In the 1880 census of Hardin co. there is a R.J.Bowers listed living in Kenton. In the 1870 census here are the 1rst names of Bower/Bowers listed.(all I have is the index) Bower: Amanda, Jacob P; Joseph H; Bowers:A M, Abraham, Adam M, Elizabeth, Elmer E., Francisco D., George F., Gorge, Henry, I D , John L, Lillian, Milton, Noah, Phebe E, Sarah Gloria http://hardincogenealogycenter.homestead.com/index.html ----- Original Message ----- From: RHamill380@aol.com To: BOWER-L@rootsweb.com I am from Mamie's line and am currently trying to find any information on Roy Bowers. There is no mention of any correspondence with any Bowers. On his marriage certificate to May Ellen, he lists his home town as Ada, OH. So I am researching that route, but don't know what county Ada would have been in in the 1870's or 1880's or township.

Ada is in Hardin County OH. That would be Liberty Twp. I am the President of the Hardin County Genealogy Society(link below) I have a few of our publications here at home and will look and see if there is a mention of his name. I can look the next time I open the Research Center in Kenton to see if there is a recorded birth on him. Gloria Motter http://hardincogenealogycenter.homestead.com/index.html ----- Original Message ----- From: RHamill380@aol.com To: BOWER-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2002 1:59 PM Subject: [BOWER] [Bowers]Roy Bowers 1874-1957 Wyandot Co, OH Dear Cousins, My name is Robin Hamill and I am currently researching my Upper Sandusky, Wyandot Co., OH ancestors. Roy Earl Bowers was my g.g.grandfather. Roy Bowers............b. abt. 1874 (by 1910 Census)whereabouts unknown d. july 1957 in Marion County, OH , probably Columbus +May Ellen Kriechbaum.......... b. abt. 1874 , Nevada, Wyandot Co., OH d. July 24, 1902, Wyandot Co., OH 1. George ? Bowers ..... b. abt. 1901 in Wyandot Co., OH + Mable Goodman....m. 1927.... 2. Mamie May Bowers....b. abt. 1902 in Wyadot Co., OH d. June 28, 1981 in Upper Sanudusky, OH + Arnold J. Beamer...m. 1923... After May Ellen's death, Mamie was sent to live with May Ellen's aunt, Mrs. D.W. Bowlby (Adaline). Roy remarried Grace Smith, his son George residing with them. They are listed together in the 1910 census. Roy and Grace had no children. I am from Mamie's line and am currently trying to find any information on Roy Bowers. There is no mention of any correspondence with any Bowers. On his marriage certificate to May Ellen, he lists his home town as Ada, OH. So I am researching that route, but don't know what county Ada would have been in in the 1870's or 1880's or township. My grandmother mentioned that he appeared out of nowhere, probably a laborer looking for work. There is a story mentioned at the Wyandot Co. Museum concerning Roy and his 2nd wife, Grace( we have some skeletons in our closet which makes me want to find more about Roy). I have more Kriecbaum information and look forward to finding some Bowers cousins. Have a nice day. Sincerely, Robin Hamill ==== BOWER Mailing List ==== To post messages to the Bower discussion list, send them to BOWER-L@rootsweb.com

Please UNSUBSCRIBE thank you

) ( ( ) Good Morning Family! ( \ .-.,--^--. ( Come on in. . . \* ) \\|`----'| - The coffee pot's on. . . .=|=. \| |// ...and we even have decaf, |~'~| | |/ tea, and hot chocolate! | | \ / _|___|_ ------ (_______) Today's topics include: 1. Welcome to new cousins 2. Protecting yourself from spammers 3. Protecting your genealogy and wallet from scammers TO OUR NEWEST COUSINS ~~ On behalf of the entire family, I'd like to extend a most hearty welcome to those cousins who came into the family fold this past week. We are very glad to have you with us and hope you'll stay and remain a part of our online family. As soon as you're comfortable with us and the list, please send in your Bower[s]/Bauer, Baur or Bowra lines so we can all see how we're related to you. We do not have a fancy format for sending in records or queries to the list. Post as many as you wish! If the data has anything to do with Bower[s]/Bauer, Baur or Bowra ancestors or any of the 81+ variant spellings we research that might help someone, please feel free to post it. Every scrap of information is appreciated. If you haven't visited the homesite of this list yet, you are encouraged to do so. Our home is Bower Community, located at <http://bowercommunity.com>. There, we currently have two sites: The Bower Family Homestead [a.k.a., the Homestead] is our primary homesite and the gathering place for much of our information. It waits to join us all in welcoming you into the family at <http://bowercommunity.com/homestead>. Smaller is our sister site, the Bower Cottage, which houses most of our projects including an online GEDCOM fed by cousins from our research groups. Find the Cottage is at <http://bowercommunity.com/cottage>. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yes, this week's Coffee is about spammers and scammers ... and sometimes they're both! Last week I advised you to be wary of what information you put on the Web. This week's advice is equally important, hence has a Coffee devoted completely to the subjects. This is the third Coffee dedicated to our newbies and those novices who might still need the lessons. Both are rather long and intense subjects, so I'll just jump right into them. PROTECTING YOURSELF FROM SPAMMERS Spammer? What in the world is THAT? The term comes from the word 'spam' and no, tender newbie, I do not mean the canned meat. On the Web, spam is junk email ~ equal to the junk mail you get in your in-life mailbox. However, the spam you receive in your inbox can range from anything to qualifying for a credit card to some really disgusting porn messages. A spammer is [yep!] someone who sends spam. This all comes as a result of your email address being harvested from a site you placed your addy on for one reason or another, perhaps a message board, or signing up for a newsletter to someone who sells email address without your knowledge. In fairness, you should know that not all sites sell the email addresses that they gather. There are three keys to dealing with spammers: 1.) Never, but NEVER reply back to any spam ~ even if your name doesn't show up as the addressee. Spammers are *very* wily! Most times they actually WANT you to answer their spam. Your reply lets them know that they've reached a valid email address; then voila'! ...you've just allowed your inbox to be made available to every spammer in the world! Another ploy of theirs is to say something like, "This message is not considered spam because we have given you a return email address. If you wish to be unsubscribed send a message to imcreepy@badaddress.net." Know right away that the email address they've given you to unsub is, 5 times out of 10, a fake one. The other 5 times it's used to harvest your very-available email address! You can't win either way, so save yourself the grief and don't respond at all. 2.) You can report the spammer, and the best site to do that is at <http://spamcop.net/accountadd.shtml>. Get yourself registered and use their free reporting service by clicking on their 'Reporting only' link, or upgrade the service and pay $3 a month for a 'filtered email account'. The free service works great but is slower; the filtered account prevents most spam from ever reaching your inbox. HINT: Save the email they send you once you've registered. That way you won't have to keep registering every time you want to report spam. Many people feel the best way to rid themselves of a spammer is to send the offensive message[s] directly back to the spammer's server <abuse@spammers_server.whatever>. A lot of people use this method. The problem with doing this is that a lot of times the spammer will use a redirect email server to cover up his/her real one, and most people don't realize that. [I told you spammers were wily!] The only way to ensure you send back to the correct server is to read the message's headers. No, I don't mean the to/from/subject/date block we all see. I mean the humongous string of data that we usually don't see because our email programs default to hide the headers. Unless you're experienced in reading headers, your safest bet is to head for SpamCop by clicking on the hyperlink above. SpamCop reports back to every ISP a message has taken to get to you. The reason you want to report the spam is because most ISP's [internet service providers like AOL, Earthlink, MSN, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.] frown sorely on spam. They'll quickly shut down someone who's reported as spamming. By your actively reporting the spam and returning a copy of it to the providers, quick steps are usually taken to remove the spammer's service. 3.) In view of #1 and #2, you'll want a well-greased delete key! <g> Remember ... report it; DON'T respond to it in any way, at any time. PROTECTING YOUR GENEALOGY AND WALLET FROM SCAMMERS In addition, we genealogists are open to another variety of spam. It comes from people who know how desperate we are to find names, dates, places for our research. They are the most dangerous to us because they prey on our curiosities, frustrations and desperation. In no way are they dumb; they know *exactly* which buttons to push on us and make us do what they want unless ... we're armed in advance with the knowledge that they exist and ... we heed that knowledge! And THAT knowledge comes next... Unfortunately, as computering genealogists we're faced with "genealogy" Web sites contributing to the spam mail that you receive. They are of two varieties: 1.) this first type of site is the most insidious because it appears so innocent. This one profits from personal information gleaned from you under the guise of helping you do genealogy research when in fact, the site is a "front," with its main purpose being to gather personal information about you and then selling it. This is the one that will end up getting you loaded with spam till you're nearly crazy or can get your identity or even your hard-earned research stolen. Again with the stolen identity? Yes, I'm afraid so. We genealogists are a trusting bunch ~ too trusting sometimes. In our eagerness for answers we share our GedComs with each other, pass them to relatives who then pass them along to someone else you may not even know (and who may have the scruples of a snake), or we load them online to sites advocating something along the lines of, "share your genealogy with others and make connections!" Even more exciting is having someone else load your GedCom data along with theirs because they acquired from you or that relative/person with the scruples of a snake! Did ALL OF US who did any of the above think about removing the information about those still living? No. :( Did ALL OF US who did any of the above think about removing the information that shows our relationships to our mothers (and those maiden name passwords)? No. :( Do some of us have our GedComs online at places who use our uploaded information to build cd's and sell the information back to us? You bet! :( Identity thieves love you! And I *know* you can't wait to see your (living) mom's information come back around to you on a commercial site's cd and being sold globally! :( The point here ... B.E. S.O. C.A.R.E.F.U.L. with your information! It may not be just you or your mom that you're hurting; I (or any other inline cousins you've discovered online) could be on your GedCom with our own mother's information! 2.) the second type of site blatantly offers something too good to be true for money up front, usually by way of credit card. This is also the type of site that cleans out your wallet or checkbook! This site is more inline with what we live with in real life. Most of us can spot these rip-offs immediately. However, you can't see someone's eyes, read their body language, hear their voics when you're looking at an email or message board making all sorts of claims. Then it becomes important to thoroughly investigate ~ asking every question you can think of, find others who may be receiving the same message you did, head for the search engines. If you've noticed, I've not given you any specific site names or companies. To do so here would lengthen the Coffee another five or six pages (really) and I only have 20,000 bytes of room to work with. So, unlike what I would normally do, I'm going to send you to some sites that will enlighten you as to who you need to be wary of. I suggest that you not skip over these links. I am not putting them here to suck up your time, rather I am guiding you toward additional knowledge to protect yourself ... http://blacksheep.rootsweb.com/shame.html - Scroll down about 3/4 of the way on the page until you come to "Scams to be knowledgeable about: Visit these examples of our Inductees to the Genealogy Hall of Shame." There, you'll see links about 14 different sites. However, if you're short on time (who isn't), I suggest you definitely not miss this one <http://blacksheep.rootsweb.com/promises.htm> as it deals with sites that are currently giving us the most headaches. http://www.compuright.net/scamsandspam/index.shtml - This is a site dedicated to scams and spam. The principle site under investigation here is one that all genealogists need to be *very* aware of. http://www.censusdiggins.com/familydiscovery.html - This site picks up where Gene Olson's Scams and Spam site leaves off. Here you'll find online comments from researchers like you and me. Some of them are not pretty, either. http://www.ancestordetective.com/watchdog.htm#Warning - This is a genealogy watchdog site. Be sure to have a look. There are more I could send you to, but if you'll view just these you'll be as knowledgeable as anyone. We've begun a new year ... another year for our spam scammers to have at us. Don't be one of their statistics. If you're not sure about something, you're welcome to email me <ladyaudris@earthlink.net> and ask. The goal is just for you to protect yourselves, your families, your genealogies, and your checkbooks. Practice safe genealogy on Web, always. It's family ... and that's what we're all about. I so enjoyed spending this time with you today. Thank you for sharing it with me. I wish each of you a week filled with health, productivity, fun, and above all, filled with love and inner peace. ) ( ) _.-~~-. (@\'--'/. Colleen ('``.__.'`) `..____.'

Hi Colleen and all listers, Here is a site that may be of interest - read about "Bower House" - http://www.sealedknot.org/knowbase/docs/0034_havering.htm ----- Original Message ----- From: "Colleen Pustola" <ladyaudris@earthlink.net>

try IRISH-MI-L-request@rootsweb.com place subscribe in subject field "I can trace my ancestry back to a protoplasmal primordial atomic globule. Consequently, my family pride is something inconceivable." ~ WS Gilbert, The Mikado

I just stole a few moments from a busy work day to check Sally's entry. I could not resist as my great uncle, Frank Bower, left Vancouver Canada some time around 1910 to become a miner in Alaska. He spent most of his life around the town of Livingood. Odd coincidence! Dixie Bower Cutler Colleen Pustola wrote: > > Hi family, > > Sally Irvine, would like to introduce her ancestor, Bigger John Bower, > aka BJ. This is a fascinating read about an Alaskan gold miner. > Accompanying the bio are 9 letters from BJ and his great-uncle that talk > a little about their lives in the fields. You'll find this ancestor in > the Homestead's dining room. To get there simply click on > <http://bowercommunity.com/homestead>. Once inside the house, scroll > down about 1/3 of the way on the page till you see the dining room. > > I might also mention that the parlor has been empty since before > Christmas. If you have an ancestor, 1790 or before, that you'd like to > spotlight please contact me at <ladyaudris@earthlink.net>. There are NO > restrictions on spotlights except that no living persons are displayed. > And yes, your ancestor's descendants can accompany the forbear, provided > that first person lived 1790 or before. > > I wish you all a THRILLING Thursday! :) > > Colleen > > ==== BOWER Mailing List ==== > Bower Cottage, sister site to the Bower Family Homestead, homesites of > the Bower research group -- http://bowercommunity.com/cottage

-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [BAUER] 6,531 Bauer`s here Resent-Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 09:15:44 -0700 Resent-From: BAUER-L@rootsweb.com Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 11:15:29 EST From: Caffecupz@aol.com Reply-To: BAUER-L@rootsweb.com To: BAUER-L@rootsweb.com http://ellisisland.com ==== BAUER Mailing List ==== The Bower Family Homestead, homesite of the Bauer mailing list -- http://bowercommunity.com/homestead

Hi family, Sally Irvine, would like to introduce her ancestor, Bigger John Bower, aka BJ. This is a fascinating read about an Alaskan gold miner. Accompanying the bio are 9 letters from BJ and his great-uncle that talk a little about their lives in the fields. You'll find this ancestor in the Homestead's dining room. To get there simply click on <http://bowercommunity.com/homestead>. Once inside the house, scroll down about 1/3 of the way on the page till you see the dining room. I might also mention that the parlor has been empty since before Christmas. If you have an ancestor, 1790 or before, that you'd like to spotlight please contact me at <ladyaudris@earthlink.net>. There are NO restrictions on spotlights except that no living persons are displayed. And yes, your ancestor's descendants can accompany the forbear, provided that first person lived 1790 or before. I wish you all a THRILLING Thursday! :) Colleen

ALVERTIS BRANIN b. 8 Jul 1851 Oh. and d. 16 Feb 1916 Wa. married FLORA BOWER b. abt 1855 Oh. Children: Alvertis, J. Walter, Charles E. Source: LDS Ancestral File Colleen Kitch GuyCol@webtv.net

I know you were responding to someone else, and these Bowers aren't in my line, but I am interested in the "Teeter" information as my great-great-grandmother was Mary Teeter Long (married to Daniel Long). Thanks, Ardyth Long Bowers9973@aol.com wrote: > I think I have these in my line. I also have Teeter in my line. > > I fyour interested, I can send you my Gedcom file. There are about 2000 names so far. > > ==== BOWER Mailing List ==== > Please do not send messages with attachments, HTML, MIME, or any other > enhanced text to the list. RootsWeb does not allow messages with those > settings through their servers and will only return them to you.

I think I have these in my line. I also have Teeter in my line. I fyour interested, I can send you my Gedcom file. There are about 2000 names so far.

Anybody recognise this Bower(s) family from Perry, Juniata and/or Franklin counties in PA? Mary Bowers Teeter Gen #1 Samuel Bower(s) b. ca. 1792 PA d. after 1860, probably in Franklin co, PA m. Susanna/Susan Snyder ca. 1815 in Perry Co, Pa b.ca. 1793 probably in Perry Co, PA Gen #2 Lydia A. Bower b. ca. 1819 Perry Co, PA d. Turbett Twp, Juniata Co, PA m. Zacheriah Webster b. ca. 1819 Gen #2 John W. Bower b. 18 Nov 1820 d. 29 Nov 1901 Milford Twp, Juniata Co Gen #2 Mary Bower b. ca. 1823 Gen #2 George Bower(s) b.24 apr 1825 Perry Co, PA d. 09 Nov 1875 Centre, S. W. Madison Twp., Perry Co, PA m. Mary Ridenhour b. ca. 1813 Franklin Co, PA d.19 Feb 1904 Madison Twp, Perry Co, PA Gen #2 Samuel A. Bower b. 1840 lived at Port Royal, Turbott Twp., Juniata Co, PA _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp.

To anounce for Dominic and Angela Wheeler, the birth of a brother to Catherine Eileen Wheeler this morning at 3:05 am. 9 lbs 11ozs, 21& 1/2 inches long baby boy. If you remember everyone last April two years ago the announcement of Catherine's birth in my home. Well her brother was not born here but was born today. Mother and Son are doing well and all is heathy. This from a proud God Crone: Vicky Bowers-Gielau Colleen Pustola wrote: > ) > ( ( > ) Good Morning Family! ( \ > .-.,--^--. ( Come on in. . . \* ) > \\|`----'| - The coffee pot's on. . . .=|=. > \| |// ...and we even have decaf, |~'~| > | |/ tea, and hot chocolate! | | > \ / _|___|_ > ------ (_______) > > To our January babies, we wish you a very happy birthday! You are > loved! :) > > I really enjoyed this time with you. It was so nice and I thank you for > sharing it with me. I hope your upcoming week is filled with health, > fun, productivity, and above all, filled with love. > > ) > ( > ) > _.-~~-. > (@\'--'/. Colleen > ('``.__.'`) > `..____.' > > ==== BOWER Mailing List ==== > The Bower Family Homestead, homesite of the Bower mailing list -- > http://bowercommunity.com/homestead

Mary and all, I looked on the map and noticed Washington Co., IN was east of Olney, IL and this whole area is not far north of the KY area where some of my 'southern' Bowers lived. Interesting. My direct line went from TN>MS, the father and two siblings went TN>KY with their descendants to IL and WA, and no tellin where else! Maybe it would help if we posted some of our brick walls. Now that I have some northern names added to my database, I might recognize someone. "Mary L. Moore" wrote: > > I am going to have to get my eyes checked! Thought sure I had a connection > with Washington County--but my Bower line is Washington INDIANA. Darn. > Mary Lou-KS

I noticed a couple of posts lately for 'northern' Bowers and thought I would post this group sheet for a branch of my 'southern' Bowers who went north! I obtained the info on James' children from the book, "Bowers Family" by Melba Steer. My Bowers ancestors were all over the U.S. map; some of this group later migrated to WA. So....maybe some of you who are stuck might want to look in states you didn't expect to find them. The IL and WA connections were a total surprise to me. James' father was Jeremiah of VA>NC>TN. My brick wall for some time is where to look in VA for Jeremiah b. 1768. Hope someone recognizes an ancestor here. James J. Bowers was born June 18, 1824 in TN, and died February 19, 1876 in Nashville, Washington Co., IL. He married Jane Elizabeth Carpenter December 20, 1848 in Robertson Co., TN, daughter of James Carpenter and Sidney Travis. She was born January 8, 1831 in KY, and died January 7, 1909 in Locust Creek Community, Washington Co., IL. Children of James Bowers and Jane Carpenter are: i. Mary Susan Bowers, born October 2, 1849 in Logan Co., KY; died December 12, 1871. ii. William Clark Bowers, born July 12, 1851 in Logan Co., KY; died September 1881 in IL. iii. Edmund Alexander Bowers, born November 22, 1853 in Logan Co., KY; died July 6, 1878 in Washington Co., IL. iv. Ira Ellis Bowers, born January 20, 1855 in Nashville, Washington Co., IL; died November 6, 1895 in Washington Co., IL. v. Nancy Caroline "Carrie" Bowers, born April 18, 1858 in Nashville, Washington Co., IL; died 1904 in KY. vi. Louisa Jane Bowers, born July 12, 1860 in Nashville, Washington Co., IL; died November 10, 1940 in Nashville, Washington Co., IL. vii. Sidney Arabelle (Belle) Bowers, born January 25, 1863 in Nashville, Washington Co., IL; died 1885. viii. James Newton Bowers, born March 27, 1865 in Nashville, Washington Co., IL; died March 17, 1934 in Nashville, Washington Co., IL. ix. John Wilson Bowers, born March 30, 1867 in Nashville, Washington Co., IL; died May 20, 1953 in Decatur, Macon Co., IL. x. Andrew Clinton Bowers, born November 8, 1869 in Nashville, Washington Co., IL; died October 14, 1948. He married Ethel Crihfield February 23, 1893. xi. Emily Francis (Emma) Bowers, born January 8, 1872 in Nashville, Washington Co., IL; died 1948. She married John Casner February 26, 1891. xii. Lyman Jeremiah Bowers, born January 18, 1875 in Nashville, Washington Co., IL; died September 10, 1905 in Welsh, Jefferson Davis, LA. He married Myrtle Armstrong; born in 1886.

Thanks so much, Colleen. I had received that info a while back fromanother list and was gonna print it out - later. Well, my puter died and I lost it! I am printing it out NOW! Lita ----- Original Message ----- From: "Colleen Pustola" <ladyaudris@earthlink.net> Subject: [BOWER] CHAT: AN ADDITION TO THIS MORNING'S COFFEE > ORIGINAL MESSAGE: > > A good idea... Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine, > do both sides of each license, credit card, etc, you will know what you > had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to > call and cancel. Keep the photocopy in a safe place. > > A corporate attorney sent this out to the employees in his company. I

Hi Everyone, This was sent to another group that I belong to and in light of this morning's Coffee, I thought you might like to read it. ...A horror story from an attorney, that's just what we all need! :-| Colleen ORIGINAL MESSAGE: A good idea... Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine, do both sides of each license, credit card, etc, you will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel. Keep the photocopy in a safe place. A corporate attorney sent this out to the employees in his company. I pass it along, for your information. We've all heard horror stories about fraud that's committed us in your name, address, SS#, credit, etc. Unfortunately I (the author of this piece who happens to be an attorney) have first hand knowledge, because my wallet was stolen last month and within a week the thieve(s) ordered an expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit card, had a credit line approved to buy a Gateway computer, received a PIN number from DMV to change my driving record information online, and more. But here's some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know. As everyone always advises, cancel your credit cards immediately, but the key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them easily. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where it was stolen, this proves to credit providers you were diligent, and is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one). But here's what is perhaps most important: (I never ever thought to do this)- Call the three national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and SS#. I had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tell me an application for credit was made over the Internet in my name. The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit. By the time I was advised to do this, almost 2 weeks after the theft, all the damage had been done. There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thieves' purchases, none of which I knew about before placing the alert. Since then, no additional damage has been done, and the thieves threw my wallet away this weekend (someone turned it in). It seems to have stopped them in their tracks. The numbers are: Equifax: 1-800-525-6285 Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742 Trans Union: 1-800-680-7289 Social Security Administration (fraud line): 1-800-269-0271 We pass along jokes; we pass along just about everything. Do think about passing this information along. It could really help someone.

) ( ( ) Good Morning Family! ( \ .-.,--^--. ( Come on in. . . \* ) \\|`----'| - The coffee pot's on. . . .=|=. \| |// ...and we even have decaf, |~'~| | |/ tea, and hot chocolate! | | \ / _|___|_ ------ (_______) Today's topics include: 1. Welcome to new cousins 2. Protecting yourself (and your loved ones) from the Web 3. Protecting your genealogy from the Web TO OUR NEWEST COUSINS ~~ On behalf of the entire family, I'd like to extend a most hearty welcome to those cousins who came into the family fold this past week. We are very glad to have you with us and hope you'll stay and remain a part of our online family. As soon as you're comfortable with us and the list, please send in your Bower[s]/Bauer, Baur or Bowra lines so we can all see how we're related to you. We do not have a fancy format for sending in records or queries to the list. Post as many as you wish! If the data has anything to do with Bower[s]/Bauer, Baur or Bowra ancestors or any of the 81+ variant spellings we research that might help someone, please feel free to post it. Every scrap of information is appreciated. If you haven't visited the homesite of this list yet, you are encouraged to do so. Our home is Bower Community, located at <http://bowercommunity.com>. There, we currently have two sites: The Bower Family Homestead [a.k.a., the Homestead] is our primary homesite and the gathering place for much of our information. It waits to join us all in welcoming you into the family at <http://bowercommunity.com/homestead>. Smaller is our sister site, the Bower Cottage, which houses most of our projects including an online GEDCOM fed by cousins from our research groups. Find the Cottage is at <http://bowercommunity.com/cottage>. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ January is the month I dedicate to our newbies. I chose January simply because after Christmas all those brand-new computing genealogists are donning their Web bikinis and jumping in to try out the cyberspace waters. Their eyes are wide with the excitement of all this new technology and information directly at their fingertips. But, our newbies (and maybe some novices) need to learn a few of the ways of computing genealogy. It's really exciting to come online after hearing so much hype about how much information there is ... and it's true! There really IS a load of information on the Web. To this end, today I'll pass along two very important guidelines all online genealogists need to know. For those experienced computing genealogists, simply consider this Coffee one for you to think about... PROTECTING YOURSELF (AND YOUR LOVED ONES) FROM THE WEB Read this: "I believe in free genealogy and sharing as much information as I have with others." Now read this: "When I bought my first computer I had put together "books" on each family line. Foolishly, I sent copies of all my research to anyone I could find also working on these lines. Even people I have never met. I printed out copies of everything I had, including all living relatives, (aunts, uncles, cousins, my children, etc..) never dreaming it would be misused. "I often send unfinished manuscripts to people because they contain my notes which substantiates what I've claimed and tells them where I've already been. I never thought about someone using my mother's maiden name for illegal means." "Not long ago I found a webpage with information that had been copied from my private research. Back in the mid 1980s, I was collecting everything I could find to put together a book ... This web page contained relatives I had been able to trace, through years of going to MS, interviewing people and reading court records. It also included my living relatives, even giving my own maiden name, which I have never used, having been raised by foster parents." The statements you have just read above are not hypothetical, but were made by victims ~ genealogists just like you and me. Their messages are in Rootsweb's archives. It is one thing to believe in free genealogy and sharing it with others; I do. However, it is totally another story when it comes to passing information around about you, your children and other living relatives. Once someone has taken information about you or your living family, you are then at their mercy ~ hoping that person is wise enough not to pass your information around. Sadly, many times that isn't the case. This Coffee could be one of _THE_ most important lessons you learn regarding computing genealogy. First, foremost and utmost... protect yourselves and your family. When you took up doing your family history you assumed a responsibility. As never before is attention to this responsibility more necessary than now. With the advent of cyberspace came identity thieves who before the days of computering, would walk through cemeteries or dig through trash cans to get information about people. Now, all they have to do is go online to get it and they're handed full histories through unwary family historians. What is the most common password your creditors ask for? ...isn't it your mother's maiden name? And didn't you, in all truth and innocence, give your creditor that name? With that one piece of information alone, a good identity thief can compromise your entire credit history. With your name and birthdate an identity thief can get a birth certificate, a social security card, a driver's license and ... well, you get my drift here. As genealogists and Web researchers, it is our responsibility to protect the data on those relatives who are still living. Online family histories and queries for more information never need to include living relatives because we don't research the living. When we publicize personal data about those still living, we inadvertently compromise their security and THAT isn't what we're all doing research for. At no time should any of us *ever* publish material on the Web about our living family. A good rule of thumb is to stop at your grandparents ONLY if they have passed on; otherwise stop with your great-grandparents. It is of little benefit to genealogical research include information about your parents or your children on the web. We're all taught and drilled to research the historical; let's keep it that way on this list and at all our websites. Does this stuff REALLY happen? You bet it does. If you'll do a little Web surfing you'll find warnings are out regarding this. To read more on the subject of identity theft, you might want to start here <http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/>. Afterward, you might consider reading this one <http://www.consumerinfo.com/n/su98_d.htm> and this one <http://www.senioranswers.org/Pages/aarp_iqtest.htm>. Following that, do a Web search for "identity theft" +genealogy. I think you're going to be quite surprised if you're not already up on the subject. It's true ~ unless we live in a vacuum, none of us will ever complete control over our personal information, so we'll never be totally immune to fraud. But why help things along and make it easy for someone to impersonate you? If you wouldn't post your background on your local grocery store's bulletin board, don't put it on the Internet ~ the world's bulletin board. Con artists are checking it out, whether you choose to believe it or not. Family IS what we're all about. However, let's not be careless with what we know about those still with us, including ourselves. PROTECTING YOUR GENEALOGY FROM THE WEB! Now, I want to address the excitement of finding your entire ancestry (or a good portion of it) splayed out on a website... the very lines you've been working on for so long... and there it is! EVERYTHING ~ the dates, places, wives last names .... THE WHOLE WORKS! WHAT A GOLDMINE! Dearest Newbie: It's crucially important that you rein in that excitement you're feeling at that moment and remember this next critical lesson: just as you would in a printed book, never take any genealogical data you find online as THE final word. Like never before it's important that you remember to fall back to the Cardinal Rule of genealogy - "Believe NONE of what you hear, only HALF of what you read. PROVE EVERYTHING!" Do your own research and use what you find on the Web as a guide. The abundance of data on the Web coupled with the hunger of an untrained family historian is like a traffic accident just waiting to happen to a new driver. He/she comes across a site and copies all the pertinent material into his/her records, neglecting to fall back on the Cardinal Rule. "Well, it's right there on the Web! It MUST be true!" What this new historian has just unknowingly done is copy material that was already documented as being fradulent or is full of errors. The new historican takes the data in pure faith that it's correct and proceeds from there. Not bad enough already, our new computing researcher later decides to "share the wealth" and his/her new-found material. Bad material being spread like wildfire.... Case in point... "genealogist" Gustav Anjou, who generated 192 genealogies and supporting records for price tags nearing $9,000. The problem is, Gustav Anjou was NOT a genealogist; he wasn't even a good researcher. However, Gustav Anjou was an excellent forger of genealogies and occasional supporting documents that are still being passed around today as fact. His only published work "Ulster County, NY Probate Records" contains valid wills and totally unacceptable abstracts that he himself created, mostly out of thin air. His other works were compiled privately and all are frauds. Anjou's material has been copied into numerous published genealogies by unwary historians who were blinded by the dazzling lineages they found so much that they neglected to check the sources for themselves. Less this section gets too much longer, I refer each of you to a Website with a great deal of Anjou information (including the names of the bogus genealogies) as well as data on some of the other famous fraudulent writers. Go to <http://www.linkline.com/personal/xymox/> and halfway down that page click on the Fraudulent Lineages link there. This is a very worthwhile read for everyone. The obvious warning here... NEVER, but NEVER assume anything on the Web (or in a book, for that matter) is correct. Just because it's printed, does NOT make it true. Fall back to the Cardinal Rule and draw your own conclusions after gathering your own evidence. A genealogist you may intend to be or already think you are, but it's the good one who follows through on lessons learned... Family... it's what we're all about. To our January babies, we wish you a very happy birthday! You are loved! :) I really enjoyed this time with you. It was so nice and I thank you for sharing it with me. I hope your upcoming week is filled with health, fun, productivity, and above all, filled with love. ) ( ) _.-~~-. (@\'--'/. Colleen ('``.__.'`) `..____.'

Bob, I don't have any definite answers for you, but I thought I'd share some names with you. My maternal Bowers line came from Washington Co., VA, with other surnames being Minnick, Fudge, and Brewer. I have always assumed they were from Germany, Prussia, or the Netherlands. On my paternal Bowman side I have a lady with a surname of Lnu, and a given name of Fnu. She was born in Bacharach on the Rhine, Germany in about the year 1640. Just thought I'd clue you in on the Lnu surname being possibly German. Later, when I get the chance, I'll post my Bower's for comparison. Regards, Charles Bowman El Paso, Texas