I wanted to share a good source of otherwise unknown books that have a wealth of information. Many years ago I discovered the Library of American Civilization (LAC) at the local university library. It is a series of micro books with an accompanying index (real books - not micro books). I don't know the publishing source, but the books seem to all be written prior to about 1900. An example is that I obtained an old leather-bound Latin book when my grandmother died, over 40 years ago, with the name Joseph Stockbridge written in it. My grandmother was a Stockbridge, and I knew the names of her father and his immediate family - the Joseph was unknown to me. Also written with the name in the inside cover was Bowdoin College. The college was in the area of Maine that my Stockbridge family had been for some time. I took a chance and wrote Bowdoin College. The Special Collections sent me copies of all correspondence and info on Joseph - lots of genealogical info but it didn't mean anything to me. I still had no idea who Joseph was. I was in the university library one day and happened on the LAC. In checking the index I found a reference to Bowdoin College. The micro book, published in about 1890 (if memory serves), was a compilation of information the College had collected as part of a centennial project from queries to their alumni from years past. Included was my great-grandfather - he attended but did not graduate. I again wrote to Bowdoin, armed this time with knowledge that there should be something regarding him in the Special Collections. I was sent, much to my surprise, a whole ream of correspondence (very little of which had been contained in the Bowdoin book) that he told of his life since leaving Bowdoin. He listed all of his children and of his 2 marriages plus a recount of his Civil War experiences, being imprisoned as a Northern sympathizer (and seemingly a very vocal one) in a Southern state. Muchos muchos information that I didn't know. He was in his late 80's at the time of the compilation. I still do not know the connection with Joseph, but I feel sure he is a relative. The bad news is that after a few years I went again to check the LAC to find all the micro books and the indexes - but the reader had disappeared, and there is no other machine that will suffice. although the head librarian has spend some time trying to find the machine. I'm afraid that it just looked like an old machine when they updated all the other microfilm readers. I would be very interested in finding anyone else who has also used this series and if a reader is still available. I would add that there is much that may never be of use to a family researcher, but there were books on everyday life, business, travel logs, trade, and whatever. All of the 19th century - maybe before although I never came across one. Happy hunting! Sharon Simnacher "ss" <simnacher@3lefties.com>

Included is an open email to the genealogical community about potential record closing in Texas. I hope we will all be concerned and proactive to keep records available for our research. MESSAGE TO GENEALOGICAL SOCIETIES FROM MIC BARNETTE ... > > Hi Everyone: > > As the Texas Liaison for the Joint (National Genealogical > Society/Federation of Genealogical Societies) NGS-FGS Records > Preservation and Access Committee I have set up both a website and > email mailing list to aid us in lobbying the Texas Legislature. The > Legislature currently has several bills pending which seek to close > records to the public. Information about these bills is on the > website. > > This website is a place where we can post information about > particular bills and how to locate legislators to contact. > > The mailing list is designed as a forum for us genealogists to > communicate quickly and be able to coordinate activities in quick > mode should we have to do so. And we already have to do so. There is > a hearing at 1:30 or whenever the committee earlier in the day > adjourns- for the Senate Vterans Affairs Committee discussing SB81 > and SB 85 which both want to close DD214-Military Discharge records > in teh county clerk's offices. The hearing will be held in the Betty > King Committee Room in Austin. Anyone who attend is asked to do so > > I have included others from states outside the Republic of Texas in > this email so they can see what we are doing here. They might wish to > monitor what we do or just follow our lead and do something similar > in their own state. > > The website is located at http://micbarnette.bravepages.com/ > > There is a page on the website where one may go to subscribe to the > mailing list, however you may do so by following the attached > directions > > The mailing list may be subscribed to by sending an email to > TXLEGNOTES-L-request@rootsweb.com in the message area of the email > type subscribe. There is a digest mode at TXLEGNOTES-D- > request@rootsweb.com but it may be held up 12 hours before being > sent. For speedier mail, at least during the legislative season when > it might count, I would recomend subscribing to the L mode rather > than the D mode. After the legislative season there may not be > anything to say on this list. It will already have been said and > voted upon. > > The basic things to be concerned with at his point is about 8 bills > pending in the House and the Senate which aim to close DD214/Military > Discharges in Texas. > > Plus two new bills, one in the House and one in the Senate wanting to > extend the time birth records are closed in Texas from 50 years to 75 > years. > > Plus a bill wanting to close marriage applications to the public. > > Plus TEXSHARE/TIFF funding for schools and libraries and electronic > database access. > > Plus HIPPA which I don't know much about but which is expected to go > into effect April 14 and will probably close records which have > medical records or information in them. This bill effects insurance > and medical companies and offices. I remember hearing some people > talking about this last week they were not into genealogy. Now I have > had someone in a county clerk's office ask me about the same thing > and said it may affect their records. So, we may have to address this > problem, too. > > The whole crux of closing public records is all about Identity Theft > and the fear of it. People feel that if a record is available for use > someone must be stealing their identity. So, Identity theft and how > to protect public records from thieves and convince public officials > not to pass laws closing them is going to be our goal at least as I > envision it. > > Please pass this email to everyone in every society. We will need > some numbers to show the legislature we care. we are starting late in > the legislative season and are therefore already behind. > > Thanks, [ The identity theft motivation for closing public records is terribly misguided and reflects the poor public understanding of what identity theft is and how it occurs. *sigh* Speaking out against the closing of public records is a very good thing to do. - Mod ] Glee <gleemc@earthlink.net>

Listmembers, did a person have to be twenty one years of age to obtain a land patent in NC, 1750-1800? Did he have to have reached his 21st year to apply for that land grant? Thanks for any information. Fran fpowellsr@starpower.net

Dear List Hi to all. I'm new on this list although I've been reading it for a few weeks to see how things are presented. Well here goes. Does anyone know if there is an easy way to search for a passenger or ship on the ISTG site. There doesn't appear to be anywhere you can type in a passenger's name or a ship's name and search the whole site at once. Any help very much appreciated. Thank you in advance. -- Cheers Sandra Chick sandraj@trueblue.aunz.com Researching Names of: B.r.i.n.c.k.m.a.n/B.r.i.n.k.m.a.n; B.r.o.a.d.h.e.a.d; E.l.l.i.s; S.m.i.t.h; T.e.b.b.y (England)

"Doug McDonald" <mcdonald@scs.uiuc.edu> wrote: > "Richard A. Pence" wrote: > > > Like most other genealogical puzzles, the solution likely lies in > > carefully tracing each generation back. If you then encounter a > > person whose background might lead you to believe the person could > > be an Indian, then this is the time and the place to try to > > determine the details. > > How is one supposed to know that? I have a pile ... a large pile ... > of dead ends in counties created in Georgia and Alabama in the late > 18th and early 19th century as the Cherokee and Creek lands > dwindled. This alone says that while they might have come into > these lands from Georgia or the Carolinas or even (as we know is > true) Scotland, they well may have been there all along. The > question is, how do we find out? You at least have enough circumstantial evidence to suggest the posssibility of Native American ancestry. "How you know" is by diligently searching the records of the area - deeds, census, probates, marriage records (was there a different book for nonwhite marriges?). What were the laws of the state with regard to interracial marriages? How might that impact on your search? Can't remember the dates of the George land lotteries, but what might these reveal? This list goes on and on. You may not be able to "prove" Native American ancestry, but you likely will be able to rule as some branches as candidates. > > The essence of these discussions is that it is usually a > > losing strategy in genealogy to set out trying to prove your are > > related to some specific person - be he or she rich, famous, an > > Indian or a horse thief. > > Well, I tried that with Pocahontas and proved conclusively that one > of her grandchildren was my aunt unpteen times removed. One teensy > little generation off! Hmmm. Wasn't the aunt a sibling of one of your ancestors? If so, then surely your ancestor had the same heritage as his or her sister. (BTW, I don't think you express relationships to aunts in terms of "removed.") As far as "conclusively" is concerned, at least a portion of what you learned is based on whether or not you had an accurate accounting of Pocahontas' grandchildren. There are many skeptis that say she either had none or the ones that are claimed aren't necessarily her grandchildren. > And it's not terribly silly to try to prove connections with famous > people if you know for sure that there is only one missing > generation to prove or disprove. Not silly at all. That's the way most people would approach the problem. However, what I said was that you shouldn't try to trace down from the famous person to yourself. That's usually a losing strategy - filled with many deadends. Once you get your line within a generation or two of the noted prsons generation, that is indeed the time to look for the connection. Richard "Richard A. Pence" <richardpence@pipeline.com>

From: <Patscga@aol.com> > I'm 70 and I wake up thinking "Wow, I'm still here." Have you put > any of your stuff online? I keep thinking I ought to do that but I > don't know where to put it. None of the family is interested so I > want to put it someplace safe before I go. I recommend putting your information on the free site called WorldConnect at http://www.RootsWeb.com/ You can modify it and up date it and it is free to researchers. You need to have your information in one of the genealogy software programs if you don't already. A free program that will do the job is Legacy [for a reasonable price you can upgrade to include all the bells and whistles, but the standard free version does not have a time limit and is more than adequate to create the program format that can be posted at WorldConnect.] Joan B "Joan Best" <joanbest1@earthlink.net>

Dennis Lee Bieber wrote: > > jsimons@childrensdefense.org fed this fish to the penguins: > > > In theory, this should work, but _only_ if the first letter of the > > surname was transcribed correctly! The surname in question, Riddle, > > could easily have been transcribed as Biddle. > > I can confirm that much... After a few days via the index to > the 1880 Census CD-ROMS, I'd still failed to locate a couple... > > It wasn't until I activated the "neighbors" mode in the > viewer and started scrolling through /all/ the families in the > township that I found the pair I'd been seeking. > > Bieber had been transcribed as Dieber... I was unable to find one particular Van Dalinda family (which had moved from New Jersey to Boston) until I searched on a daughter's first name only, Lavina being fairly rare. They were indexed as Candalindia (I read the entry as Vandalindia). The head's sister was living with her stepfather and mother in Paterson. She was indexed as Valenida (I read it as Vanlinda). I'm still unable to find this particular family in the 1860 census. Richard VanHouten <richvh@citlink.net>

Hi, I have some different lines to Charlemagne, Alexander the Great and so on. The best way is to use Kekule-Numbers. Often the programs only gives me 30 generations but I need up to 90 generations. It must be a program without generation limitation. The following features are necessary: - generations without limitation (or a minimum of 90 generations) - gedcom import - good source management for literature and so on - html-export Please help me. I don't want to type and calculate Kekule-sheets till the end of my life. Thanks in advance Chris "Chris Jorns" <cs65@nyc.com>

> I have several very old high school annuals in my possession from > which I would like to construct alumni lists for sharing with > others, but I don't know where to go to pass on this material. > > I tried using the RootsWeb Alumni lists facility but can't get it to > work (my system has no "save text with tabs" option, for example, > and their software refuses to accept any version I've got). > > Any suggestions about how to share this material? I know someone in > the future would be very interested in this info if I could just > figure out a way of getting it out there. Thanks. > > "Sky" <Sky-Diamonds@no-dreck-please.comcast.net> "DeadFred" hosts a site on yahoo groups for yearbooks and annuals. See: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Yearbooks/ -Marcia

John Kantzer fed this fish to the penguins: > Now that's one I wouldn't have thought of. Dieber. Yeah... and since the first letter is critical in soundex lookup, I subsequently went through checking of Fieber, Kieber, and Rieber (assuming a misread B in transcription: lose the middle bar give D, lose the curves and bottom for F, top and bottom for K, and bottom for R)... Fortunately (?) I didn't find anymore oddities. I was expecting variations like Biber, Beeber, Bibber.. -- > ============================================================== < > wlfraed@ix.netcom.com | Wulfraed Dennis Lee Bieber KD6MOG < > wulfraed@dm.net | Bestiaria Support Staff < > ============================================================== < > Bestiaria Home Page: http://www.beastie.dm.net/ < > Home Page: http://www.dm.net/~wulfraed/ <

> "Richard A. Pence" wrote: > > > > > (I KNOW there was one there somewhere in our family, but can't find > > > them ANYWHERE!!!!) > > > > Dena: > > > > If you can't find "them" ANYWHERE, how do you KNOW "there was one > > there somewhere"? > > > > Aside from "the three brothers" and "the name was changed at Ellis > > Island," the most commonly believed (and rarely true) family > > tradition in American genealogy is the one about Indian (aka "Native > > American") ancestry. > > > > Like most other genealogical puzzles, the solution likely lies in > > carefully tracing each generation back. If you then encounter a > > person whose background might lead you to believe the person could > > be an Indian, then this is the time and the place to try to > > determine the details. > > How is one supposed to know that? I have a pile ... a large pile ... > of dead ends in counties created in Georgia and Alabama in the late > 18th and early 19th century as the Cherokee and Creek lands > dwindled. This alone says that while they might have come into > these lands from Georgia or the Carolinas or even (as we know is > true) Scotland, they well may have been there all along. The > question is, how do we find out? > > > > The essence of these discussions is that it is usually a > > losing strategy in genealogy to set out trying to prove your are > > related to some specific person - be he or she rich, famous, an > > Indian or a horse thief. > > Well, I tried that with Pocahontas and proved conclusively that one > of her grandchildren was my aunt unpteen times removed. One teensy > little generation off! > > And it's not terribly silly to try to prove connections with famous > people if you know for sure that there is only one missing > generation to prove or disprove. Usually it is very easy to > disprove, and in every case but two I have done so, but there is > that one nagging one that mildly reputable sources imply that I > simply cannot disprove. So I might as well keep looking. > > Doug McDonald <mcdonald@scs.uiuc.edu> "We hope to find some clue among the extensive records of Timothy Barnard, U.S. agent to the Upper Creeks. Bernard was half Scot/half Creek, and was m. to a Euchee Indian woman. His son, Billy, m. Peggy Sullivan." This is part of correspondence from Jack Crenshaw Grantham, Jr., a noted Dallas, Texas genealogist and professor, who researched the Creek, Cherokee and Sioux tribes for connections with the Bull family. If you do a search in the NARA, you'll find documents concerning Timothy Barnard and other Indian agents. This may help you.... Roger "Data" <bulldata.nospam@hotmail.com>

"Steve Walker" <stevewalker@stevewalker.karoo.co.uk> wrote: > > My Great, Great......Grandad Thomas Holyman was a Master Mariner and > it looks like he was at sea for the 1881 and 1891 census. > > I'm really after his date of birth and marriage details to Lydia > Holyman (not sure of pre marital name yet). > > The only details I have is that Lydia was born in 1836 and at the > time of the 1881 census was living in Hull, Yorks, UK at 11 > Boulevard. But I believe by 1892 had moved to 245 Boulevard. > > Is there anyway I can find out marriage dates and possibly search > who was onboard ships at the time? just lost a big post on 1881 as MS OE died and I had not done a control S quite a few around Holman Navy "Indus" and "cityof London" then started googlin 1881 Census: Residents of Whitechapel Union Workhouse ... Medlock. Thomas HOLYMAN, U, 66, M, Inmate, Seaman, London, City Of, Middlesex. ... Middlesex. John MCDONALD, W, 63, M, Inmate, Mariner, Liverpool, Lancashire. ... users.ox.ac.uk/~peter/workhouse/Whitechapel/ WhitechapelSouthGrove1881.html about the right age ? a possible there are also a Holyman in Tasmania shipping line PRO has records, too: http://catalogue.pro.gov.uk ships lists seamans pouches some have been dispersed to Greenwich and Canada Hugh W "Hugh Watkins" <hugh_watkins@net.dialog.dk>

I finally managed to get GNIS to work this afternoon and tell me that Chillicothe OH is in Ross County. So I hop on over to the Ross County GenWeb where I discover that absolutely everything is divided by township, and no visible way to find out which township I want/need. Anyone KNOW what township Chillicothe is in or alternatively, how do I find out for myself? Cheryl singhals@erols.com

>From: Singhals <singhals@erols.com> > >I surveyed the alumni offices of all the logical (and a few of >less-logical) candidates to no avail. I had thrown up my hands on >this, when I discovered that some college and university alumni >offices do not hold a complete roster of graduates, but only rosters >of those who either donated money or joined the alumni association For records of alumni 50+ years ago, see if the college has an archives office. Sometimes a search on their web site will locate one. Otherwise you might have to call. Success story: One of my grandfather's brothers, Clarence Botteron, was said to be an architect and had attended "Armor's Art Institute in Chicago" in the early 1900s. Figuring that in Chicago the name was probably spelled Armour, I looked it up and discovered an Armour Institute of Technology founded in 1892; it became part of Illinois Inst. of Tech. (IIT, known to us geeks as "minus T") in 1940. I wrote to IIT's Alumni Records/Archives Office. They told me that he was in the class of 1908, and gave me his last known address. Good luck! Carol Botteron (that's French Swiss) <botteron@alum.mit.edu> Maintainer, Civil War Units File

<asprentz@hotmail.com> wrote in message = > New to the list and I am So lost! > > <snip of lots of information ... > If you haven't already tried this tool to search for Szedlovich on the Ellis Island Database, it can be very helpful in looking up Russian/Hungarian type names. This site uses the D-M soundex which was developed by researchers looking for Jewish names -- but would work just as well for your Szedlovich. http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/EIDB/ And borders changed so much back then, that the inconsistency of country listed on the records wouldn't bother me. I have several relatives of my husband who are from at various times, Poland, Russia, Lithuania, etc. depending on when they were asked! Did Mary indicate on any census whether she had filed for naturalization? I would persue those records as after 1906 they contain a lot of information. Melanie Greenberg Naperville, IL "Melanie Greenberg" <mgreenberg@wideopenwest.com>

csachs@dejazzd.com writes: > I hope it's not too late! I'm 70 and I wake up thinking "Wow, I'm still here." Have you put any of your stuff online? I keep thinking I ought to do that but I don't know where to put it. None of the family is interested so I want to put it someplace safe before I go. Patscga@aol.com

Hey! . . . I'm seventy-three . . . been at it for about 27 years. I completed my Sachs side in 2000, and decided as I do the MYERS, KEKERER, CAMPBELL, SEACHRIST side I'm going to straighten out, file, and otherwise put "stuff" in some semblance of order. So far, it's been FUN! I hope it's not too late! Carl Sachs Carl Sachs <csachs@dejazzd.com>

> Dennis Lee Bieber fed this fish to the penguins: > > > Bieber had been transcribed as Dieber... > > And a few hours later I found a Beaver (granted, "Bieber" > /is/ german for the critter, but still...) > > wlfraed@ix.netcom.com | Wulfraed Dennis Lee Bieber KD6MOG < > wulfraed@dm.net | Bestiaria Support Staff < Now that's one I wouldn't have thought of. Dieber. Pat

> I am come across two new names that may be my ancestors. Ankrom > and Fee what kind of names are these? In the 1700s 1600s in > Maryland, Pa I believe, maybe Va. > > "Diane Y. Smith Royer" <dysmithroyer@dtgnet.com> Diane: have both on my database if you want to contact me off list. Fee is a shortened name from MacFee and Ankrom is from Wales. Pat

Hello, please if any one could point me in the right direction I'd be very grateful. My Great, Great......Grandad Thomas Holyman was a Master Mariner and it looks like he was at sea for the 1881 and 1891 census. I'm really after his date of birth and marriage details to Lydia Holyman (not sure of pre marital name yet). The only details I have is that Lydia was born in 1836 and at the time of the 1881 census was living in Hull, Yorks, UK at 11 Boulevard. But I believe by 1892 had moved to 245 Boulevard. Is there anyway I can find out marriage dates and possibly search who was onboard ships at the time? Hope someone can help. Many thanks Stephen Walker "Steve Walker" <stevewalker@stevewalker.karoo.co.uk>