) ( ) 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. Newbie Nuggets a. on writing a query b. cite your source 3. Presidential quiz 4. Did you know...? If you've been with the family for at least three weeks, you'll probably want to skip the following paragraph… 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 or Baur 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 or Baur 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 and just opened this year, our sister site, the Bower Cottage, houses most of our projects including an online GEDCOM fed by quite a few cousins from our lists. The Cottage is still small as far as material goes, however give us time and we'll have it filled really soon. The Cottage is at <http://bowercommunity.com/cottage>. NEWBIE NUGGETS ON WRITING A QUERY "I'm researching John Doe who came from Suffolk to Texas. If you have any information, please contact me. Thank you." Dear cousin Newbie or Uninformed Novice, while the above query is polite, please _DO NOT_ write one like it! I'm sorry to tell you, but the chances of your "John Doe" being _the only_ one in Texas, Suffolk or the world are just not all that great. While being a great writer isn't a requirement to place a good query, if you want help from anyone, you'll need to be specific ~ giving names, dates, places and if necessary, the person's spouse and children. I may not know your John Doe because I haven't gotten as far as you, but I may extend from one of his children. Your John Doe just might be a great uncle (rather than a grandfather) whom I'll recognize because you've named his wife. As the cliché' goes, "The more, the better." CITE YOUR SOURCE, PLEASE As a newbie to genealogical research, this is another very important guideline that I can pass along to you. Remember when you had to do that term paper in high school or college? You were required to do a bibliography, or cite your sources of information. Naming the source(s) of your information gives credence to your work and credit to those on whose works you relied. Do you know of the book "Roots," by Alex Haley? It was heralded as one of the finest works of family history... even a movie was made on it. However, I'm afraid the glory didn't last long for Alex Haley. That very well written story of his ancestors was discredited by the genealogical community because Alex failed to document his sources of information. Its reliability was reduced to family fiction. You don't want that to happen to your works. Be sure to document ALL PIECES of your data NOW... while you're still in the research phase. PRESIDENTIAL QUIZ Yesterday the United States watched the inauguration of President George Walker Bush. I watched everything! (No, it doesn't make me a Republican; it makes me nosy!) <g> During the commercials, the network asked what years certain presidents made certain statements. It occurred to me that our ancestors may have been as interested in the presidents of their day, as I was about the events of yesterday. So, today I offer you the following quiz. You'll find the answers at the end of the Coffee. 1. Who was the first president born a citizen of the United States? a. John Quincy Adams c. Martin Van Buren b. Andrew Jackson d. William Henry Harrison 2. George W. Bush is the son of former president, George H. Bush. Only one other president holds the distinction of being a president and the son of a president. Who is he? a. John Quincy Adams c. Andrew Johnson b. James Monroe d. Franklin Delano Roosevelt 3. Who was the youngest man to serve as president? a. Theodore Roosevelt c. Grover Cleveland b. Ulysses S. Grant d. John Fitzgerald Kennedy 4. Who was the first president born in a hospital? a. Warren G. Harding c. Franklin Delano Roosevelt b. Calvin Coolidge d. Jimmy Carter 5. Who won the presidency by a single electoral vote? a. Rutherford B. Hayes c. Chester A. Arthur b. Millard Fillmore d. Herbert Hoover DID YOU KNOW... ** Eight presidents were born British subjects: Washington, J. Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, J.Q. Adams, Jackson, W. Harrison. ** Ten presidents were generals: Washington, Jackson, W. Harrison, Taylor, Pierce, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, B. Harrison, and Eisenhower. ** Nine years after leaving the presidency, Taft was appointed chief justice of the Supreme Court. So please was he with his career change that he later wrote, "I don't remember that I was ever president." ** The ancestry of all 43 presidents is limited to the following six heritages, or some combination thereof: Dutch, English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Swiss, German. ** Eight presidents died in office: W. Harrison (after having served only one month), Taylor, Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Harding, F. Roosevelt, and Kennedy. ** Six presidents are portrayed on U.S. coins: Lincoln, Jefferson, F. Roosevelt, Washington, and Kennedy. Nine are portrayed on U.S. paper currency: Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Jackson, Grant, McKinley, Cleveland, Madison, and Wilson. Family ... it's what we're all about. Knowing events in the lives of our ancestors gives us an even greater appreciation for them. Thank you for allowing me to spend this time with you. I hope your upcoming week is filled with health, productivity, fun, and above all, filled with love. ) ( ) _.-~~-. (@\'--'/. Colleen ('``.__.'`) `..____.' Quiz answers: 1. c. Martin Van Buren was the first president born under the U.S. flag. 2. a. John Quincy Adams was the son of President John Adams. 3. a. Theodore Roosevelt was only 42 when he took over the presidency after McKinley's assassination. Kennedy was the youngest man to be elected president, at the age of 43. 4. d. Jimmy Carter was the first president born in a hospital. 5. a. Rutherford B. Hayes took office in the most contested election in U.S. history. The winner was not determined until three days before the inauguration.