I have enjoyed the creativity that folks use for their email addresses. I'm afraid that I just go along with my name - no originality at all. But there are some real gems out there. Some examples are: BJ is folkie Rhonda is grandma-r Deborah is alohawahine (that's a great one.) Mark has a strange one - EirickBlotOx Rick uses his ham sign which is a good idea Sandy uses the poetic "grannysandy" Brenda is twocan but the one that wins my first prize is Gwendolyn and her addy PenGwen How about that? I have enjoyed watching for these . jack

The Decatur County, Iowa WPA Records Transcription of Surnames beginning with "N", "O" and "P" are now online at: _http://iowawpagraves.com/index.php?cid=27_ (http://iowawpagraves.com/index.php?cid=27) Stacey Dietiker

The Chariton Leader, Chariton, Iowa Thursday, August 6, 1908 WM. CART who lives in the Wheeling neighborhood will be 100 years old September 11th, and a celebration of the event is being planned. He has lived on the same farm since 1851. -- PLEASANTVILLE NEWS WILLIAM CART is the father of PROF. CART, who was formerly superintendent of the Chariton public schools. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copied by Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert March 18, 2005 iggy29@rnetinc.net

Thank you! Thank you! I found a ggg grandfather, Aaron B. Ireland, that I had very little on and now I feel I have a lot more! Also found records for a couple of gggg uncles, surname Cron. This is a wonderful site for anyone reserarching Civil War records in Missouri. Conni McDaniel Hall -------Original Message------- From: elaine.is@juno.com Date: Thursday, March 17, 2005 13:33:25 To: IADECATU-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [IADECATU] Missouri Soldiers, War of 1812 to WWI - and other MO records Since Decatur County is so close to the Missouri State Line ... Missouri Archives Soldiers Database: War of 1812 - World War I http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/soldiers/ scroll down for a search Other Missouri records including birth and death http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/resources.asp ==== IADECATU Mailing List ==== Stacey Dietiker, Momdit@aol.com: Decatur County List Administrator, Website Coordinator, Decatur County IA Genweb - http://www.rootsweb com/~iadecatu ============================== New! Family Tree Maker 2005. Build your tree and search for your ancestors at the same time. Share your tree with family and friends. Learn more: http://landing.ancestry.com/familytreemaker/2005/tour aspx?sourceid=14599&targetid=5429 .

Nice page. If anyone has trouble viewing these webpages, remove the _ or ) after html. It should work just fine. Clif Hinds Momdit@aol.com wrote: Here is a website for photos of soldiers in the Civil War. It's called the MHI Database _http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usamhi/PhotoDB.html_ (http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usamhi/PhotoDB.html) I found several photos linked to my surnames. Stacey Dietiker ==== IADECATU Mailing List ==== Stacey Dietiker, Momdit@aol.com: Decatur County List Administrator, Website Coordinator, Decatur County IA Genweb - http://www.rootsweb.com/~iadecatu ============================== Find your ancestors in the Birth, Marriage and Death Records. New content added every business day. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13964/rd.ashx __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

Jack, this is a great piece to add to my "family history/genealogy" tid bits.Thanks for sharing. Betty in Weldon

Here is a website for photos of soldiers in the Civil War. It's called the MHI Database _http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usamhi/PhotoDB.html_ (http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usamhi/PhotoDB.html) I found several photos linked to my surnames. Stacey Dietiker

thought you might enjoy since this fits so many of you ... jack The Story Tellers... We are the chosen. My feelings are in each family there is one who seems called to find the ancestors. To put flesh on their bones and make them live again, to tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know and approve. To me, doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts but, instead, breathing life into all who have gone before. We are the story tellers of the tribe. All tribes have one. We have been called as it were by our genes. Those who have gone before cry out to us: Tell our story. So, we do. In finding them, we somehow find ourselves. How many graves have I stood before now and cried? I have lost count. How many times have I told the ancestors you have a wonderful family you would be proud of us? How many times have I walked up to a grave and felt somehow there was love there for me? I cannot say. It goes beyond just documenting facts. It goes to who am I and why do I do the things I do? It goes to seeing a cemetery about to be lost forever to weeds and indifference and saying I can't let this happen. The bones here are bones of my bone and flesh of my flesh. It goes to doing something about it. It goes to pride in what our ancestors were able to accomplish. How they contributed to what we are today. It goes to respecting their hardships and losses, their never giving in or giving up, their resoluteness to go on and build a life for their family. It goes to deep pride that they fought to make and keep us a Nation. It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they were doing it for us. That we might be born who we are. That we might remember them. So we do. With love and caring and scribing each fact of their existence, because we are them and they are us. So, as a scribe called, I tell the story of my family. It is up to that one called in the next generation to answer the call and take their place in the long line of family storytellers. That, is why I do my family genealogy, and that is what calls those young and old to step up and put flesh on the bones. ( Unknown Author )

Thanks, Jack, this is really beautiful, and so true. Donna Wyoming (formerly from Colorado) Thought you might enjoy since this fits so many of you ... jack The Story Tellers...

Elaine wrote yesterday: >Would that same place also have the films they listed? I'm sorry but I have no idea. I would guess that census records may be kept separately from Civil War military records...but you never know with the Government <wink>. Also, it may be far easier to order online and receive via mail than to try to do it these days as a walk-in. I was surprised how easy it was for me to get these military records, or at least most of them. Census records can be searched and obtained conveniently at several on-line sources such as Ancestry.com. It seems the 1880 US census is free and can be found several places for searches. One such place is http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp?PAGE=census/search_census.asp Enjoy! Steve

Hi all. If anyone connects to a Harry Neil Keller, you might want to "run quick" to e-bay and check out item number 6161788940 (named : c1892 Cab Card of ID`d Boy, Leon, Iowa ) This person is selling Harry Neil Keller's baby picture. I hope that this picture gets back to his family. I don't have any Keller connections, or I would go ahead and buy it.... (And I don't know if the seller has any other "things" that were with this picture, or how s/he came across it. If you are family, you may want to ask him/her if there was other pictures with it..you never know) good luck. Stacy

Since Decatur County is so close to the Missouri State Line ... Missouri Archives Soldiers Database: War of 1812 - World War I http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/soldiers/ scroll down for a search Other Missouri records including birth and death http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/resources.asp

Steve, with a copy to the Decatur Detectives, Thanks for you info on about > website: http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/ and clicked on Soldier. I've been looking for a g-g-gFather's brother "Will" who was a Confederate One time I went looking for William Bentleys who'd served with the Confederates and I don't remember what source I used but it just made my brain tired with so many of them. Today I used your suggestion and THANKS. I like how that site is organized. There were 27 William Bentleys and I was able to copy them all into an Excel file. I was also able to have Excel separate the Regiment and the State Infantry into 2 separate columns and then do a Sort by State. Then after running through the localities info clicking on selected State Infantries it gave more detail on localities with the states. I highlighted the most likely 5 out of the 27. It went pretty quick. THANKS. I have a relative who also does family history and lives a few hours from a Federal Archive bldg. that had microfilms of census records. Would that same place also have the films they listed? Elaine

Barbara Zuk here. Looking for information about John Alexander Hamilton and Sarah Ann Burrell Hamilton. Both died in Davis City, Iowa. Can you help me? Please reply ONLY to _Walbar@aol.com_ (mailto:Walbar@aol.com)

Stacey wrote: > http://www.usregulars.com/library.htm This is a good site. I've also had good luck with the nifty National Park Service's Civil War Soldiers and Sailors site mentioned in the Links. For example, my family lore says that great-grandfather Hosea Puckett served in the Confederate Army as did many of his relatives (some in the Union army also). I wanted to get information about him from online sources. I went to website: http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/ and clicked on Soldier. I entered the data and received hits for 'H' or 'Hosea' Puckett serving as a private in three areas: -Cavalry - Jackson's Battallion, Light Artillery, Virginia State Line - Company B -Cavalry - 21st Virginia Cavalry (Peter's Regiment) - Company K -Infantry - 24th Virginia Infantry - Company I I then went to http://eservices.archives.gov/orderonline/start.swe to order a photocopy of his Compiled Military Service File - apparently all the documents that they have on him. I charged $17 to my credit card online for this and the records came in about 3 weeks. I put in all 3 areas that I found at the NPS site and they found the records for the Cavalry parts. Unfortunately, their ordering system chopped off the last part of my description of the order so they did not look for the Infantry records. I've written back to them about the remainder of the order :-( I am now looking through the Library of Virginia Archives at http://ajax.lva.lib.va.us for other information. I have found him on the army roster but the roster itself is not online and would probably be covered anyway by the Compiled Military Service File that I ordered above. I am checking various online documents for possible pension information. There are a lot of sources and I am still looking. I don't hold out much hope for this because he probably did not have a pension - this is the info from http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss which points to the archive sites of the various states, Confederate and Union: "The agencies listed below are repositories for Confederate pension records. The veteran was eligible to apply for a pension to the State in which he lived, even if he served in a unit from a different State. Generally, an applicant was eligible for a pension only if he was indigent or disabled. In your letter to the repository, state the Confederate veteran's name, his widow's name, the unit(s) in which he served, and the counties in which he and his widow lived after the Civil War. Some repositories also have records of Confederate Homes (for veterans, widows, etc.), muster rolls of State Confederate militia, and other records related to the war." The policy may be less restrictive for Union pensions but, anyway, the records are with the state. Hope this help. Steve Puckett

Some of you may not have been to the Decatur County, Iowa Website for a while: _www.rootsweb.com/~iadecatu_ (http://www.rootsweb.com/~iadecatu) The Index/Home Page has a new look. Click on the "What's New" link to find out what's been added to the website and when. Additions today include the "M" Surnames transcription of the WPA Records for Decatur County which should be added sometime today to the Iowa WPA Records Website, the Military Page, Photos Page and Surnames Pages, B, D, G, H, L, M, P, R and S have all been added to. Stacey Dietiker momdit@aol.com Decatur Co IA List Administrator Decatur Co IA Website Coordinator

In a message dated 3/16/05 10:12:31 AM, elaine.is@juno.com writes: > Another idea is to check sign-ups in <<Leavenworth, Kansas>>.  My BENTLEY > went from Decatur Co down there to sign up for the Cavalry and came back > to Decatur after he was discharged.  I suppose others could have gone > over down to Leavenworth to sign up for many other reasons.  On today's > map it's about 130 miles travel. > An excellent idea. I had an Ellis ancestor from Maquoketa, Jackson Co., IA who went all the way to Fort Leavenworth, KS to muster-in with Co. H of the 5th US Infantry Regiment for Frontier Service in 1866, so perhaps that was a major induction center in those days. Rick

This was just passed on by another county coordinator. It looks like an interesting website. If you have had trouble finding an ancestor that you just "knew" was in the Civil War but you can't find him in the "Iowa Volunteer Army", he may have served in the U.S. Regular Army. _http://www.usregulars.com/library.htm_ (http://www.usregulars.com/library.htm) Stacey Dietiker CC Decatur County, Iowa

Decatur Detectives, Stacey said, > If you have had trouble finding an ancestor that you > just "knew" was in the Civil War but you can't find > him in the "Iowa Volunteer Army", .... and to try the Regular Army at http://www.usregulars.com/library.htm Another idea is to check sign-ups in <<Leavenworth, Kansas>>. My BENTLEY went from Decatur Co down there to sign up for the Cavalry and came back to Decatur after he was discharged. I suppose others could have gone over down to Leavenworth to sign up for many other reasons. On today's map it's about 130 miles travel. My John James Bentley had a friend who served side by side with him, James H. STEEL. I don't know if Steel came from Decatur but this James H. Steel was living in Missouri Valley, Harrison Co., Iowa in 1882. Elaine

The Chariton Leader, Chariton, Iowa Thursday, July 9, 1908 MISS BESSE SWOPE was united in marriage at Denver, Colo., Wednesday, to MR. ELMER DILLMAN, of Vernal, Utah. MISS SWOPE has been making her home in Chariton with her aunt, MRS. R.D. PIPER. She is a young lady of refinement and culture with a pleasant manner and sweet disposition. The groom has visited relatives in this community, and it was on one of these visits he met MISS SWOPE. He is engaged in undertaking and furniture business at Vernal, Utah, and has land interests near that city. After a short wedding trip they will go to housekeeping in Vernal. Their many Lucas County friends wish them abundant success and happiness. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ **From another column of the same date: MRS. R.D. PIPER and little daughter MARGARET, and niece MISS BESSE SWOPE, left Sunday night for Denver, Colo. They were accompanied by MRS. PIPER's sisters, MISSES HARRIET and FANNIE SWOPE, of Garden Grove. They will visit their brother at Pierce, Colo., before returning home. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Copied by Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert March 15, 2005 iggy29@rnetinc.net