This may be a rather long post, but I feel in the mood to review some things. It humbles me to look back over the years and see how my feeble efforts have helped so many people. I don't know as much about DNA as some of you (especially Rebecca Christofferson) and I have not done a lot of genealogical research myself--I researched and verified my great grandfather's family and corrected some family legends, and the rest of my line back to John of Middlesex was sent to me by other respected researchers. It has been helpful that my MA degree is in European History and I had a good seminar on using sources--primary and secondary, verifying and authenticating, drawing conclusions from sources, etc. We were all given the same sources and had to write an account of an event in history then defend it in the seminar. Amazing that we all used the same sources but wrote slightly different, sometimes contradictory accounts. An eye openeer. I joined the Pace Society and thought such a prestigious group would have careful research, but was tremendously disappointed in much of what I saw. Retiring from high school teaching World History/World Cultures) and teaching computer courses at Webster University gives me the opportunity to buy high powered programs like FrontPage at riduculously low faculty prices. Most site managers can't do this. Of course you have to learn how to use them too. Back in the stone age of computing, I joined AOL and found that they had a genealogy section. Noticing some Pace posts I got the idea to coordinate online Pace research. I emailed those people and started the Pace Network, at that time just an email deal as the World Wide Web wasn't accessible yet. I think there were seven or eight of us in the original Pace Network. Then AOL opened the World Wide Web to AOL members, and I thought, "hey, here is a great chance to learn how to do a web page." AOL had a very simple program for doing it, which I still use sometimes. So I moved the Pace Network to the Web and set up queries pages, which I had to enter by hand. Eventually, I moved the Pace Network off of AOL and onto RootsWeb. I think the Pace Network is the oldest Pace resource on the Internet. Then an amazing thing happened that had important repercussions in our DNA project. I had a UK queries section, and one query mentioned that a family member had emigrated to Canada in the 19th century and contact was lost. Gordon Pace of Canada happened to browse that page and said, "Hey, that's my ancestor!" He got in contact with his Briish cousins, found documentary evidence going back to his Paces in Straffordshire, and visited there. That in itself is amazing enough, but we all know what happened when Gordon later matched 25/25 with John of Middlesex descendents and we were able to use his research to locate John's probable ancestry in England. There are some who have suggested that I be a presenter at a Pace Society meeting if I am ever able to go to one. But what would I present? Whether genealogy or DNA, there are those in the society who know more than I do. I am jack of all trades and master of none. I even dabble a bit in folk and country music. I wrote a sonf for my in-laws' golden wedding anniversary called "Golden Love". I paid to have a professional recording made of it, and later put it on a CD. I got the idea that it was general enough to have salable value, and I put it on the Internet, offering to personalize it with pictures and captions. I have sold 150 copies to 30-some states and England, Wales, Scotland, and Canada. If you are curious, you can see it at http://goldenwedding.net. I'm more of a people person than a research person. Someone asked me once if I preferred teaching World History/World Cultures or computer courses. I thought about it a minute and said: "I prefer teaching people." Guess it's that way with genealogy too. I have just had some fantastic good luck in bringing people together. I get lots of questions about genealogy and DNA from those who think I have expertise. I don't. Roy Johnson

That's a very interesting story. Thanks for posting it. Seems to me it would make a very interesting presentation, though I'm not a Pace Society member. It's amazing that the Pace family in Shropshire still recall that a family member immigrated to Canada in the 17th century. Quite extraordinary. It made me wonder, though. If two of the brothers immigrated -- George to Canada and John to Virginia -- I wonder how it came about that George's journey got remembered but John's didn't. Did the Shropshire family have any thoughts on this? (I realize it's not absolutely proved that John and George were brothers but the evidence seems very persuasive.) James --- royj@webster.edu wrote: > This may be a rather long post, but I feel in the > mood to review some things. > > It humbles me to look back over the years and see > how my feeble efforts have > helped so many people. I don't know as much about > DNA as some of you > (especially Rebecca Christofferson) and I have not > done a lot of genealogical > research myself--I researched and verified my great > grandfather's family and > corrected some family legends, and the rest of my > line back to John of > Middlesex was sent to me by other respected > researchers. > > It has been helpful that my MA degree is in European > History and I had a good > seminar on using sources--primary and secondary, > verifying and authenticating, > drawing conclusions from sources, etc. We were all > given the same sources and > had to write an account of an event in history then > defend it in the seminar. > Amazing that we all used the same sources but wrote > slightly different, > sometimes contradictory accounts. An eye openeer. > I joined the Pace Society > and thought such a prestigious group would have > careful research, but was > tremendously disappointed in much of what I saw. > > Retiring from high school teaching World > History/World Cultures) and teaching > computer courses at Webster University gives me the > opportunity to buy high > powered programs like FrontPage at riduculously low > faculty prices. Most site > managers can't do this. Of course you have to learn > how to use them too. > > Back in the stone age of computing, I joined AOL and > found that they had a > genealogy section. Noticing some Pace posts I got > the idea to coordinate > online Pace research. I emailed those people and > started the Pace Network, at > that time just an email deal as the World Wide Web > wasn't accessible yet. I > think there were seven or eight of us in the > original Pace Network. > > Then AOL opened the World Wide Web to AOL members, > and I thought, "hey, here is > a great chance to learn how to do a web page." AOL > had a very simple program > for doing it, which I still use sometimes. So I > moved the Pace Network to the > Web and set up queries pages, which I had to enter > by hand. Eventually, I moved > the Pace Network off of AOL and onto RootsWeb. I > think the Pace Network is the > oldest Pace resource on the Internet. > > Then an amazing thing happened that had important > repercussions in our DNA > project. I had a UK queries section, and one query > mentioned that a family > member had emigrated to Canada in the 19th century > and contact was lost. > Gordon Pace of Canada happened to browse that page > and said, "Hey, that's my > ancestor!" He got in contact with his Briish > cousins, found documentary > evidence going back to his Paces in Straffordshire, > and visited there. > > That in itself is amazing enough, but we all know > what happened when Gordon > later matched 25/25 with John of Middlesex > descendents and we were able to use > his research to locate John's probable ancestry in > England. > > There are some who have suggested that I be a > presenter at a Pace Society > meeting if I am ever able to go to one. But what > would I present? Whether > genealogy or DNA, there are those in the society who > know more than I do. > > I am jack of all trades and master of none. I even > dabble a bit in folk and > country music. I wrote a sonf for my in-laws' > golden wedding anniversary > called "Golden Love". I paid to have a professional > recording made of it, and > later put it on a CD. I got the idea that it was > general enough to have salable > value, and I put it on the Internet, offering to > personalize it with pictures > and captions. I have sold 150 copies to 30-some > states and England, Wales, > Scotland, and Canada. If you are curious, you can > see it at > http://goldenwedding.net. > > I'm more of a people person than a research person. > Someone asked me once if I > preferred teaching World History/World Cultures or > computer courses. I thought > about it a minute and said: > > "I prefer teaching people." > > Guess it's that way with genealogy too. I have just > had some fantastic good > luck in bringing people together. I get lots of > questions about genealogy and > DNA from those who think I have expertise. > > I don't. > > Roy Johnson > > > ==== PACE Mailing List ==== > Check out the Pace GenConnect Boards where you can > post or peruse Pace Bibles, Obits, Bios, Deeds, > Wills, Queries, etc. Bookmark this URL: > http://boards.ancestry.com > > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com