) ( ( ) Good Morning Family! ( \ .-.,--^--. ( Come on in. . . \* ) \\|`----'| - The coffee pot's on. . . .=|=. \| |// ...and we even have decaf, |~'~| | |/ tea, and hot chocolate! | | \ / _|___|_ ------ (_______) Today's topics include: 1. Welcome to new cousins 2. Family Discovery is at it again 3. Family Tree Maker, v. 9: a warning 4. Did you know ...? *** REMINDER: GIFTS FOR OUR FAMILY CHRISTMAS ARE DUE TO ME BY NOVEMBER 30th *** If you're new or have lost your original message regarding this family event, let me know <[email protected]> and I'll send you a copy. TO OUR NEWEST COUSINS ~~ On behalf of the entire 4H family, I'd like to extend a most hearty welcome to those cousins who came into the family fold this past week. We are very glad to have you with us and hope you'll stay and remain a part of our online family. As soon as you're comfortable with us and the list, please send in your Howell lines so we can all see how we're related to you. We do not have a fancy format for sending in records or queries to the list. Post as many as you wish! If the data has anything to do with Howell ancestors or any of the 9 variant spellings we research that might help someone, please feel free to post it. Every scrap of information is appreciated. You have joined not just a list, but a family of cousins who are four teams of researchers combined into one family, the 4H. Although we are one family, we have two homesites and if you haven't visited these sites yet, you are encouraged to do so ~ Home for the HOWELL-L, HOWELLS-SOUTHERN-L, and HOWLE-L is the Howell Research Room (otherwise known as the HRR) which opened May 28th. You'll find it located at <http://geocities.com/howell_research>. While not large in size yet, this site is to become a clearinghouse dedicated to global research of the Howell[s] surname and all her variant spellings. You're invited to submit material for display at the HRR. Simply let me know you want to house material there and what it is. We can display anything, provided it doesn't involve living persons. Contact me at <[email protected]>. Home for the HOWELL-SURNAME-L is the Edward Howell Family Association site at <http://www.ehfa.org>. This is a site dedicated to descendants of Edward Howell of Southampton, Long Island, New York. There you'll find an online transcription of "Descendants of Edward Howell (1584-1655) of Westbury Manor, Marsh Gibbon, Buckinghamshire, [England], and Southampton, Long Island, New York," Second Edition by Dr. David Faris. Webmistress for the EHFA site is Kristen Howell <[email protected]>. FAMILY DISCOVERY IS AT IT AGAIN These people just don't give up, do they? It seems they've begun a new campaign, this time under their GenRelated pseudonym. Please pass the word so we can thwart yet another of their attempts. Newbies, those of us who are experienced Web genealogists, know already to steer clear, far and wide, from anything sent by Family Discovery or their sister sites, one being GenRelated. Now, you need to know it, too. These people are scammers. Are you new to the family? Please send a message to me <[email protected]> and I'll send a copy of my all-too-familiar messages regarding these people. Should you receive a message from <FamilyDiscovery.com> or <[email protected]>, please forward it to me with the headers. Although it's over a year-old now, an ongoing effort is being done to get them shut down. (Actually, as a combined force, we've been more successful at getting them kicked off from their various ISPs than anything else. At least when they're offline, they can't rip anyone off!) FAMILY TREE MAKER, VERSION 9: A WARNING It has come to my attention that Family Tree Maker may be up to no good with the latest version (9) of their genealogy program. Since I don't use FTM with any degree of proficiency (I use PAF), I'm passing along this warning by way of copy and paste. Those of you who use FTM will want to read this carefully: "Mattel, the parent company of FTM has included tracking software in Version 9 which keeps track of everything you do on the internet and sends a log of your surfing habits to Mattel every time you log on. The log file is called "aqueduct" and can be found in the root directory of your C drive. I have deleted the file and gone back to version 8. "I discovered {this] quite by accident. In an unrelated attempt to fix one of my screwups on my hardrive, I discovered the file called "aqueduct" and opened it as I didn't know what it was. I discovered that it was a log of all my surfing habits and I now know, it covered the period from when I installed the FTM 9 upgrade to the date I discovered it and deleted it. I didn't realize it was a FTM by product until I tried to open FTM (after deleting aqueduct) and I got an error message saying "Aqueduct" was missing -- it seems that without the file, FTM version 9 will not run at all. Since I detest tracking software of any kind, I uninstalled FTM version 9 and reinstalled FTM version 8. Note: You will have to open and rename your database backup copy as any database file that you opened and stored in version 9 will be useless." I won't mention the person's name here since our messages go into public archives. However, if you use FTM and want to know who has issued this warning, please write me offline and I'll pass the address along to you. Or, if there are many of you wanting the name and email addy, will send your names and addies to the person so s/he can post to you. One way or another, you will be put in contact, if that's your desire. :) DID YOU KNOW ...? ... turkeys originated in North and Central America, and evidence indicates that they have been around for over 10 million years? ... that out of the 102 Pilgrims who came to America in the Mayflower, just 51 survived to participate in the "First Thanksgiving?" Ninety Wampanoag Indians were at that first feast. ... that the first Thanksgiving lasted for three days and was called a "harvest feast" by Massasoit, the Wampanoag Indian chief? ... that the Pilgrims didn't use forks at the first feast (Thanksgiving) in 1621? They used a knife, a spoon, a large napkin and their fingers, and might have shared plates and drinking vessels. ... that according to the Guiness Book of World Records, the largest dressed weight (cooked, with dressing) recorded for a turkey is 39.09 kg (86 lb.) on December 12, 1989? (I wonder how long it took to cook?) ... more than 45 million turkeys are cooked and eaten during Thanksgiving? ... that nobody knows for certain that turkeys were eaten at the first feast? Then how *did* the turkey become the main course? One story tells of how Queen Elizabeth of 16th century England was chowing down on roast goose during a harvest festival. When news was delivered to her that the Spanish Armada had sunk on it way to attack her beloved England, the queen was so pleased that she order a second goose to celebrate the great news. Thus, the goose became the favorite bird at harvest time in England. When the Pilgrims arrived in America from England, roasted turkey replaced roasted goose as the main cuisine because wild turkeys were more abundant and easier to find than geese. ... that it was Benjamin Franklin who said, "I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen as the representation of our country... the turkey is a much more respectable bird and a true original native of America?" ... that George Washington proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving in 1789, but it was President Lincoln who, in 1863, made the day official by proclaiming the last Thursday in November as a national day of "Thanksgiving?" ... that “Jingle Bells,” the popular Christmas song, was actually written for Thanksgiving? The song was composed in 1857, by James Pierpont, and was originally called “One Horse Open Sleigh.” Family ... it's what we're all about ~ and for the first time, we step into the holidays together ... as a family. Thank you for allowing me to spend this time with you today. I wish each of you a week filled with health, productivity, fun, and above all, filled with love and inner peace. Happy Thanksgiving! :) ) ( ) _.-~~-. (@\'--'/. Colleen ('``.__.'`) `..____.'

> > DID YOU KNOW ...? > > ... that according to the Guiness Book of World Records, the largest > dressed weight (cooked, with dressing) recorded for a turkey is 39.09 kg > (86 lb.) on December 12, 1989? (I wonder how long it took to cook?) > Does Guiness know about Don's mom? Here is a classic Thanksgiving tale that is quite entertaining. http://www.rootsweb.com/~mlnews/turkey.htm