Subj: USIGS Date: 97-06-10 19:41:19 EDT \ Would you be so kind as to offer the following story about a new internet organiztion to your list? This is a project to make available lots and lots of actual research data free on the line, accessible to all, and will be of great benefit to genealogists everywhere. thank you very much. Story follows: It follows: By JOAN ROSE USIGS Public Information Officer As one-stop shopping at the Mall has simplified buying habits, founders of a new national genealogical organization are hoping to do likewise with integrated research sites on the internet for American root tracers. Traditionally, American genealogists have had to rely on a paper trail in often distant libraries, musty courthouse basements and weed grown cemeteries to lead to their elusive ancestors. Only recently, in the last five years, have they turned to the Internet to find information that others have written into cyberspace for them. Internet resources have been multiplying rapidly in the past two years, but available information is often sketchy, always scattered and frequently without the documentation so dear to the earnest researcher�s heart. The United States Internet Genealogical Society in May was incorporated as a non-profit corporation under the laws of California with four major goals and lots of little ones. USIGS, as it will be known on the Net, not only will seek out, index and point to all kinds of research data for free public access online, but it will seek out funding grants and contributions to help defray the costs of puting it there. "The Internet will be the Genealogical Research Library of the 21st Century," believes James Streeter, USIGS president and a descendant of the Mayflower, who has been working on his family history for 35 years to include 6500 individuals in 50 generations. "USIGS brings a new concept to the genealogy community," he explained, inasmuch as "it is dedicated to provide FREE online access to records of interest to the entire genealogy community." To this end, USIGS will encourage volunteers, both individuals and groups, to transcribe their records to websites, it will correlate all such information now online and that which is to come, and it will raise funds to pay for costs incurred in such mammoth projects as eventually putting online U.S. Census records, a long-time dream of many internetters. USIGS is not unlike an international organization, IIGS, which came into being at the same time about two months ago, and with some overlapping founders. The two will not compete, but will complement each other and work together in some fields for the benefit of genealogists. USIGS, however, will concern itself with American records, primarily of the United States, while IIGS will be open for world-wide research. Unlike IIGS, USIGS has a tightly structured executive branch, including a 12-member board of directors, a staff of officers who will oversee all projects and fund-raising activities and appointed committees with definitely-delineated duties and missions. Besides Streeter, of Buena Park, Calif., newly-elected officers include: Tom Ward of Columbus, Kans., vice president; Linda Lewis of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., secretary; and Jerry E. Dill of Emmett, Idaho, treasurer. Board members are Don E. Dale of Kansas, David M. Leininger of Mahomet, Ill., and Billie McNamara of Knoxville, Tenn. , who are now holding one year terms; Donald L. Spidell of Safford, Ariz., Ken Hollingsworth of Redlands, Calif., John Rigdon of South Carolina, and Larry V. Stephens of Bloomington, Ind. , now holding two year terms; and Nancy Trice of Hopkins County, KY, Pat Smith of Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, and John G. West of Evansville, Ind., who are now holding three year terms. Vacancies are now being filled by appointment as worthy Web Genealogists volunteer for membership. USIGS has set up a web site at: http://www.dsenter.com/usigs/ and is providing ongoing membership information to those who subscribe to its members list. Committees already formed and chairmen are listed. ?volunteers are needed to assist in all of them and in the various projects that are in process of getting started. At this time membership is free, and all interested are encouraged to sign on at the USIGS home page. Members will be asked to volunteer time, talents, expertise and ideas as needed and to spread the word to their local organizations and other online sites to assist USIGS in getting up and running. One of its main functions is to solicit grants from corporate sponsorship and other sources and through tax-deductible contributions. Streeter has indicated that "announcement of a major source of funding may be expected soon." Any funds received will be distributed to individuals or organizations for specific projects. No priority list has been set up to receive first funds available, but one major project identified by organizers has been the Census Project, beginning perhaps with that of 1850, to put the entire census data, state by state and county by county, on line. Streeter emphasized that all records funded by USIGS will be available on line free to anyone with internet access. USIGS was not set up to make money, he stressed, but to find money to further transcription and preservation of genealogical data at internet sites. USIGS does not plan to duplicate work already in progress by other online groups, such as the USGenWeb project, he noted, but to coordinate that work to make such data readily accessible. Streeter and other officers and directors are associated with one or more of these other organizations in top management and/or working positions. Work will depend largely on local volunteers who will be able to access various physical locations, transcribe or scan records and create a site online to store and maintain it. As envisioned, this is a program that will take many years to bring to fruition, and probably never will be completed. But as more and more research sources are transferred to the internet, more and more family tree tracers will be able to pursue their hobby at home. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ \

I recieved this info from mu Mom. It amy help quite a few of us out. A branch of the Census Bureau will assist researchers in obtaining census records from the 1930-1990 Federal returns for any person from whom you can supply proff of death. "Age Search will, for $25, search any two (2) census records. The search is limited to the person for whom you are requesting information, but you may ask for other family members to be included for a $2 per person fee. The full line of information from the census return will be provided with payment of a $6 fee. The basic fee includes ans official document stating the person's name, age, place of birth, citizenship and relationship to the head of the household. Form BC-600which is required may be obtained fromany local Social Security Office or by writing : Bureau of The Census "Age Search" PO Box 1545 Jeffersonville, IN 47131 Don't ask for more info, this is all I have. I did call the SS office locally and they have never heard of this form, but will order or locate one for me. In the meantime, I'm writing for several. Ley O'Connor ========================================================= GOODWIN, RUSSELL, MURRAY, KEENER, WINN(E), WYNN(E), BEAN(E) BEEN(E), STANLEY TX<ARK<LA<MISS<TENN<VA<NC AND for MY DA ----- O'CONNOR CA<ILL<MICH<CAN<IRL I love you Da, Angel on my shoulder. Ira James O'Connor Sept 16, 1915-Nov. 27, 1996 Ley O'Connor ROOTSWEB list-owner GOODWIN FAMILY to Subscribe Carson City, Nevada <A HREF="http://www.rootsweb.c om/~maillist/surnames/surnames-g.html">Surname/Family Lists G</A> 702-246-0918 CASHEL3776@aol.com

I am a descendant of Isabella Pickens & John Elmo Hammond, Patience Hammond Thomas's brother. I would like to have info on Patience & Daniel's descendants. Am willing to share my info. Patricia Jones Reece PatReece@aol.com

Would like to correspond with anyone who has marriages between the above three families. All three families seemed to move together from SC to Dallas Co. AL and then to Walker and Polk County Texas in the mid 1800. The Thomas's also lived in Butler County AL. My great great grandfather was Daniel Landrum Thomas. He died in AL. But his children and widow moved to Polk County Texas. Recent information says that in SC there was a marriage between Landrum Day's daughter and John Thomas, Sr. None of the listed children are Daniel Landrum Thomas. There are other intermarriages between the Thomas, Day and Dodd families and I am hoping I might find someone with a connection. Will share my files. Genevieve Williams Buckaloo ginger 36@msn.com Interested in Nacogdoches families as follows: Bell, Rector, Scroggins and Buckaloo

Hello All: Well we finally did it. We held our 1st meeting tonight and we had 19 people attend and 11 members signed on tonight. Meeting Times: Our meetings at this time will be held the 4th Monday of each month with the next meeting just 2 weeks away (June 23) again at the Cherokee Church. Tonight we elected officers, Keith Hale "President", Bonnie Allen "Vice President - Programs", Dorothy Harrell "Vice President - Membership", Vidale Mott "Secretary" and Estelle Ling "Treasurer". This will be a great staff to get us started and we will add more officers as needed. We will publish a Quarterly Newsletter and offer Genealogy Classes through ou the year (Members will get discounts on all classes offered through the Society. Membership: It was decided that the dues would be as follows: Annual Membership dues: Single/$15 Family/$25 Lifetime/$250 all those joining this year will be considered Chater Members. To join simply send your name, address,ph# and surnames researching along with at least a 5 level pedigree chart (to be kept on file in the library) and the proper dues to... Tyler County Genealogical Society C/O Heritage Village Musuem P.O. Box 888 Woodville, Texas 75979 Thanks again to all that attended and we look forward to seeing everyone in 2 weeks. KC (Keith Hale)

Can someone on the List tell me if the Tyler Library is open everyday during the week? I live in Mabank, Texas and don't want to go to Tyler on a day that the library is closed. Mary B.

that IS a gedcom file. All you need to do is read it into your database. On Family Origins, it's under the "FILE" pop-up and then to the GEDCOM menu item and then to "Import". Don't remember if the file is required to have the ".ged" extension, but it wouldn't hurt to make sure it does. **** let me make a seeerious suggestion .... never, never, never read a Gedcom file directly into your master database. Either open a new database and read it into that or copy your working database to another name and read the gedcom into that. That way, you can resolve difficulties in the gedcom and then with duplicate entries, etc without irrevocably fouling up your master database >I have several files that look like this(below).How do I open them into a >gedcom file? In the one case she sent a backup of FO as she couldn't >figure out how to gedcom. Can I convert it? >Thanks, >Helene > >> A typical gedcom file is ASCII text format and looks like : >> >> 0 HEAD >> 1 SOUR FamilyOrigins >> 2 VERS 3.0 >> 2 CORP FormalSoft, Inc. >> 1 DEST FamilyOrigins >> 1 DATE 15 NOV 1996 >> 1 SUBM @S1@ >> 1 FILE CLOUD.GED >> 1 GEDC >> 2 VERS 5.3 >> 2 FORM LINEAGE-LINKED >> 0 @S1@ SUBM >> 1 NAME Mary Lee Parl Freeman >> 1 ADDR P. O. Box xxx >> 2 CONT Keb MO 6xxxx >> 1 PHON (573) xxx-xxxx >> 0 @I1@ INDI >> 1 NAME Mary Lee /PARL/ >> 1 SEX F >> 1 BIRT >> 2 DATE 14 JUN 1943 >> 2 PLAC Wasco California >> 1 FAMC @F2@ >> 1 FAMS @F1@ >> 0 @I2@ INDI >> 1 NAME Benny Don /FREEMAN/ >> 1 SEX M >> 1 BIRT >> 2 DATE 17 FEB 1943 >> 2 PLAC Seminole OK >> 1 FAMS @F1@ Tom Cloud <cloud@peaches.ph.utexas.edu>

Alton, I've had the same problem -- I just edited the leading message off the front of the gedcom and it read into Family Origins okay. Gedcom files are text and can be sent included in the body of an e-mail, though it'll may make the post too long for some providers to accept. [It's my understanding that AOL automatically bundles received attachments into the received message (perhaps this is just for text messages ????)] These files can be made smaller (in order to send them more quickly) by "Zipping" them, but now they're not in any recognizable format and can really confuse the issue if there's any problem receiving them. A typical gedcom file is ASCII text format and looks like : 0 HEAD 1 SOUR FamilyOrigins 2 VERS 3.0 2 CORP FormalSoft, Inc. 1 DEST FamilyOrigins 1 DATE 15 NOV 1996 1 SUBM @S1@ 1 FILE CLOUD.GED 1 GEDC 2 VERS 5.3 2 FORM LINEAGE-LINKED 0 @S1@ SUBM 1 NAME Mary Lou Park Freeman 1 ADDR P. O. Box 128 2 CONT Kennett MO 63857 1 PHON (573) 888-5062 0 @I1@ INDI 1 NAME Mary Lou /PARK/ 1 SEX F 1 BIRT 2 DATE 14 JUN 1943 2 PLAC Wasco California 1 FAMC @F2@ 1 FAMS @F1@ 0 @I2@ INDI 1 NAME Benny Don /FREEMAN/ 1 SEX M 1 BIRT 2 DATE 17 FEB 1943 2 PLAC Seminole OK 1 FAMS @F1@ ...... etc, etc ...... another thing, the writer that said the problem he experienced was due to being from a confuser running WIN95 .... t'aint so !! The OS (operating system) has nothing to do with the way data is represented in a file. the only way I can explain his experience is to say that different editors handle "text" differently (e.g. some put in a real TAB character and some put in spaces; while others only use a carriage return (C/R) at the end of the line while others use both a C/R plus an LF (line feed)). Perhaps somewhere on the way of going from various OS's, someone used the old EDIT or WordStar, etc and got the file into true ASCII text format. bottom line .... it's easy to get superstitious and make erroneous assumptions about things that are acting screwy. >FIRST: Please accept my sincere thanks for everyone who responded to my SOS. > >SECOND: It seems that two things were wrong here: >1. I was trying to reformat an attachment by changing ".txt" extension to >".ftw", when the file was a GEDCOM file. yes, you probably should have changed the extension to ".ged" and them "imported" it into your genealogy database program. >2. The more serious problem was that the sender copied the GEDCOM file into >the e-mail message before sendint the e-mail. AOL or the sender's e-mail >service read the message as being too long, and converted the message to text >format. As a result, the attachment was never in GEDCOM format. I think AOL is the one that truncated your message .... as I said above, I've had many curse AOL and say that it often incorporates files, that were originally sent as genuine attachments, into the main body of the e-mail. >My advice (although I haven't yet opened the file--a word to the wise), is: > When you send a message, make sure that you are truly ATTACHING the GEDCOM >file to the e-mail message, and not importing the file in text format into >the e-mail message. AOL will permit the transfer of a file in GEDCOM, IF it >is formated and attached in that language. Unfornately, mine was not. I >have aske the sender to re-send, in GEDCOM attachment. Remember, the gedcom format is text, as shown above, and I doubt the AOL system either knows or cares about files with a ".ged" extension (except, if it automatically appends ".txt" files to the e-mail, perhaps making the extension _anything_ other than ".txt" or "*.doc" might keep it as an attachment). If all else fails, you might get the person to just copy the file to a diskette and send it to you. Tom Cloud <cloud@peaches.ph.utexas.edu>

I am looking for information on Dodson's from Fannin County Texas. Abner Dodson born 1860. Ada Jane Dodson born 1886. And any connection to Young's from the same area. Plus any Hutcherson info. Ada married William Monroe Hutcherson in 1903 in Fannin Co. poss. Bonham TX. Mary Mahely Cantrell born 1859 could also be from the same area.

Could someone living in Vinita OKlahoma please look in the directory for the asylum for the mentally insane. I searched in the various engines but could not locate it. Thank you very much shirley larson laurco@mail.ez-sys.net

I am looking for parents / siblings of my g-g-grandfather Caleb Benson and wife Margret Scheeley (spelling Unclear) -- Below is listed what I know about him and his wife. Would be interested in sharing info with anyone searching this line. Thank You -- John Anderson, JEANDERH@SWBELL.NET Caleb BENSON born about 1813 in Kent County, Delaware, 1850 lived in Louisianna, about 1851 married Margret Scheeley (spelling unclear), 1n 1860 living Refugio, TX, 1865 served in Civil War, 1870 lived near Corpus Christi, TX, 1880 found in Gonzales Tx. by 1900 deceased and family living in Kerrville, TX. Per Census records probabale parent John Benson, Murderkill 100, Delaware unable to confirm or continue due to lack of Delaware records here in Texas. Margret SCHEELEY? (spelling unclear pronounced SHE-LEE) born June 15, 1835 in either ALABAMA or TX of Pennsylvania parents according to family lore orphaned before 1850 in East Texas possibly in or near Gonzales Texas, cir 1851 married Caleb Benson (see above), 1900 - May 12, 1915 lived Kerrville, Kerr County, TX.

FIRST: Please accept my sincere thanks for everyone who responded to my SOS. SECOND: It seems that two things were wrong here: 1. I was trying to reformat an attachment by changing ".txt" extension to ".ftw", when the file was a GEDCOM file. 2. The more serious problem was that the sender copied the GEDCOM file into the e-mail message before sendint the e-mail. AOL or the sender's e-mail service read the message as being too long, and converted the message to text format. As a result, the attachment was never in GEDCOM format. My advice (although I haven't yet opened the file--a word to the wise), is: When you send a message, make sure that you are truly ATTACHING the GEDCOM file to the e-mail message, and not importing the file in text format into the e-mail message. AOL will permit the transfer of a file in GEDCOM, IF it is formated and attached in that language. Unfornately, mine was not. I have aske the sender to re-send, in GEDCOM attachment. Scott Mills AltonMills@aol.com

I have encountered similar problems. In most cases, I have not been able to open the files under any circumstances. The first time I encountered it, a GEDCOM program was sent to me by a friend who was running under Windows95. I was running under 3.01 at the time. I had to take the disk to work, have a guy copy the disk from W95 to DOS then back to W3.01. Finally worked, but the process is to complex to do everytime. Good luck. Larry

Do you know the publisheer of the House newsletter? Her name is Mary Lou House. If anyone is interested I'll post her address. She is also doing Yarborough research and I have a bunch of that line. Helene ---------- > From: MATillma@aol.com > To: EAST-TEXAS-ROOTS-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: HOUSE/ENOS death certficate needed > Date: Sunday, June 08, 1997 7:22 PM > > I can't help on the HOUSE/ENOS, but I notice you are researching Tillman---so > am I--My husband is from a line of Tillmans in Cherokee Co, TX. The earliest > couple in this this line is Henry Tillman, b 1799 in NC, m Lydia Johnston, > migrated to Cherokee Co TX from GA. If you think there's a connection, my > email address is > > matillma@aol.com > melinda

Thank you for responding to the SOS Scott Mills AltonMills@aol.com

I've also had some problems with mime and AOL, they have the decripters on line, but you have to know which mime format they used - there are several. The easiest solution is to request the sender to resent and set their mail message format to ASCII. In my case I forwarded the file to my MSN account and set the message format to mime and it translated it automatically.

I can't help on the HOUSE/ENOS, but I notice you are researching Tillman---so am I--My husband is from a line of Tillmans in Cherokee Co, TX. The earliest couple in this this line is Henry Tillman, b 1799 in NC, m Lydia Johnston, migrated to Cherokee Co TX from GA. If you think there's a connection, my email address is matillma@aol.com melinda

Please excuse the faux pas of requesting technical help for a genealogy program, but I probably am not the only person who has encountered the problem, and others would likely want to know how to solve the same issue. I recently received an attached file, in MIME format (I think) of a gedcom file. I downloaded it directly to FTW (Family Tree Maker for Windows), changing the last three letters to ".ftw". When I tried to open the file, FTW refused to open it, claiming it was damaged or already opened. I contacted AOL (yes, I know, FTM and AOL, am I crazy, or what), which was little help. I knew that I was in trouble when the support person asked, "What is a GEDCOM file?" He did suggest that I download a DEMIMEING share ware program, EUDORA 144, which did not solve the problem (SURPRISE!). Can you please help me. I have three files like this, each containing about 4,000 names on three different family lines. I would like to access the information without requiring the sender to send a disk, which would not necessarily solve the problem. Please reply to: Scott Mills AltonMills@aol.com

I just found "The Fifth Annual of The Buna High School, containing The Rules and Regulations and The Course of Study for 1913-14." It contains pictures of A.W. Bulay - superintendent, P.M. Kenley - principal, A.D. Rawlinson, Miss Bertha Powell, Miss Maggie Richardson and Miss Carrie Moody as well as names of students, teachers... I'm not willing to part with it but will make copies. Brenda 6/8/97

I am looking for any information on ROGERS in East Texas. Cora May Rogers married Hugh Lane in 1890 and died in 1894 in Collin Cty tx. Her father was WILLIAM OR BILL ROGERS AND MOTHER SARAH OR SALLIE. Any information on this Rogers line at all. thanks della dlane46324@aol.com