Dear list, I have a dozen or so articles that I wrote for a newspaper column a couple years ago to explain genealogy to the general public and to act as a basic course to get people started. Much of the material is what we use when we teach the basic course at the Genealogical Society. I have skipped article one as it merely talks about the Society and I have done slight editing to make them compatible with this list. Much will serve as a reminder to those of us who sometimes forget to do the basic items when we start a new line (myself included). FAMILY TIES by Dan Burrows Let's break away from the "how to" lessons for a moment and talk about other items of genealogical interest. The research room of the Orange County Genealogical Society in the 1841 Historic Courthouse, 101 Main Street in Goshen has seen many extra researchers over the last three months. Because of Family History Month, the Basic Genealogy Course, and a Genealogical gathering (sponsored by the Warwick Conference Center), the usual heavy traffic through our bookshelves was doubled and tripled during September through November. Our volunteers put in lots of overtime to make these events successful. The Society has just put out a new catalogue with local genealogical local history books for sale. Non members can pick one up or write to the above address to request one. You may also email me at dburrows2@juno.com and put OCGS BOOKLIST in the subject area. Speaking of members, we are at an all time high this year. We mailed out 979 of our Quarterly Journals to our members across the country on November 1st. We will no doubt hit the 1000 mark before our membership year ends on April 30th. I would like to take a moment and briefly touch on another subject that surfaces from time to time. Halberts of Bath, Ohio periodically sends out advertising to thousands of families each week offering the "World Book of Burrows" with your surname being substituted for Burrows. They have used all kinds of tactics (and many different company names) to get people to buy these books which are nothing more than a few genealogical tips and a listing of others of the same surname with their mailing addresses. They will claim that "you are in the book" -- and your name and address from you phone listing will be there. Simply discard these or any similar ads -- they are fraudulent and charges are periodically filed through the post office by larger genealogical organizations in a so far unsuccessful effort to stop their deceitful advertising tactics. You may receive an honest request from time to time from a person conducting research on your surname in your area. Never give out information about your immediate family until you are convinced their request is genuine. Another topic of local genealogical interest is Family Bibles. The Orange County Genealogical Society is interested in collecting data from Family Bibles of Orange County Families. This is done in one of three ways. Many Bibles are simply donated to the Society where we preserve the family pages in acid free sleeves. The Society has been transcribing and publishing these records. Some people photocopy the title page and the family pages and we put them on file. Lastly, some people carefully transcribe the records (including the title page) and place them on file in our research room. Naturally, the older the records, the more people that would be interested in the information contained on those pages. If you have an old Bible and would like to share the family information they contain, please contact the Society. During our Basic Genealogy Course, we hand out several handouts that aid in genealogical research. I would like to include here a list of old terms used for diseases. These are particularly useful helping us to better understand old letters, obituaries, death certificates, and many other older records. As space permits, I will include other research aids in future articles. Ablepsy - Blindness Ague - Malarial Fever American plague - Yellow fever Anasarca - Generalized massive edema Aphonia - Laryngitis Aphtha - The infant disease "thrush" Apoplexy - Paralysis due to stroke Asphycsia/Asphicsia - Cyanotic and lack of oxygen Atrophy - Wasting away or diminishing in size. Bad Blood - Syphilis Bilious fever - Typhoid, malaria, hepatitis or elevated temperature and bile emesis Biliousness - Jaundice associated with liver disease Black plague or death - Bubonic plague Black fever - Acute infection with high temperature and dark red skin lesions and high mortality rate Black pox - Black Small pox Black vomit - Vomiting old black blood due to ulcers or yellow fever Blackwater fever - Dark urine associated with high temperature Bladder in throat - Diphtheria (Seen on death certificates) Blood poisoning - Bacterial infection; septicemia Bloody flux - Bloody stools Bloody sweat - Sweating sickness Bone shave - Sciatica Brain fever - Meningitis Breakbone - Dengue fever Bright's disease - Chronic inflammatory disease of kidneys Bronze John - Yellow fever Bule - Boil, tumor or swelling Cachexy - Malnutrition Cacogastric - Upset stomach Cacospysy - Irregular pulse Caduceus - Subject to falling sickness or epilepsy Camp fever - Typhus; aka Camp diarrhea Canine madness - Rabies, hydrophobia Canker - Ulceration of mouth or lips or herpes simplex Catalepsy - Seizures / trances Catarrhal - Nose and throat discharge from cold or allergy Cerebritis - Inflammation of cerebrum or lead poisoning Chilblain - Swelling of extremities caused by exposure to cold Child bed fever - Infection following birth of a child Chin cough - Whooping cough Chlorosis - Iron deficiency anemia Cholera - Acute severe contagious diarrhea with intestinal lining sloughing Cholera morbus - Characterized by nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, elevated temperature, etc. Could be appendicitis Cholecystitus - Inflammation of the gall bladder Cholelithiasis - Gall stones Chorea - Disease characterized by convulsions, contortions and dancing Cold plague - Ague which is characterized by chills Colic - An abdominal pain and cramping Congestive chills - Malaria Consumption - Tuberculosis Congestion - Any collection of fluid in an organ, like the lungs Congestive chills - Malaria with diarrhea Congestive fever - Malaria Corruption - Infection Coryza - A cold Costiveness - Constipation Cramp colic - Appendicitis Crop sickness - Overextended stomach Croup - Laryngitis, diphtheria, or strep throat Cyanosis - Dark skin color from lack of oxygen in blood Cynanche - Diseases of throat Cystitis - Inflammation of the bladder Day fever - Fever lasting one day; sweating sickness Debility - Lack of movement or staying in bed Decrepitude - Feebleness due to old age Delirium tremens - Hallucinations due to alcoholism Dengue - Infectious fever endemic to East Africa Dentition - Cutting of teeth Deplumation - Tumor of the eyelids which causes hair loss Diary fever - A fever that lasts one day Diptheria - Contagious disease of the throat Distemper - Usually animal disease with malaise, discharge from nose and throat, anorexia Dock fever - Yellow fever Dropsy - Edema (swelling), often caused by kidney or heart disease Dropsy of the Brain - Encephalitis Dry Bellyache - Lead poisoning Dyscrasy - An abnormal body condition Dysentery - Inflammation of colon with frequent passage of mucous and blood Dysorexy - Reduced appetite Dyspepsia - Indigestion and heartburn. Heart attack symptoms Dysury - Difficulty in urination Eclampsy - Symptoms of epilepsy, convulsions during labor Ecstasy - A form of catalepsy characterized by loss of reason Edema - Nephrosis; swelling of tissues Edema of lungs - Congestive heart failure, a form of dropsy Eel thing - Erysipelas Elephantiasis - A form of leprosy Encephalitis - Swelling of brain; aka sleeping sickness Enteric fever - Typhoid fever Enterocolitis - Inflammation of the intestines Enteritis - Inflations of the bowels Epitaxis - Nose bleed Erysipelas - Contagious skin disease, due to Streptococci with vesicular and bulbous lesions Extravasted blood - Rupture of a blood vessel Falling sickness - Epilepsy Fatty Liver - Cirrhosis of liver Fits - Sudden attack or seizure of muscle activity Flux - An excessive flow or discharge of fluid like hemorrhage or diarrhea Flux of humour - Circulation French pox - Syphilis Gathering - A collection of pus Glandular fever - Mononucleosis Great pox - Syphilis Green fever / sickness - Anemia Grippe/grip - Influenza like symptoms Grocer's itch - Skin disease caused by mites in sugar or flour Heart sickness - Condition caused by loss of salt from body Heat stroke - Body temperature elevates because of surrounding environment temperature and body does not perspire to reduce temperature. Coma and death result if not reversed Hectical complaint - Recurrent fever Hematemesis - Vomiting blood Hematuria - Bloody urine Hemiplegy - Paralysis of one side of body Hip gout - Osteomylitis Horrors - Delirium tremens Hydrocephalus - Enlarged head, water on the brain Hydropericardium - Heart dropsy Hydrophobia - Rabies Hydrothroax - Dropsy in chest Hypertrophic - Enlargement of organ, like the heart Impetigo - Contagious skin disease characterized by pustules Inanition - Physical condition resulting from lack of food Infantile paralysis - Polio Intestinal colic - Abdominal pain due to improper diet Jail fever - Typhus Jaundice - Condition caused by blockage of intestines ___________________________________________________________________ Get the Internet just the way you want it. Free software, free e-mail, and free Internet access for a month! Try Juno Web: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tagj.