Mail Delivery Subsystem wrote: > > The original message was received at Sun, 1 Jun 1997 18:55:02 -0500 > from fh102f.infi.net [208.131.160.101] > > ----- The following addresses had delivery problems ----- > <ralph@psyberlink.net> (unrecoverable error) > > ----- Transcript of session follows ----- > deliver: can't create lockfile /var/spool/mail/ralph.lock: File exists > deliver: delivery error on host waverly. > Delivery to these addresses failed: > ralph > Reason(s) for failure: > "ralph": Can't write to mailbox > 554 <ralph@psyberlink.net>... unknown mailer error 1 > > ----- Original message follows ----- > Return-Path: woodham@leo.infi.net > Received: from fh102.infi.net (fh102f.infi.net [208.131.160.101]) by waverly.psyberlink.net (8.6.13/8.6.12) with ESMTP id SAA20896 for <ralph@psyberlink.net>; Sun, 1 Jun 1997 18:55:02 -0500 > Received: from pa2dsp12.csg.infi.net (pa2dsp12.csg.infi.net [207.0.197.60]) > by fh102.infi.net (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id TAA00680 > for <ralph@psyberlink.net>; Sun, 1 Jun 1997 19:56:00 -0400 (EDT) > Message-ID: <33923652.35F@leo.infi.net> > Date: Sun, 01 Jun 1997 19:56:18 -0700 > From: Robert Earl Woodham <woodham@leo.infi.net> > Reply-To: woodham@leo.infi.net > Organization: InfiNet > X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0 (Win16; U) > MIME-Version: 1.0 > To: "Ralph J. Mauelshagen" <ralph@psyberlink.net> > Subject: Sasser family > References: <01BC6E91.2E1E9240@net51.psyberlink.net> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > > Dear Ralph, > > Back again. Sorry but I had to stop and write down most of your lettr. > For some reason, my printer will not print about 4/5 of the page. > > ALSO, you have an attachment. Unfortunately, I cannot read it. I am a > newbie on the Internet: been online for two months now. So far, I have > received several attachments (having various types of encoding). Not > until this morning have I been able to read a single one. And this one > just happened to be in a family history program that I have. Netscape > jumped into my program as soon as I clicked on it. I was off line for > almost three weeks because my 170 MB hard drive filled up and crashed. > A friend from work added another hard drive but when reloading fonts, it > crashed again. I lost all the attachments I had been saving in my > mailbox until I could figure out how to view them. Since I got back > online, I have received more and still can't view any of them. > > I use a small, inexpensive desktop publisher and my friend added an old > version of WordPerfect for me two weeks ago. I still can't get > WordPerfect to read any of these. I also had to buy a zip program. > I remember having one email with the same encoding that your's has > "ms-tnef". I believe the prefix means Microsoft but don't have any idea > what the tnef is. When I try to read most of the attachments, they come > out as garbage (symbols, etc.). Do you have any suggestions of what I > could do to read attachments. This is really frustrating. > > Now, to the p.s. portion of your letter. > > Yes, I have considered the idea that there could have been more than one > immigration of Sasser's. Did you read my last message completely? > Please note that I mentioned the fact that JOHN SASSER came to Virginia > (then to NC) aboard the ship "Jubilee" from Essex, England in the year > 1742. This was AFTER Sasser's were already in Maryland AND > North Carolina. Did you overlook this item? > > As for any other Sasser's coming to America since Colonial times, there > just may have been several. However, this question is not what the list > group is considering nor am I. We were talking about the origins of our > Colonial ancestors. > > As for any "movement between Germany and England over the past 500 > years?", there has been a handful of people moving both ways, as > attested by the present royal house of England and the last ruling house > of Germany. The British hired themselves a German prince back in the > 1700's to be their king. And his descendant, Queen Victoria, was the > grandmother of Kaiser Wilhelm. But as for commoners, there was VERY > little immigration from Germany's various states to England between the > 1500's and our own colonial period, at least not that I have read about. > > I am very aware of the Salzburgers. They founded one colony in Georgia > at Ebenezer. This colony failed and the settlement was abandoned. The > vast majority of these immigrants first settled in what is now parts of > Dorchester County and adjoining Orangeburg County--not on the Savannah > River as you said. That came later as new generations looked for more > land. > > One of those German settlers in Dorchester was my own ancestor, by the > name of INFINGER > (spelled Enfinger by the majority of descendants outside South Carolina > today). I am the Infinger/Enfinger family historian and have quite a > collection of records on the family. > I am very proud of this ancestry. (incidentally, you will note that in > many instances, I prefer to use Saxon ("true" English) words such as > folk rather than the Latin-origin words imported into England by the > Normans, such as "people" because I AM very proud of my Saxon ancestry) > > As for there being "more people of German descent than English (per the > 1980 Census)", > I do not dispute your word because I simply do not have the figures to > do so. However, > I can guarantee you that folks of German descent do NOT outnumber those > of English in a single one of the Southern states. I have never studied > the population statistics of any northern state. > > As I tried to point out in my message but apparently failed to get the > idea across to you in particular, the 13 American Colonies were founded > by England, by and for English colonists. When those 13 colonies > declared their independence, the vast majority of white population > within them were still English. Yes, there were colonies of foreigners > scattered throughout the Colonies, notably the Pennsylvania Deutch > (German), the colony in South Carolina and the Scots in Sampson and > adjoining counties of North Carolina. To my knowledge, there were no > "waves" of German immigrants into the South. If you can cite any such > movements in significant numbers of folk, please let me know. > > As for the Germans who came to America after our independence, I did not > consider them nor should they even enter into our consideration. After > all, we are not debating the massive German immigrations of the 1850's > (to the Midwest) and later. We are talking about OUR ancestor's > origins--aren't we? > > You seem to have really gotten "hot under the collar" about this German > question. Even to the extent of citing such huge German immigration > that they now outnumber the original founders of the country. Do you > have a bias AGAINST English ancestry? > > As for considering that "people of the time did not necessarily learn in > public schools as we know them today?" Yes, for in fact, most of the > people who learned to read and write were taught by others who > could--outside any kind of school. I have read a number of works on > education in pioneer days. The educational level of the Colonists was > on a par with their cousins in England. Our mother country was no > better off when it came to literacy. > > By the 1830's, most of the Southern states had county "poor schools", > for the folks who could not afford to send their children to private, > tuition-supported academies. By the 1850's, almost every county in > Georgia (and North Carolina) had at least one such "poor school", > supported by a poor-school tax levied upon property holders. All such > schools were one-room facilities with only one teacher for all grades > normally. > > As for the "infested with as much ignorance as you suggest?" bit, I > would recommend that you read some of the published academic studies of > education in the South prior to the 20th Century. Have you ever done > much research on the census records. I have. In fact, I have spent > several thousand hours over the years, poring over every name in every > county in every state in the South for every census from 1800 to 1850. > I did this long before all the indexes were published which now make it > so easy to find someone. > > In fact, I was one of the first persons to use the National Archives > branch in Atlanta on a regular basis and was directly responsible for > getting them to install microfilm readers for the publis. When I began > using their facility, they had only one reader, on a table in the > officer of the director/chief archivist. I also talked him into buying > the indexes as they were published (to cut down on the wear and tear of > the microfilm). > > That director can attest to the thousands of hours I have spent there. > In addition, I have also spent many more hours at local public libraries > on census records. > > If you look at many of these census records, they will enlighten you on > the number of folks who can or cannot read and write, for this was one > of the categories of questions asked on the census records for many > years it has been taken. Those census records have provided the > statistics for many historians to publish authoritative studies of the > educational level of the general population. > > I forgot to mention, my Daddy also attended a one-teacher school and my > mother did in grammar school but attended a modern brick, multi-room > high school built by President Roosevelt during the Great Depression. > In fact, our little rural county got three new brick schools built by > Roosevelt's administration. I later went to one of them. > > As my Granddaddy and on Daddy's side, my Grandmother both told me, there > is a BIG difference between ignorance and a "lack of schooling". I > don't consider the South as being "infested with ignorance". On the > contrary, they could not have survived in the new wilderness if they had > been ignorant. Illiterate? Yes--the VAST majority were. And all the > facts bear this out. > > I have visited several hundred courthouses in my lifetime, in Virginia, > North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, > Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Kentucky. I took a year of law school > just to be able to understand legal documents for both my family history > hobby as well as my journalism profession (I always enjoyed covering > politics). I have read many thousands of deeds, estate records, wills > and other legal documents in courthouses, church records, private > papers, etc. over the years and I can testify to the fact that most such > records in Colonial times were signed with a mark by folks who could not > read nor write. In fact, I have seen documents wherein all the > witnesses had to sign with a mark, something that should have been > illegal (you can't "witness" a document if you can't read it!). > > I have xerox copies of hundreds of documents made prior to 1900 in which > one or more persons had to sign with a mark. > > By the way, my collection of family records now includes more than 3,000 > notebooks full of records, plus a walkin closet full of boxes and more > in the kitchen, plus two nine-drawer chests full. I am not a beginner > when it comes to research, on either family history nor Southern > history. This has been my hobby now for more than 45 years, starting > when I was 12 years old. Southern history has also been my life-long > love. > > Must close and try to get to bed. I work at night and sleep days and > SHOULD have been in bed at 8 this morning (it is now 8 PM). Been trying > to answer a pile of mail all day. > > More later, > Your cuz, > Robert Earl Woodham > Columbus, Georgia This was the first one I tried to send (I think). ------------------------------