web-based publishing companies do not accept word-processing
files with pictures placed in them, so if it's an illustrated book
you'll need higher-end page-layout software like Quark, InDesign, or
PageMaker. Scans should be high resolution (300 dots per inch is a
good standard for quality reproduction). Save those scans as TIFF or
EPS files. Use grayscale for black and white pictures. Color scanners
create RGB files but they will need to be converted to CMYK for
printing on a press. If you cannot lay the book out yourself
(publishing companies call this typesetting), you can hire this
service out, often as part of your self-publishing package. In this
case, you have only to approve the final design and provide the
artwork.
"If you are planning on scanning pictures out of a book, make sure you
have the permission of the publisher, or the photographer who shot the
picture. Scanning from printed material will need some manipulation
because of the dot pattern in the printed material so it is better to
scan from the original.
"Creative use of documents as images can add historical significance
to your story but remember photographs taken off the Internet require
the same permissions as any other picture before publishing them in
your book.
"It is technically possible to completely eliminate all the cracks,
tears and signs of wear so the photograph looks new in your book,
however, we are talking about historical photographs so think about
how you want them to appear. Old pictures look old, so be careful not
to go too far with manipulation and color correction. Also, good photo
imaging is a skill and if you aren't real familiar with doing this,
leave it to the experts."
Judy and Bruce Borich's website for the Middle River Press website is
located at www.middleriverpress.com.
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3. Connecting Through RootsWeb
Family Found in the U.S.A.
By Guenther Fuhrmann
guenther.fuhrmann@web.de
For several years I've been researching the roots of my Fuhrmann
family and the descendants of the members I can find. I live in
Marburg, Hassia, Germany--about sixty miles north of Frankfurt--but my
ancestors came from the Posnan area in today's Poland.
In 2001 I found a query at RootsWeb asking for a Gottlieb Samuel
Fuhrmann who was born 24 January 1819 in Obornick Posen to Johann
Benjamin Fuhrmann and Louise Peterson and who immigrated to the U.S.A.
in 1843.
The name of Johann Benjamin sounded familiar, so I answered. After
several e-mails back and forth with a Fuhrman in Wisconsin, and after
conducting some difficult research in the church book films of
Obornick, I found I was right--his name was familiar. Unfortunately
the church books of Obornick are very fragmentary and incomplete.
Nonetheless, I was able to discover Johann Benjamin's place of origin
and found the connection to our line in Birnbaum (today Miedzychod,
Poland).
As a result, I found out that Kathy's fifth great-grandfather and my
fifth great-grandfather were brothers. So I could add a new branch to
our family tree I had never thought of before. And the new-found line
in the U.S.A. is much more widespread than my Fuhrmann line in
Germany.
In February 2006 I wrote to several Brookhiser addresses I found in
the white pages and got an answer from a Brookhiser in Burlington,
Iowa. As a result I was able to add a large family connected to a
member on my tree who had married into the Fuhrmann family. I was also
able to give her information on my line, which extends back to 1600 in
Dausenau and Obernhof in Hassia, Germany.
I am still in contact with the Fuhrmann family in Wisconsin, and on 9
September I'll be in New London for a family reunion. I went to
another reunion of theirs in 2004 in Appleton but am looking forward
to finding out who I will see this time.
Also, for the first time this year I'm invited to the family reunion
of the Brookhiser family in Burlington on 16 September. Hope to meet a
lot of "relatives" there and hear some good speeches about family and
genealogy.
And I would be glad if I got new contacts via RootsWeb and this
article, so I can add new branches and twigs to the Fuhrmann and
Brookhiser family trees.
You can see what we have so far on our multilingual homepage:
www.familienseite-fuhrmann.de
4. 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.]
-------------------------------------------------------------
Nominative Determinism Continued
By Dale McKinley
Several weeks ago, you published a comment by a reader who described
the phenomenon by which a person's name matches his or her occupation
(e.g., Doctor Payne) as "Nominative Determinism." Another word that I
have frequently heard used to describe this is "occuponymous," with
the accent on the "pon" syllable. It merges the words occupation and
synonymous.
To read the article on Nominative Determinism, visit:
http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/review/2007/0718.txt
* * *
Clarke County Historical Association Catalog Goes Online
By Mary Morris, CCHA Archivist
I thought RootsWeb users would like to know that the Clarke County
(Virginia) Historical Association (CCHA) has placed their entire
catalog online with Past Perfect.
CCHA has tried to make the cataloging as complete as possible for
researchers. The catalog includes the historical society's archive and
library holdings. It also includes more than 4,000 scanned
photographs.
Clarke County (County Seat-Berryville) was formed from Frederick
County, Virginia, (County seat-Winchester) in 1836. CCHA was formed in
1938 and is housed at 32 E. Main Street, Berryville, VA.
www.clarkehistory.org
(540) 955-2600
* * *
New Rotary History Project
By Dr. *** "Ray" MacFar***, Sr.
Secretary, RGHF
rmacfar***@wi.rr.com
I just wanted to make sure that RootsWeb was aware of the Internet
history project of Rotary Global History Fellowship, founded by John
Selway, now of Pueblo, Colorado. It has more than 3,000 free pages
dedicated to the history of Rotary International, which was
established in 1905 in Chicago, Illinois, by Attorney Paul "Percy"
Harris and others.
www.rghf.org
* * *
FamilySearch Indexing
By Ada Eyerly
There are many opportunities to help transcribe records or volunteer
our services to the family history community in other ways. I wanted
to briefly write in about the positive experience I had helping index
for FamilySearch this week.
Many of us have used FamilySearch's resources for our genealogy. They
have been microfilming records since 1984 and have 2.4 million rolls
of microfilm. They have now engaged in a massive project to digitize
and index most of this information. And, the most exciting part of it,
in my opinion, is that it will mostly be done by volunteers.
I found their system was very user-friendly and that they give you a
very reasonable workload, so you don't get overwhelmed. You download a
batch of twenty to fifty names and have a week to complete the
transcription. They say it typically takes half an hour to an hour to
do it. If you don't finish in the allotted time, the records are given
to someone else.
To try it out, go to indexing.familysearch.org. You will be asked to
create a login and download the appropriate software. Then you watch
four tutorials. This whole process took me a little more than an hour.
Once you have finished with the tutorials you can start indexing. You
can do as much or as little as you want and can work on or offline.
I had so much fun indexing this week (I am indexing records from the
1900 U.S. federal census for Arkansas) that I just wanted to let other
people know about it. It made me feel like I was giving back to the
genealogy community, which has given me so much.
By the way, even though FamilySearch is run by the LDS Church, you do
not have to be a member of this church to volunteer and the records
will be available to anyone, for free, once they are transcribed.
5. New at RootsWeb
5a. New User-contributed Databases at RootsWeb
http://userdb.rootsweb.com/submit/
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There are no new user-contributed databases at RootsWeb.
5b. New/Updated Freepages and Homepages by Individuals
To Request a Free Web Account: http://accounts.rootsweb.com/
-------------------------------------------------------------
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, the title of the website, the name of the
author, and a BRIEF description of the site, including major
surnames, to: Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com
* * *
If your genealogy- or history-related site is located somewhere
other than at RootsWeb.com, you can add the link here:
http://resources.rootsweb.com/~rootslink/addlink.html
* * *
There are no new/updated freepages and homepages by individuals.
5c. New/Updated Freepages and Homepages by Counties, States, and
Genealogical/Historical Societies
To Request a Free Web Account: http://accounts.rootsweb.com/
-------------------------------------------------------------
Some of these Web pages might not be accessible yet. 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]
* * *
Note that the ~[tilde] before the Web account name is required.
For example, the Coffee County (Georgia) website is at:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~gacoffe2/
* * *
DAR = Daughters of the American Revolution
DUVCW = Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War
USGW = USGenWeb
AHGP = American History and Genealogy Project
U.S.A.
gacoffe2 -- Coffee County (Georgia) USGW
ilbkrm -- Bald Knob Railroad Museum (Illinois)
macnorwe -- City of Norwell (Massachusetts) USGW
macmario -- City of Marion (Massachusetts) USGW
macmatta -- City of Mattapoisett (Massachusetts) USGW
mnms -- Manx Society (Minnesota)
nccaldwe -- Caldwell County (North Carolina) AHGP
ncjackso -- Jackson County (North Carolina) AHGP
ncwataug -- Watauga County (North Carolina) AHGP
nyjhduvc -- Julia Hibbard Tent 71 (New York) Chapter DUVCW
nyotodar -- On Ti Ora (New York) Chapter DAR
ohlvhs -- Licking Valley Heritage Society (Ohio)
ohnhs2 -- Norwood Historical Society (Ohio)
txbrazos -- Brazos County (Texas) USGW
txcbduv -- Clara Barton Detached Tent #3 (Texas) Chapter DUVCW
txwillia -- Williamson County (Texas) USGW
vacraig -- Craig County (Virginia) USGW
5d. New Mailing Lists
To Request a New Mailing List: http://resources.rootsweb.com/adopt/
-------------------------------------------------------------
For information and an index to the more than 30,000 RootsWeb-hosted
genealogy Mailing Lists and for easy subscribing (joining) options go
to: http://lists.rootsweb.com/
NEW SURNAME MAILING LISTS
BANGLE
BEDNAR
BERKING
COLLER
DAFFIN
DOWNALL
EALUM
ELKERTON
ELWARTOSKI
FABYAN
GLADSEN
GODINET
GULDEMAN
HARKRADER
KATONAK
KEADY
KINEALY
LAWSHE
LEWES
LUCKINGS
MOUNTFORD
MUNZ
SAFFINGS
SAM
SCITERN
SHAKLEE
STITTLE
TAAFFE
TRABUC
TRESSIDER
TURCOTT
VILLACIS
WAVERLEY
ZACCAGNINI
ZURAW
NEW REGIONAL MAILING LISTS
No New Regional Mailing Lists
NEW ETHNIC OR SPECIAL INTEREST MAILING LISTS
DNA-NEWBIE -- A list for those new to genetic genealogy who
may find discussion on the Genealogy-DNA list or on specific DNA
surname lists to be too technical for their tastes.
SCHNEIDER-DNA -- The Schneider-DNA mailing list is for the
discussion and sharing of information regarding the DNA projects for
the Schneider surname and variations (e.g., Shneider).
WINTERS-DNA -- The Winters-DNA mailing list is for the
discussion and sharing of information regarding the DNA projects for
the Winters surname and variations.
6. Humor/Humour
While searching through birth certificates I found an entry asking for
the location of the father's and then mother's birthplace. The form
read: "Birthplace (state or country) ________."
"Country" had been carefully written in as the response.
--Thanks to Karen H.
* * *
While indexing vital records for Somerset County, Pennsylvania, I came
across a name that has a sort of humorous ring to it. The name is
"Christian Evil." Christian was born about 1789 and married Elizabeth
Miller in 1820. I've always wondered what part of his name he most
resembled. (By the way, I've also seen some "Evel" names that might be
related.)
--Thanks to Ora Flaningem
* * *
Found a funny or "proper name for the job" in old records, or an
amusing entry in census, parish, church, or other records? Send them
to:
Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com. We also welcome other humorous
genealogy-related submissions.
7. Subscriptions, Submissions, Advertising, Reprints
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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.
AdSales Worldwide: Tami Deleeuw, tdeleeuw@tgn.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: 08 August 2007, Vol. 10, No. 32.
* * * *
