May I suggest that everyone on these Lists subscribe to the VIRUS-DISCUSSION Mailing List and keep up to date on all the latest news concerning computer infections, e.g., Viruses, Worms, Trojans, etc.? It doesn't matter if your system has ever been infected or not -- these days, with new infections coming out almost every day, every computer user MUST remain vigilant and ensure that he/she doesn't become infected, thereby passing on these dastardly things to others. It won't cost you any money to join the VIRUS-DISCUSSION List, but it might save you some money if your system is trashed and you have to pay a computer expert to get it right again. Plus, in just about all cases when one's computer has to be "fixed" by a repairman, you lose valuable files. It's your choice. Keep abreast of what is happening in the virus world and learn how to REALLY protect your computer, or stand the chance of disaster. And, for any of you who do NOT use an Anti-Virus (AV) program, or, if you DO have one, but don't keep it updated at least twice weekly with the latest virus definition files, you risk losing your system and all your valuable data files; more importantly, you risk getting an infection and then spreading it to thousands and thousands of other users. To subscribe, send to: VIRUS-DISCUSSION-L@rootsweb.com Subject: SUBSCRIBE Regards, SgtGeorge George W. Durman

There have been some major changes to what used to be called the GenConnect Boards at Rootsweb. All "Boards" at Rootsweb.Com and Ancestry.Com have been combined into what are now called "Message Boards". Withe the old Boards, you had to surf from one "category" to another. There were 7 Categories: Queries, Obituaries, Biographies, Bible Records, Wills, Deeds, and Pensions. All emails, regardless of Category, are now combined on one Board for each Surname, County, State, etc. Plus, there are these additional Categories (Called "Classifications" on the web site): Birth, Cemetery, Census, Death, Immigration, Lookup, Marriage, and Military. When you look at the page, you will see all messages posted to the respective Board, but, as an example, you can choose to see only the messages in the WILLS category, or in the OBITUARIES category. When you post, or reply, you have a choice of posting to one of 15 categories. You can choose to view the messages by Date or by Threads. Also, at the bottom of each Board page, you can do a search for other Boards. There are still some bugs to work out, but what we now have there is 1000% better than it was 2 weeks ago! All in all, it is a much improved Message Board format, and one which should be used in addition to these Mailing Lists. Here are the URLs for all the Message Boards I administer: GermannaColonies: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=localities.northam.usa.states.virginia.germannacolonies&o=1&maxrows=25&dir=next Briles: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=surnames.briles Broyles: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=surnames.broyles Cullop: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=surnames.cullop Dearman: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=surnames.dearman Durman: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=surnames.durman Garoutte: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=surnames.garoutte Lovett: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=surnames.lovett Lovette: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=surnames.lovette McQuilkin: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=surnames.mcquilkin Wilhite: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=surnames.wilhite Wilhoit: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=surnames.wilhoit Please note that the first one above is a very long URL. It belongs all on one line. In my email browser (Eudora) I can click on any part of it and have it work. If you can't do so, just highlight and copy the entire thing, then paste it into the "Address" box of your web browser. Hope this helps, SgtGeorge George W. Durman List Admin

Hello, I am new to this group, so thought I'd post my line. Here goes: 1. Thomas Durman m. Rachael BARTLETT Thomas Durman and Rachael Bartlett's children: (I only know of one right now) i. Dorcas Whale (I am not sure if this is a middle name or if it is a name received from a previous marriage) m. Edward VERRIBY, 1806 Great Shefford, Berkshire, England Dorcas Whale and Edward Verriby's children: (NOTE: Verriby goes through several different spelling changes down through the line) i. John Ferebe b. Nov 15, 1807 East Garston, Berkshire, England ii. Joseph Ferebe b. Nov 12, 1809 East Garston, Berkshire CO., England d. June 22, 1888 Tyler CO., WV m. Elizabeth STEPHENS iii. William Ferebe b. Sept 8, 1811 East Garston, Berkshire CO., England d. Oct 17, 1894 Mineral CO., WV m. Sarah @1836 Hampshire CO., WV iv. Martha Ferebe b. @1815 m. Charles OWENS, Aug 17, 1836 Allegheny CO., MD v. Edward Ferebe m. Sarah PARKER vi. Dorcas Ferebe b. March 30, 1816 or 1819 England or Balimore, MD d. bet. 1905-1910 Buck Run, Ritchie CO., WV m. Daniel DOLL Oct 4, 1838 Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance Tess tess@neteze.com

(Courtesy of Robert BROYLES, who forwarded it to me.) BURY ME WITH SOLDIERS: I've played a lot of roles in life; I've met a lot of men. I've done a lot of things I'd like to think I wouldn't do again. And though I'm young, I'm old enough To know someday I'll die. To think about what lies beyond, And beside whom I would lie. Perhaps it doesn't matter much; Still, if I had my choice, I'd want a grave amongst Soldiers when At last death quells my voice. I'm sick of the hypocrisy Of lectures of the wise. I'll take the man, with all the flaws, Who goes, though scared, and dies. The troops I knew were commonplace, They didn't want the war; They fought because their fathers and Their fathers had before. They cursed and killed and wept... God knows they're easy to deride. But bury me with men like these; They faced the guns and died. It's funny when you think of it, The way we got along. We'd come from different worlds to live In one where no one belongs, I didn't even like them all; I'm sure they'd all agree. Yet, I would give my life for them; I know some did for me. So bury me with soldiers, please, Though much maligned they be. Yes, bury me with soldiers, For I miss their company. We'll not soon see their likes again; If we've had our fill of war. So bury me with men like them, I cannot ask for more. Author unknown

HOW TO USE THE ARCHIVES: There are two ways to access the Archives: SEARCH or BROWSE (NOTICE: The URLs for the search engines are "case sensitive", that is, you must follow instructions given below, and type in the List's name as shown. For "Searches", the List name must be in ALL CAPS; for "Browsing", the List name must be in all "non caps".) 1) SEARCH the Archives for specific messages by searching for names, words, phrases, etc. Use this URL and substitute the name of the List for XXXXX: http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl?list=XXXXX (In other words, you would replace XXXXX with SMITH to search the SMITH Mailing List for something. In this SEARCH you MUST type the name in ALL CAPS. Another example would be to replace XXXXX with EUDORA-MAIL, VIRUS-DISCUSSION, or WINDOWS- FOR DUMMIES, etc.) Once at the appropriate page, you would type in the word or words, and select the year to search. Some Lists have been in existence since 1996, while others are relatively new, starting in 2000 or 2001. (See the end of this message for tips on how to type in the proper format for searches of more than on word.) 2) BROWSE the Archives to go from message to message, month by month, year by year: Use this URL and substitute the name of the List for xxxxx: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/xxxxx (Replace xxxxx with the appropriate surname, e.g. smith. In this search, you MUST type the name in non-caps. Again, for non- surname Lists, examples would be eudora-mail, virus-discussion, or windows-for-dummies, etc.) On the first page, you will see a list of Months and Years, starting with the first Month/Year the List became active, up to the present Month/Year. You will also see the total number of List messages for each Month/Year. Let's say that you want to look at all the posts for April 2001. Scroll down the list until you find that Month/Year. Click on it and you will be taken to a new page which shows all the posts for April 2001, initially arranged by "Thread". That means that, starting at the top, you will see the earliest posts, arranged chronologically for "original" posts. If someone has "replied" to any "original" post, the "replies" will be under the "original", which will make some email dates out of chronological order. You can click the "Display in" box and choose "Chronological" instead of "Threaded", which will put ALL posts in date order and NOT arranged by "Thread". I would suggest you put check marks in "With Names" and "With Dates" so that you can see who sent the emails and on what dates they were sent. EXTREMELY IMPORTANT !!!!! If you do a BROWSE, you cannot search for a word or words; what you will see will be all the emails for a specific month/year, either arranged by date, or by "thread". Initially, senders' names and dates of posting will not be shown. You need to put check marks in the two boxes and click "Redisplay" to see the names and dates. This is why it is VERY, VERY IMPORTANT that when you post an email to a List, or reply to an email, you MAKE SURE your subject line is descriptive of what you are sending. These BROWSE pages give lists of emails by SUBJECT LINES !!!!! Thus, if you are subscribed to the -D (Digest mode) List, and you reply to an email contained within the Digest, and DON'T change the subject line, it will look something like this: Re: GERMANNA_COLONIES-D Digest V01 #104 So, your reply gets Archived with THAT subject line. What does that tell searchers when they are using the BROWSE utility? Absolutely NOTHING!!!!! In short, if you're a -D (Digest mode) subscriber, CHANGE THE SUBJECT LINE to match that of the email within the Digest before replying. Please!!!!! A word about using the SEARCH feature. You will have to experiment to find out how to best word your queries. It seems that Rootsweb has improved the search engine so that you can do a search for phrases, BUT you have to know how to do so. Example: If you search for "john broyles", you will get all the pages that have BOTH of those words in emails, but not necessarily both together. If you search for "john and broyles", the "finds" or "hits" will be the same as above for "john broyles". If you search for "john+broyles", you will get only emails that have "John Broyles" in them. About phrases: Let's say you are looking for the phrase "only evidence was a misreading" in an email. Typing it exactly that way won't work. You have to put a "+" between each word in order to search for that phrase, e.g., "only+evidence+was+a+misreading" THAT works! But, with experimentation, that is about as long a phrase I have been able to use and have the search engine find it. Anything longer seems to mess up the mind of the engine. Regards, SgtGeorge George W. Durman Knoxville, TN Listowner

Things to ponder this upcoming Memorial Day, May 28th THE THINGS THEY CARRIED: They carried P-38 can openers and heat tabs, watches and dog tags, insect repellent, gum, cigarettes, Zippo lighters, salt tablets, compress bandages, ponchos, Kool-Aid, two or three canteens of water, iodine tablets, sterno, LRRP- rations, and C-rations stuffed in socks. The carried standard fatigues, jungle boots, bush hats, flak jackets, and steel pots. They carried the M-16 assault rifle. They carried trip flares and Claymore mines, M-60 machine guns, the M-70 grenade launcher, M-14's, CAR-15's, Stoners, Swedish K's, 66mm Laws, shotguns, .45 caliber pistols, silencers, the sound of bullets, rockets, and choppers, and sometimes the sound of silence. They carried C-4 plastic explosives, an assortment of hand grenades, PRC-25 radios, knives and machetes. Some carried napalm, CBU's, and large bombs; some risked their lives to rescue others. Some escaped the fear, but dealt with the death and damage. Some made very hard decisions, and some just tried to survive. They carried malaria, dysentery, ringworms, and leaches. They carried the land itself as it hardened on their boots. They carried stationery, pencils, and pictures of their loved ones - real and imagined. They carried love for people in the real world, and love for one another. And sometimes they disguised that love: "Don't mean nothin'!" They carried memories! For the most part, they carried themselves with poise and a kind of dignity. Now and then, there were times when panic set in, and people squealed, or wanted to, but couldn't; when they twitched and made moaning sounds and covered their heads and said "Dear God", and hugged the earth and fired their weapons blindly, and cringed and begged for the noise to stop, and went wild and made stupid promises to themselves and God and their parents, hoping not to die. They carried the traditions of the United States military, and memories and images of those who served before them. They carried grief, terror, longing, and their reputations. They carried the soldier's greatest fear: the embarrassment of dishonor. They crawled into tunnels, walked point, and advanced under fire, so as not to die of embarrassment. They were afraid of dying, but too afraid to show it. They carried the emotional baggage of men and women who might die at any moment. They carried the weight of the world, and the weight of every free citizen of America. THEY CARRIED EACH OTHER Author Unknown Remember them this Memorial Day May 28th

Folks, you're going to hear this from me quite often from now on. I've decided that the only way to stop users from getting infections on their systems (viruses, worms, trojans) is to constantly warn everyone not to open attachments. So here it is: DO NOT, REPEAT, DO NOT, OPEN ATTACHMENTS TO EMAILS!!!!! (Until you follow the instructions below.) The latest trend in infections is to make the attached files look like they came from a trusted user. Plus, the (*$#&($#* virus/worm/trojan writers are making the infected emails look like they are replies to previously posted emails on Mailing Lists. NEVER, open an attachment, even if you have an Anti-Virus (AV) program installed, and think you have it configured properly, until you perform the following security steps: BEFORE, you open an attachment, update your AV program with the latest virus definition files (DAT files). Then, MANUALLY, run the AV program on the attached file(s). If the attachment is an executable file, e.g., .EXE, .BAT, .COM, .PIF, .SCR, .VB, .VBE, .VBS, etc., DO NOT RUN IT. If it is a document type file, e.g., .DOC, .TXT, etc., view it in a text reader, such as NotePad. Make sure it IS only a text file. DO NOT OPEN EMAIL ATTACHED FILES !!!!! If you're not a "pro" at this virus-thing, it's better to delete an unknown file than to infect your system. SgtGeorge At 09:01 AM 04/27/2001, JANET FLEMMING wrote: *********START OF ORIGINAL MESSAGE TEXT********* Yeah...I opened the attachment ..I learned the hard way too!. Because I had emailed about genealogy and got a letter back with an attach and the statement ....look at the attachment....I did so thinking it was some information for me. I just assumed that the sender was replying to my email. When ERROR! came up I emailed back to find out what she had sent....it turns out that she did not send anything hence I got the Bad Trans trojan......I had a friend come in and he said he disabled the virus (snip) **********END OF ORIGINAL MESSAGE TEXT**********

In answer to several subscribers, who wanted to know how to find out what non-genealogy Lists are available at Rootsweb, here is how it's done: The Lists ARE still active. It's just that they are almost impossible to find now using the options from the Home Page at Rootsweb. Here's how to find non-genealogy Lists: 1) Log on to the Rootsweb Home Page at: http:.//www.rootsweb.com; 2) About half way down the page, you will see "Mailing Lists"; 3) Click "Index (Browse All Lists)"; 4) The next page will give you access to ALL Mailing Lists at Rootsweb; but, don't expect it to be easy to navigate. I, and several other Listowners, have had words with Rootsweb personnel about the difficulty of finding non-genealogy Lists (or Community Lists as Rootsweb likes to call them). 5) Way down the page, you will see a section, "OTHER"; in that section, click on "Internet Help". That will take you to a page where you will be able to click access Lists that deal with Computers, Web-Browsers, Email Programs, Virus Problems and Programs, Graphics Programs, Windows, LINUX, Scanners, IRC, FTP, Hoaxes, etc. In my opinion, this "catchall" section for "Internet Help" is very poorly named. All the above subjects do NOT fall into the category of "Internet Help". 6) Next, if you want to find Computer Genealogy Programs, you have to go back to "Other" and click on "Software". This gets you a page for accessing Genealogy Programs, with a couple of other things thrown in as well. 7) Back at the "Other" category, if you click on "Miscellaneous", you will get a page that is truly a concoction of miscellaneous subjects. Many of the Lists here would well fit into more narrow, well-defined Lists. 8) If you want to find other Lists on such things as "Basket Weaving", "Quilt Sewing", "Barrel Racing", etc., you are a lot smarter than me if you can find them easily and quickly. I manage a List for my daughter called "Barrel Racing". I defy anyone to find it from the instructions I have give above !!!!! 9) To find "Barrel Racing", you have to access "Community" Lists here: http://communities.rootsweb.com/ And then navigate to the various categories, in this case "Sports". I can't find anything at Rootsweb that tells a user, old or new, how to get to the Community List Index. You certainly can't do it from the normal Lists Index !!!!! And, once there, you will find absolutely no correlation between what is found on the Community Index and the normal List Index, although there is a lot of overlapping. In short, someone at Rootsweb had made the decision on how the web pages should look, "where, when, and if" non- genealogy Lists are indexed, and the general layout of the web site. I can tell you right now that, over the past 6 months or so, I have heard from many, many Rootsweb users about the lack of intuitiveness and functionality of clickable links. There isn't even a search capability on any page THAT I HAVE FOUND that allows one to search for non-genealogy Lists, e.g. "Houseplants". This List DOES exist, but I put a challenge to you: try to FIND that List by normal searching from the main Rootsweb home page, or any of its links. And, what is available once you get to "Communities" is NOT a place to click and see a page on this subject; all you see is a list of places you can go to read short descriptions about various Communities and subscribe to the Lists. To sum it all up, there is NO place to click and search Rootsweb for anything other than SURNAMES !!!!! And, if you want to search the Archives for a List such as "Houseplants", you have to know the EXACT name of the List first. I know that the folks at Rootsweb think there are more important things to worry about than the non-genealogy Lists, but it seems they should put in SOME time on making them easily accessible. It is very difficult to search for Lists that are not SURNAME Lists. Very, very poor formatting. SgtGeorge George W. Durman

The List Archives are now working!!!!! HOORAH, HOORAH!!!!! For those who have been waiting to access them in order to search for things, this should be welcome news. HOW TO USE THE ARCHIVES: There are two types of Archives access: 1) SEARCH the Archives for specific messages by searching for names, words, etc. Use this URL and substitute the name of the List for XXXXX: http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl?list=XXXXX (In other words, you would replace XXXXX with SMITH to search the SMITH Mailing List for something. In this SEARCH you MUST type the name in ALL CAPS. Another example would be to replace XXXXX with EUDORA-MAIL, VIRUS-DISCUSSION, or WINDOWS- FOR DUMMIES, etc.) Once at the appropriate page, you would type in the word or words, and select the year to search. Some Lists have been in existence since 1996, while others are relatively new, starting in 2000 or 2001. 2) BROWSE the Archives to go from message to message, month by month, year by year: Use this URL and substitute the name of the List for xxxxx: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/xxxxx (Replace xxxxx with the appropriate surname, e.g. smith. In this search, you MUST type the name in non-caps. Again, for non- surname Lists, examples would be eudora-mail, virus-discussion, or windows-for-dummies, etc.) On this page, you can choose to see all List email "threaded" or in "chronological" order. You will see a list by month and year, from the first month the List was active, to the present month. EXTREMELY IMPORTANT !!!!! If you do a BROWSE, you cannot search for a word or words; what you will see will be all the emails for a specific month/year, either arranged by date, or by "thread", with the only identifier being the SUBJECT line. This is why it is VERY, VERY IMPORTANT that when you post an email to a List, or reply to an email, you MAKE SURE your subject line is descriptive of what you are sending. These BROWSE pages give lists of emails by SUBJECT LINES !!!!! Thus, if you are subscribed to the -D (Digest mode) List, and you reply to an email contained within the Digest and DON'T change the subject line, it will look something like this: Re: GERMANNA_COLONIES-D Digest V01 #104 So, your reply gets Archived with THAT subject line. What does that tell searchers when they are using the BROWSE utility? Absolutely NOTHING!!!!! In short, if you're a -D (Digest mode) subscriber, CHANGE THE SUBJECT LINE to match that of the email within the Digest before replying. Please!!!!! A word about using the SEARCH feature. You will have to experiment to find out how to best word your queries. Unfortunately, the search engine at Rootsweb is not a true "boolean" utility. You cannot search for a phrase. For instance, if you do a search for "germans in virginia", you will get "hits" on all emails that contain all three of those words, but not necessarily all together in a phrase. Regards, SgtGeorge George W. Durman Knoxville, TN Listowner

----------------------- Mailing List Etiquette Here are some tips to remember when signing up for Mailing Lists: ~ If you are sent a confirmation letter (Welcome Letter), keep it in a folder somewhere, so that if you don't remember signing up for it, you'll have a copy somewhere that says you did. This can also be useful in remembering which email address you used, in case you have mail forwarded to that account, or have more than one email address. (The best way to save such Welcome Letters is to make a Mailbox in your email program for each surname List to which you subscribe; then, save the Welcome Letter in that Mailbox and don't ever delete it. Or make a separate Mailbox for "Saved Welcome Letters" and put all of them in that one Mailbox.) ~ UNSUBSCRIBE instructions are found in the body text of ALL Rootsweb Mailing Lists. Be sure to follow them, or you may not be unsubscribed, or it may take longer. If you don't follow the un- subscribe instructions, you will cause an error email to be sent to the List Manager/Administrator, which causes him/her to have to manually unsubscribe you, and will cause more work on his/ her part. Or, if you don't follow instructions, you may send your "unsubscribe" request back to the Mailing List itself, which not only doesn't do you any good (it won't be automatically acted upon), but it causes unnecessary posts to the List, which causes all users to have to download "junk posts". ~ If you feel it worth the time for you to subscribe to a Mailing List, you should feel it worth the time to follow instructions and not cause problems for other people, subscribers or List Managers. ~ REMEMBER, it's called ETIQUETTE! SgtGeorge George W. Durman Knoxville, TN Listowner

This was sent to me by another genealogy researcher and I thought I'd pass along to in case any of you have been tempted to respond to, or do business with, any of the companies/web sites. Be sure to go down to the section "Specific Companies". Regards, SgtGeorge George W. Durman Listowner >There has been some email lately about scams. > >The following is excerpted from Eastman's Online Genealogy > Newsletter and is copyright 2001 by Richard W. Eastman. It is > re-published here with the permission of the author. > >Genealogy scams in general: > > Genealogical Web Site Watchdog (only for online scams) at: > http://www.ancestordetective.com/watchdog.htm > > The National Genealogical Society's Consumer Protection > Committee is quite active at keeping an eye on the various > scams, including both online and offline fraudsters. If you > have a question about a particular company's services, you can > contact the NGS Consumer Protection Committee via traditional > mail at: National Genealogical Society's Consumer Protection > Committee, at 4527 17th Street North, Arlington, VA 22207- > 2399. The committee also maintains Web pages at: > http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/comconsumer.htm and at: > http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/comconsumerpsst.htm. However, > those pages do not mention specific companies. > > Cyndi's List has a section for genealogy myths, hoaxes and > scams at: http://www.cyndislist.com/myths.htm > > >Specific companies: > >I have received e-mail about the following companies; all have >been mentioned as having questionable services. I have listed URLs >where you can obtain further information: > > Family Discovery.com - an online Web site that claims to have > "the Web's most versatile Award Winning collection of > genealogical databases." However, they don't mention the > "award" they received from the Better Business Bureau! The > Bureau says, "Based on BBB files, this company has an > unsatisfactory record with the Bureau due to unanswered > complaint(s)." Family Discovery.com charges $59.99 for a one- > year subscription. Most of the same information is available > elsewhere on the Web at no charge. In fact, many of the links > on FamilyDiscovery.com simply take you to free Web sites. You > can obtain the same information at no cost by using one of the > free search engines. Details are available on the Genealogical > Web Site Watchdog site at: > http://www.ancestordetective.com/watchdog.htm#Warning. There > is an Anti-FamilyDiscovery.com newsletter at: > http://compuright.dyndns.org/familydiscovery/ > > The xxx Family Yearbook - In this case, substitute your last > name for the "xxx." For instance, an advertisement sent to a > person named Smith would be advertising The Smith Family > Yearbook while someone named Clark would receive an > advertisement for The Clark Family Yearbook. These "yearbooks" > claim to have genealogy information. However, those who > purchase the "products" are usually disappointed. The > producing company has several business names; for example, you > can find them listed as Mountain West News Service or as the > Mountain Pacific News Service. They also may appear as an > organizational name, such as "The Smith Family Yearbook." > However, all these "companies" have the same address: 1181 S. > Parker Road, #105, Denver, CO 80231. The Better Business > Bureau lists the parent company as MORPHCORP. The News Herald > of Panama City, Florida has an article about these "products" > at: http://www.newsherald.com/articles/2000/04/16/tp041600.htm > > Family Tree House - I wrote about this company in the October > 31, 1998 edition of this newsletter. The company gives an > appearance of a Web site that offers genealogy services. In > fact, it does not appear to sell anything. However, the same > company advertises on another Web site with an offer to sell > personal information obtained from genealogists who visit the > Family Tree House site. You innocently enter personal > information about yourself on Family Tree House and then > operators of the site sell your personal information to bulk > mail companies. Information for sale includes name, address, > e-mail address and more. You can read that article at: > http://ancestordetective.com/watchdog.htm#sells > > The Historical Research Center (HRC) International, Inc. sells > "family histories" and coats of arms. Information about the > true value of these products can be found on the Genealogical > Web Site Watchdog site at: > http://www.ancestordetective.com/watchdog.htm#Coats. Keep > in mind that this company sells franchises. A few years ago > they were listed as one of the top 30 fastest growing > franchises in America. You may find their products being sold > by other companies who purchase franchises. One such company > is Names.com, but apparently there are many others as well. > > The International Hall of Names in Canada also sells "family > histories" and coats of arms. They are also mentioned on the > Genealogical Web Site Watchdog site at: > http://www.ancestordetective.com/watchdog.htm#Coats. > >I would caution anyone to be careful about "family coats of arms." >In fact, in England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and most of western >Europe, there really is no such thing as a family coat of arms. In >those countries, arms have always been awarded to individuals, not >to families. Displaying a coat of arms that you are not authorized >to use is a form of identity theft, even if you do happen to have >the same last name as the original grantee. Any company offering >to sell you a copy of "your family's coat of arms" is selling a >bogus product. > >If you believe you have been the victim of a genealogy scam, you >can do something about it! If you purchased products or services >from the above companies or any others that you feel did not live >up to advertised claims, demand a refund! If your money is not >returned within 30 days or so from a U.S. company, submit a >complaint to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Bureau of Consumer >Protection at: >https://rn.ftc.gov/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01. A few >letters of inquiry from the federal government will send a strong >message to the people who produce products or services of >questionable value. If a Canadian company is involved, you can >register a complaint at: >http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/SSG/ct01250e.html. > >You also might want to warn other genealogists and tell them of >your experiences. You can post a message to others in the "Scams >and Fraud" section of CompuServe's Genealogy Techniques Forum >message board. Go to: >http://forums.compuserve.com/vlforums/default.asp?SRV=GenealogyForum&AREA=Ms >gs&SEC=15&loc=us&access=public

1) Several users of these various Lists have complained (rightly so) that it is very difficult to find non-genealogy Lists at Rootsweb. Here is some help: Go to http://www.rootsweb.com In the section, Exploring Rootsweb, the very last category at the bottom is "Communities at Rootsweb". Click on "Directory of Non-Genealogy Categories". There you will find all those "other" Lists. You can go directly to the "Communities" here: http://communities.rootsweb.com/ On that page, you will see about 45 different categories. Here are the ones in which I found things that might apply to the users on these Lists: Computers Cultures Sports Once on the various pages, you will also want to click either "Lists", "Page", or "-Marks", especially the last one. Some Lists, web pages, etc., are hidden in these "-Marks" pages. 2) If anyone has tried recently to access Archives for any List, you have received the reply, "List Not Found". This is an error. The Archives ARE still there; it's just that a major overhaul is being done on the Archive software and hard- ware and the files are off-line right now. I don't know when they will be available, but I will try to remember to let every- one know as soon as we Listowners are notified. Regards, SgtGeorge George W. Durman

Received your test. Good work.

My new cable modem is finally working properly and I'm trying to see if my new email address is receiving emails posted to these Lists. Forgive me for the junk, but I needed to find out tonight. Regards, SgtGeorge George W. Durman Listowner

As most of you on these Mailing Lists know, from time to time, on special occasions during the year, I allow "off topic" postings for those who wish to celebrate, or to pay honor to their favorite tradition. I'm taking advantage of my own allowances and forwarding this wonderful poem by Michael Marks. A cousin, Robert Broyles, sent it to me today, and I think it will become one of those traditional postings for Christmas, especially for the more patriotic of us. I think it should have been entitled "The Soldier Who Stands Guard". Whatever your religion, whatever holiday you celebrate, take a moment to read the poem and offer up a little prayer for those who "stand guard outside our doors". SgtGeorge MERRY CHRISTMAS (P.S. It would be a nice Christmas present for Michael, the author, if we emailed him a word of thanks. His email address is at the end of the poem.) ****************************************************** A Soldier's Christmas The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light, I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight. My wife was asleep, her head on my chest, my daughter beside me, angelic in rest. Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white, Transforming the yard to a winter delight. The sparkling lights in the tree, I believe, Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve. My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep, Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep In perfect contentment, or so it would seem, So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream. The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near, But I opened my eye when it tickled my ear. Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow. My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear, And I crept to the door just to see who was near. Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night, A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight. A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old, Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold. Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled, Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child. "What are you doing?" I asked without fear. "Come in this moment, it's freezing out here! Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve, You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!" For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift, Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts, To the window that danced with a warm fire's light Then he sighed and he said, "Its really all right, I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night" "Its my duty to stand at the front of the line, That separates you from the darkest of times. No one had to ask or beg or implore me, I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me." "My Gramps died at 'Pearl' on a day in December," Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers. My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam And now it is my turn and so, here I am." "I've not seen my own son in more than a while, But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile." Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag, The red white and blue... an American flag. "I can live through the cold and the being alone, Away from my family, my house and my home, I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet, I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat, I can carry the weight of killing another, Or lay down my life with my sisters and brothers, Who stand at the front against any and all, To insure for all time that this flag will not fall." "So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright. Your family is waiting and I'll be all right." "But isn't there something I can do, at the least, Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast? It seems all too little for all that you've done, For being away from your wife and your son." Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret, "Just tell us you love us, and never forget To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone. To stand your own watch, no matter how long." "For when we come home, either standing or dead, To know you remember we fought and we bled Is payment enough, and with that we will trust That we mattered to you as you mattered to us." Michael Marks December 7th, 2000 marksman@patriot.net In loving appreciation of the countless Americans who have and continued to serve in the Armed Forces, and those who gave their life for their country. Your sacrifices will never be forgotten. We look forward to the day you come home. God bless and keep you always, and God Bless America!

I received this from Nancy S. Hatcher, who forwarded it to me from SENIOR-NEWBIE-L, where it was posted by another user. I thought the rest of you might enjoy it. I thought it was very nice. SgtGeorge Listowner > From: Lillyj57@aol.com > To: SENIOR-NEWBIE-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: [SENIOR-NEWBIE] (no subject) > Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2000 11:29:22 EST > >Voices In My Heart > >It was the first day of census and all through the land >each pollster was ready...a black book in hand. > >He mounted his horse for a long dusty ride, >his books and his quills were tucked close by his side. > >A long dusty ride down a road barely there, >toward the smell of fresh bread wafting up through the air. > >The woman was tired, with lines on her face >and wisps of brown hair she tucked back into place. > >She gave him some water as they sat at the table, >and she answered his questions the best she was able. > >He asked her of children. Yes, she had quite a few. >The oldest was twenty, the youngest not two. > >She held up a toddler with cheeks round and red. >His sister, she whispered, was napping in bed. > >She noted each person who lived there with pride, >and she felt the faint stirrings of the wee one inside. > >He noted the sex, the color, the age, >the marks from the quill soon filled up the page. > >At the number of children, she nodded her head, >and he saw her lips quiver for the ones that were dead. > >The places of birth she "never forgot"... >Was it Carolina, or Tennessee, or Georgia or not? > >They came from Scotland, on that she was clear, >But she wasn't quite sure just how long they'd been here. > >They spoke of employment, of schooling and such. >They could read some and write some...though really not much. > >When the questions were answered, his job there was done, >so he mounted his horse and he rode toward the sun. > >We can almost imagine his voice loud and clear, >"May God bless you all for another ten years." > >Now picture a time warp...it's now you and me >as we search for the people on our family tree. > >We squint at the census, and scroll down so slow, >as we search for that entry from long, long ago. > >Could they only imagine on that long ago day >that the entries they made would affect us this way. > >If they knew, would they wonder at the yearning we feel >and the searching that makes them so increasingly real? > >We can hear if we listen, the words they impart >through their blood in our veins and their voice in our heart. > >Courtesy of the author Darlene Stevens

I received this from Nancy S. Hatcher, who forwarded it to me from SENIOR-NEWBIE-L, where it was posted by another user. I thought the rest of you might enjoy it. I thought it was very nice. SgtGeorge Listowner > From: Lillyj57@aol.com > To: SENIOR-NEWBIE-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: [SENIOR-NEWBIE] (no subject) > Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2000 11:29:22 EST > >Voices In My Heart > >It was the first day of census and all through the land >each pollster was ready...a black book in hand. > >He mounted his horse for a long dusty ride, >his books and his quills were tucked close by his side. > >A long dusty ride down a road barely there, >toward the smell of fresh bread wafting up through the air. > >The woman was tired, with lines on her face >and wisps of brown hair she tucked back into place. > >She gave him some water as they sat at the table, >and she answered his questions the best she was able. > >He asked her of children. Yes, she had quite a few. >The oldest was twenty, the youngest not two. > >She held up a toddler with cheeks round and red. >His sister, she whispered, was napping in bed. > >She noted each person who lived there with pride, >and she felt the faint stirrings of the wee one inside. > >He noted the sex, the color, the age, >the marks from the quill soon filled up the page. > >At the number of children, she nodded her head, >and he saw her lips quiver for the ones that were dead. > >The places of birth she "never forgot"... >Was it Carolina, or Tennessee, or Georgia or not? > >They came from Scotland, on that she was clear, >But she wasn't quite sure just how long they'd been here. > >They spoke of employment, of schooling and such. >They could read some and write some...though really not much. > >When the questions were answered, his job there was done, >so he mounted his horse and he rode toward the sun. > >We can almost imagine his voice loud and clear, >"May God bless you all for another ten years." > >Now picture a time warp...it's now you and me >as we search for the people on our family tree. > >We squint at the census, and scroll down so slow, >as we search for that entry from long, long ago. > >Could they only imagine on that long ago day >that the entries they made would affect us this way. > >If they knew, would they wonder at the yearning we feel >and the searching that makes them so increasingly real? > >We can hear if we listen, the words they impart >through their blood in our veins and their voice in our heart. > >Courtesy of the author Darlene Stevens

Folks, I haven't posted a notice on this subject in some time and I guess it's about time to do it again. Most users of these Lists know by now that when they reply to a post, they should quote back ONLY enough of the original post to identify it and its subject; however, as new users join us every day, some of them just are not aware they should trim down replies so that they don't contain all the original messages. Nothing is more aggravating to users than to see a very long post, THEN to see users reply back with a line or two of comment, AND ALL of the original post! QUOTING BACK ALL OF AN ORIGINAL MESSAGE IS NOT NECESSARY! Usually, including the first 2 or 3 lines of an email is all that is needed to allow others to see what is being responded to. For "newbies" (not a pejorative term, I assure you), who may be new to using a computer, there are some tips and tricks that will make things easier for you. Now, in different email programs, it will require different techniques to rid a reply of most of the original post; however, some basic techniques will help. To "highlight" text in a message (or in ANY document, for that matter), put the mouse cursor at the BEGINNING of the text you wish to highlight. While holding down the LEFT mouse button, "drag" the cursor to the end of the text you want highlighted, and release the mouse button. Your chosen text will be highlighted. Now, you can do several things with that text. If you hit the DELETE key, the text will disappear. If you hit CTRL+C, you will copy the text into your Windows Clip Board. The text in the Clip Board can be inserted into another document, email, etc., by placing the mouse cursor at the spot where you want it inserted, left-clicking once, and then hitting CTRL+V. That will "paste" the Clip Board text where you want it. In some email programs, such as Eudora, if you highlight text before clicking on the "Reply" button, the reply will contain ONLY that highlighted text. In other email programs, you have to hit "Reply" first, then highlight unwanted text and deleting it. No matter HOW you do it, you should NOT quote back all of an original post, unless it is very short, 3 or 4 lines, AND you feel it is important to quote all of it. In the past, I have posted "Keyboard Shortcuts" for Windows to these Lists, for use by new computer users. CTRL+C and CTRL+V are only two of the many, many shortcuts that you can use in virtually any Windows program/utility. If any of you are "newbies" and want me to post again, I will. Just let me know. Just for the record, the REASONS for not quoting back entire original text are many. 1) One is that many users just get tired of having to download long emails with a few dozen words of new text. Some users STILL pay for their server connections by the minutes/hours of usage each month. For them, downloading long, useless text is expensive. 2) Sending emails with unnecessary verbiage causes more load on the "pipelines" of the net/web. 3) Since all posts to these Lists are "Archived" at Rootsweb, that means it takes up unnecessary disk space on Rootsweb's servers. 4) Many users subscribe to these Lists in the Digest Mode. That means they don't receive each email as it is posted at Rootsweb; instead, they receive a Digest which contains several posts in one email. For those Digest subscribers who want to print out Digests, it either wastes paper and ink to print unnecessary text, OR they have to highlight and delete lots and lots of text BEFORE printing. 5) Many users, such as I, save all List emails on our home computers for future reference. If an original post was, say, 10,000 bytes in size, and a user replies to it with one line of new text, such as, "I agree", or "Thank you", or whatever, it means that when we save the reply, we are having to store 10,000 bytes of absolutely unnecessary text. Multiple that by several emails a day for some of these Lists, and multiply that by 2 or 3 dozen Lists, and you can see how it starts to add up month after month. One last pet peeve of mine: a user posts a very long email, say 10,000 bytes in length; another user replies, including all of the original post; another user replies to the reply and includes all of the replier's text AND the original text; another user replies to that, and so on. Can you see how absolutely ugly such replies to replies to replies to original posts are? Yes, I know SOME of us are so busy we don't (or don't WANT to) have the time to format emails correctly. I manage 21 Mailing Lists at Rootsweb; I subscribe to another 2 or 3 dozen; I receive at least 2 dozen personal emails daily; I reply to probably 25- 50 emails daily; yet, I have the time to highlight and delete as needed. So can anyone else have the time - all that is necessary is for you to TAKE the time. I know this is a rather long notice; however, this subject is one of the most aggravating for Listowners and users. It's not something we should HAVE to live with, since it can be corrected. All it takes is for the knowledge to be spread and for the recipients to have the courtesy to comply. Let's all do our part to cut down on unnecessary text in emails. What say? Regards, SgtGeorge George W. Durman Listowner

Just thought I would post this again for those of you who might want to search for past posts. There are TWO list archives, with different uses, and searchable two different ways. =============== To go to any list directly, use http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl?list=LISTNAME-L This archive is drawn from the digests of each list, so it may be a day or two behind, depending on list settings. =============== The Threaded Archive -- for any particular list, you can go to http://archiver.rootsweb.com/ and find the wanted list, or go to the list directly: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/LISTNAME-L/ The Threaded Archive is wonderful for browsing. The entries are drawn from individual posts, so they are almost instantly available. =============== SgtGeorge Listowner

As Listowner, I receive all "error" messages to the Mailing Lists which I manage. Sometimes, when I feel the messages need to be posted to the Lists immediately, I will go ahead and forward them. In the From: header, you will see the original sender's email address and a (by way of "George W.Durman" <sgtgeorg@concentric.net>). There are several reasons why this is necessary. Here are a few examples: 1) The sender sends to an address that contains "-request" in it. Such addresses are only for subscribing and unsubscribing. Here are the correct formats for them: LISTNAME-L-request@rootsweb.com (For subbing and unsubbing.) LISTNAME-L@rootsweb.com (For posting messages.) In the above example, "LISTNAME" would be replaced with the List's actual name, say "BROYLES", "GERMANNA_COLONIES", "WILHITE", etc. In this example, just make sure you leave out the "-request" part of the address. 2) Sometimes a user subscribes with one address and his/her ISP or email service uses a slightly different "dynamic" form. Example: JohnDoe@whatever.net (User subscribes with this address.) JohnDoe@mail.whatever.net (ISP adds the "mail" part.) JohnDoe@email.whatever.net (ISP adds the "email" part.) In this example, you need to find out from the ISP what the EXACT form of the address is going to be from the ISP; then, subscribe with THAT form. 3) Users subscribe with one valid email address, but have one or more other addresses. They then send email from one of the other unsubscribed addresses. This causes "not a subscriber" error messages to the Listowner. In this example, you need to let the Listowner know what the other addresses are that you might be using from time to time, so he/she can add those unsubscribed addresses to the "Accept List" for the Mailing List. This will not result in duplicate copies of posts, but will ensure that you can send email from any of the other addresses. This note from me is just a reminder to read the Welcome Message that you receive. It gives the proper addresses for subbing and unsubbing and for posting email. And, PLEASE when you send me a notice that your email address has changed, and you want me to unsub the old one and re-sub the new one, PLEASE, PLEASE give the old address and tell me which Lists you are subscribed to!!!!! It really helps and saves me from having to reply and ask for the information. Regards, SgtGeorge Listowner