I do believe I have been misunderstood and I'll try one more time to clear this completely before moving on to something else. Please refer to the original question of "where is East Texas"? Please refer to a response, giving a URL for US GenWeb Texas Map Please refer to a simple "copy and paste" list of the counties described on the recommended US GenWeb Project Texas map, as it was divided somewhat into counties and areas. (NOTE: This list was not created by me, check with the state/county co ordinator for Texas US GenWeb Project and the manager of the web site.) Please refer to paragraph which states "it seems to be somewhere between the Red River and the Gulf I'm glad we have a list which includes all parts of "East Texas, regardless if it is Northeast, East, or Southeast". At not time did I say there is a mailing list for North Central, Central Texas or anywhere else. Please re-read the postings to be sure what you thought you read was actually what you read. How such simple postings can create such flurries of messages which doesn't even remotely pertain to the original message is beyond me. Thanks for the "kind and gentle" sarcastic mailings I have received, I'm very disappointed at the maturity as well as the vindictiveness of some people who evidently don't fully comprehend what what is written or what they read. Jo Autrey jmautrey@email.msn.com. ----- Original Message ----- From: P Phillips <webpsalms@iname.com> To: <EAST-TEXAS-ROOTS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, December 12, 1999 1:37 PM Subject: From the Listowner: East Texas > Hi, Folks, > > This question about what is east Texas has come up before, and I do not like > the idea of making a list of counties that "qualify" because my sense is > that "East Texas" is in a real sense a state of mind. I can understand that > someone searching for ancestors in Texas would want to have some idea of > what area a mailing list covers. We've had quite a few responses, and while > all of them have some value, I really don't want to get pinned down and give > people the impression that there is any right or wrong. For instance, there > is an "East Texas" web site, which comes out of Tyler, that shows a map of > East Texas and it does NOT include Nacogdoches. Give me a BREAK! > > Back in the early days, the Nacogdoches (yeah, the extra "a" in there is > wrong, and I wrote and asked to have it corrected, but it has not been) > district covered all or part of 29 counties, and extended all the way up > through Dallas and down to Harrisville (Houston). East Texas Roots started > out with Nacogdoches as the center and included all of the surrounding and > nearby counties. At the time, there was NO mailing list that really dealt > with this area. There is a mailing list for the counties up on the border of > OK, though we have queries for them, too. As someone mentioned, there is the > Hill Country list, and there is a West Texas list. East-Texas doesn't extend > into the panhandle, or down into the valley. Austin and San Antonio are too > far afield. What we are trying to do is provide a place where people can > gather to discuss the area and their ancestors who lived in what has been > "historically" East Texas. So it is less a set of current counties, than it > is a geographical-cultural area from OK to the gulf and extending about 1/3 > to 1/2 of the way from the LA border (which fluctuated some in the early > days) into Texas. I *do* consider Houston, for instance, to be part of East > Texas, at least in some sense. > > Most of the queries and discussions involve the counties surrounding > Nacogdoches: Shelby, San Augustine, Sabine, Panola, Angelina, Cherokee, > Houston, Rusk and the counties surrounding them. But that doesn't mean that > queries about some other area in the eastern quadrant are inappropriate, > just that they probably will not get as much response. > > Now that each county has its own mailing list, East Texas Roots has changed > somewhat in character. As someone pointed out, if your ancestors wandered > all around the Eastern part of Texas and different parts of your family > lived in different counties, it is a lot more trouble to belong to a bunch > of different lists, and many people choose to stay on ETR instead or in > addition to a handful of primary counties. > > So, again, East-Texas-Roots is not for the Hill Country, the panhandle, > South Texas (Corpus Christi, etc.), the Valley, but does encompass the > counties bordering and surrounding Nacogdoches-Shelby-San Augustine, and the > area that used to be the Nacogdoches District. > > Sincerely, > > Pam Phillips > Listowner, East-Texas-Roots-L > Email: webpsalms@iname.com >