For anyone who can read French, birth records at Alsace, France are available to 1809, and marriages and deaths go up to 1829. The site is entirely in French, at http://perso.club-internet.fr/fritschj/ebmacte0.htm Cathy

The Register Offices in the county of Yorkshire, England, hold records of local births, marriages and deaths back to the start of civil registration in 1837. The county's Family History Societies are collaborating with the local Registration Services to make the indexes to these records freely searchable via the Internet. Although the indexes are not yet complete for all years and districts, the database will eventually cover Yorkshire births, marriages and deaths for the years 1837 to 1950. The site comes complete with the proper form to print and send. To access, go to http://yorkshirebmd.org.uk/ There are 64 records listed for the surname Sisson Cathy

Hope this helps someone. Cathy Marriages performed by Rev. Calvin Herrick, Montgomery Co., NY 1834-1876 Wiltse, Stephen & Silvia Sisson - Jul. 3, 1841 Evergreen Cemetery Town of Fabius Onondaga Co., NY Sisson, Henry K. d. 28 Dec. 1871, age. 2y 5m, s/o Orrin H. & Sarah A. Sisson, Orrin H. 4 July 1837-21 Jan. 1916. Co. I, 185th NY Vol. Sisson, Sarah A. 1 Jan. 1838-22 Feb. 1924, w/o Orrin (Ins. on Pendell-Olcott monument)

Hi all, I received this as from another list and thought I'd share it. If you have ancestors that went West, you might find them here at http://www.genealogyimagesofhistory.com/ Cathy

I found the following Sissons in databases while searching the web: Peter P. Sisson, son of George Sisson and Hulda Potter, b. 1841 in Collins, Erie Co., NY. He died in 1865 and served in the war of 1812. He served in the 157 Regiment (Westcot's) NY Militia as a Private. There is a Peter Sisson listed in the 1820 and 1830 NY Census, Dutchess Co., Milan Twp. He is shown again in the 1830 NY Census in Oneida Co., Floyd Twp. Hope this helps someone. Cathy

Dear Cousins and Friends, Quoting - At a "Meeting of the Inhabitants of portsm:o [i.e., Portsmouth, Rhode Island] November 30th, 1657" it was ordered that the following ten men should be given planting land on Hog Island (in Mount Hope Bay between Portsmouth and Bristol) for seven years: "Edward ffisher, Richard Sison [sic], John Tripp [Richard and Mary's daughter's father-in-law], John Anthony, ffrancis Brayton, Thomas Ginings, Ralph Earll junr:, John Archar [sic], Samuell [sic] Wilson, & John Baslie." [13] Quoting Footnote 13 - Brigham, "Early Records of Portsmouth [note 9], 80. The reference to the Hog Island planting land is found on p. 85 of the original Portsmouth Records, Book I, in the Rhode Island State Archives. These quotations are from the "New England Historical and Genealogical Register," Volume 157, April 2003, page 103. The NEHG Society website can be seen at http://www.nehgs.org/. Membership isn't cheap, but it's worth every penny if you have extensive New England ancestry. I have found hundreds of well-documented ancestors by way of the "NEHG Register," as well as through its mail-order lending library, and in its library on Newbury Street, Boston. My best wishes for your holiday happiness and safety, David Arne Sisson

Hello all, This info. was sent on another list serv and I thought it was fascinating enough to share with you. Laura Sisson-Thompson, Wisconsin. THE GREAT IRON CHAIN ACROSS THE HUDSON - Jack H. Westbrook -------------------------------------------------- (L. Diamant's book, "Chaining the Hudson", Carol Publishing, 1989) In 1778, during the Revolution, as a defense against British naval incursions up the Hudson River, a 1700' iron chain was made in New York State and emplaced across the Hudson at West Point. It was one of the longest and largest chains ever forged and remarkably constituted not only a military and metallurgical success but also a triumph of ad hoc management involving mass production, numerous contractors and subcontractors, interchangeable parts, and quality control, all advanced concepts for the 18th c. In the 1700s the use of iron chain was a new idea in military defense. Early in the war, chains had been put across the Richelieu River in Canada, at the narrows at Ticonderoga, and across the Hudson at Fort Montgomery. These had all failed, either metallurgically or because their emplacement locations were outflanked. General James Clinton in Nov 1777, following up on an earlier suggestion by Jacobus Van Zandt, recommended production and installation of a new, very heavy chain at West Point. George Washington himself chose 32yr - old Lt. Thomas Machin to be the engineer in charge of the project. Machin (1744-1816) had been a participant in the Boston Tea Party, wounded at Bunker Hill, and had helped place the captured cannon brought from Ticonderoga to Dorchester Heights outside Boston. He had little formal education and his engineering experience was limited to 4 years as assistant surveyor and paymaster for an English canal project and an even briefer experience as a mining consultant on a study that brought him to America. Nonetheless he had earned a reputation as a prototypical "can-do" engineer. As the first step, Machin and Deputy Quartermaster General Hugh Hughes studied the available iron manufacturers of New York and chose Sterling Iron Works (Peter Townsend, proprietor) in Orange Co. as prime contractor. A detailed 3-page contract was drawn up and signed on 2 Feb 1778 which provided for design and specifications for the chain, 9 months exemption from military service for the workers, an outside quality control board, and payment amounts and delivery schedule. The chain was to be made of 2 1/4" square bar, forged into links 31 1/2" long on average and 10" wide, weighing about 130 lbs. each. 750 links were required, together with 8 swivel pieces to prevent twisting and 80 clevises to connect individual sections of the chain. Each section of 8 or 9 links, weighing about 1/2 ton, had to be hauled in mid-winter on sledges or wagons, depending on the weather, by 2-yoke of oxen 30 miles north up Central Valley to New Windsor, south of Newburgh. There the sections were joined together with the clevises and pins at Brewster's forge on the south side of Murderer's Creek, stapled to huge 2' d., 16' long logs, and floated down the Hudson to West Point. The price paid Sterling for the chain itself, not including anchors and incidental hardware, was $92,000 (about $10 million in today's money). The Sterling works consisted of their own magnetite iron ore mine, a cold-air blast furnace equipped with a pair of water-powered bellows, 8 fining forges, and 10 welding units. The furnace produced cast iron pigs, 3 to 10' long, 4-5" thick, weighing 135-1000 lbs. each. These were then reheated in a finery forge to burn out the excess carbon. The pig was slowly fed in, melted into a pool on the hearth, and reacted with the oxygen of the air. The process was repeated two or three times, the melting point increasing as the carbon content was reduced. The finery product was a bloom that was then heated and hammered using a water-powered trip- hammer to form a dumbbell-shaped ancony. The final step in producing the wrought iron bar was at the chafery forge where the bulbous ends of the ancony were reduced to uniform size, and the bar elongated and worked to effect a favorable disposition of the slag stringers within the bar. Next, under another trip-hammer, the bars were scarfed (flattened at the ends for subsequent welding), bent around a giant mandrel while hot, and the scarfed ends welded to create a link. The work went on 24 hrs. a day, employing 60 iron workers, and an almost equal number of miners, wood cutters, and teamsters. This tremendous effort resulted in completion of the enormous project in a matter of weeks; the chain was in place across the river by 30 April 1778, an incredible accomplishment! It was fastened at each shore by huge, sunken, stone-filled wooden cribs and further strengthened by anchors. The hazards of winter's ice required the chain to be hauled out each November and re-emplaced the following March by a man-powered capstan, designed and built by Machin for this express purpose. The chain was an outstanding success; in place for five years, it was never broken by current, tides, ice, or British warships. After the War the chain was disassembled, sold for scrap, and remelted. But few of the original links remain today: 13 are in a memorial on the grounds of the West Point Military Academy; 10 others are known to exist in various museums; three such are mounted on the marble wall of the rotunda of the old NYS Educational Building in Albany. Altogether the chain project was, for its time and any time, a remarkable engineering and industrial achievement in design, productivity, and management organization and coordination. More detail on the project can be found in L. Diamant's book, "Chaining the Hudson", Carol Publishing, 1989, on which much of this account is based.

There are a number of Sisson marriages listed at the following site http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~maryc/thisisit.htm?o_xid=0022468880&o_lid=0022468880&sourceid=00224688809044282476&key=Uhttp%3A%2F%2Fhomepages%2Erootsweb%2Ecom%2F%7Emaryc%2Fthisisit%2Ehtm&rc=locale%7E&us=0 Cathy

Happy Holidays to you, John, and to all of our cousins and Sisson friends. Enjoy your time with your daughters. David (David Arne Sisson) ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2003 3:21 PM Subject: [SISSON-L] Re: SISSON-D Digest V03 #195 > SISSON'S GREETINGS to one and all. I will be in Nashville for the winter but > the address will remain the same. > > Happy Holidays > > John > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > >

SISSON'S GREETINGS to one and all. I will be in Nashville for the winter but the address will remain the same. Happy Holidays John

Dec. 2, 2003 Dear Sisson-L and Sisson-D members, Greetings of the season! I wish you and your families all the best for a wonderful holiday season! May we each solve some genealogical mystery in our lines in the coming year! A few housekeeping items: As we approach the end of the year once again, remember that this is the time of year when many people will be receiving new computers. New people will be coming aboard the list. Some of these people may be somewhat inexperienced in the use of computers, the study of genealogy, and e-mail lists, and may post messages that may seem inappropriate to some long-term members. Please be patient with them. If you see anything on the list that concerns you, please e-mail me privately. Your concerns will be kept confidential. As we go into 2004, this will be a major election year in the United States. Our list includes members of every imaginable political opinion. For those who wish to discuss political issues, there are many e-mail lists and other forums available for this. Please be careful to eliminate political commentary from your posts to Sisson-L. Messages to the list should concern topics related to Sisson genealogy and other general genealogy topics. Discussion should proceed with decorum, in a spirit of collegiality. Inappropriate posts would include spam; non-genealogy topics; virus hoaxes; chain letters; offensive, abusive, or combative language; political or religious commentary. If you receive any problematic private e-mail that appears to be related somehow to your participation on the list, please e-mail me privately. Many people like to suspend their e-mail lists while they're away from home during the holidays. Rootsweb does not have any provision for "holding" e-mail. To keep your e-mail box clearer while you're away, if you wish, unsubscribe from the list, and then re-subscribe when you return home. To unsubscribe, send a message to: [email protected] (for regular list), or [email protected] (if you're subscribed to the digest version) with the word "unsubscribe" (without quotation marks) in the subject line and nothing in the body of the message. If you have an automatic signature line, delete it for this message. To re-subscribe when you return, repeat the procedure but with the subject line "subscribe". All the best to you all! Carol Sisson Regehr Sisson-L list mom My Sisson lines: 1.Richard/Mary of RI 2.George 3.Thomas 4.Giles 5.John 6.Benjamin 7.John 8.William 9.Benjamin 10.Edgar 11.Willie 12.myself And 1-6. same as above 7.Eli 8.Mary Sisson REED 9.Louisa Reed SISSON 10-12. same as above [email protected]

What a wonderful site -- I just entered my father. Thanks so much for this! Did they say what the charge would be for adding a photo? Cathy ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2003 12:09 AM Subject: [SISSON-L] WWII Memorial Website > Hello family & friends, > > If you know anyone (family member or friend) who is/was a veteran of WWII > please register them at the WWII Memorial Website at: www.wwiimemorial.com > > It takes about 3 weeks for the name to be added then you will receive an > e-mail with instructions to add a picture of the person if you want to. > Registration is free but there is a small charge to add a picture. > > I just added my father's name today! > > Regards, > Kathleen > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237

Hello family & friends, If you know anyone (family member or friend) who is/was a veteran of WWII please register them at the WWII Memorial Website at: www.wwiimemorial.com It takes about 3 weeks for the name to be added then you will receive an e-mail with instructions to add a picture of the person if you want to. Registration is free but there is a small charge to add a picture. I just added my father's name today! Regards, Kathleen

Where does Santa live? According to the 1930 Census, he lived in MO. I learned this from another list I'm on and thought you might enjoy it, even though he's not a Sisson. Go to: www.rootdig.com/santa Cathy

Laurie, It seems two of us contacted Carol on the same day and we were confusing her! I will sign my name Laurie Hollingsworth Sisson to help keep things clear. My husband is on the Richard/Mary of Rhode Island.

The following article is from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter and is copyright 2003 by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with the permission of the author. Information about the newsletter is available at http://www.eogn.com. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- - The End of Microfilm As a part of my trip this week, I had a chance to learn about the LDS Church's plans for future images of genealogy-related records. I found the plans to be exciting and very important to future genealogists. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) has teams of members who travel the globe to take microfilm images of records that have genealogy interest. Such teams have been making microfilm copies since the late 1930s. The Family History Library in Salt Lake City now has millions of microfilm reels in stock for use by anyone who wishes to visit the Library. These microfilms can also be rented for a modest fee though an extensive network of Family History Centers throughout the world. You probably have a local Center near you. If so, you can rent these microfilms and view them without trekking to Salt Lake City. With this huge investment already made in microfilm, you might expect the LDS Church to continue its use forever. That's not true, according to Wayne Metcalf, the Director of Acquisitions for the church. Wayne is the person in charge of those traveling microfilm teams, as well as the lead person for planning future data acquisition efforts. I had a chance to meet with Wayne this week. In fact, the LDS church is moving to digital imaging. The focus now is shifting from microfilm to making digital images onsite - in the original repositories - with no microfilm involved. The teams will use a laptop PC and a scanner in much the same manner as you and I do at home, although the scanner is more sophisticated than the typical unit sold to consumers. One pilot project in Texas has already been completed, and another one overseas is about to begin. If successful, these pilot projects should lead to an all-digital data acquisition process for all future efforts. The reasons for this change are both technological and economic. Acquisition by microfilm is becoming more and more impractical every year. First, microfilms have not had the longevity that many expected. The original microfilms used in the late 1930s and for a decade or two after were found to emit a flammable gas as they aged. Spontaneous combustion was a real possibility. You can imagine the result if that happened in a storage facility containing millions of microfilm reels. Consequently, the LDS church switched to acetate-based microfilm materials as soon as they became available. Acetate does not create dangerous gases. For safety reasons, the older microfilms were copied to the newer technology films. The copy process induced some degradation in image quality, but that's better than a fire. Acetate microfilms were expected to last 100 years or so. However, experienced has shown that the films become brittle within a decade or two. Scratches appear quickly when these brittle acetate-based microfilms are cranked through the typical microfilm viewer. Even making copies from acetate originals can damage the originals. In recent years the LDS church switched to acetone-based microfilms as that technology became available. These should last much longer than the earlier microfilms. However, unexpected surprises have occurred before, so church officials keep testing these films to make sure they are not deteriorating. Another reason for the plan to digitize is the rapidly increasing expense of microfilm cameras. The LDS church already owns a number of expensive microfilm cameras. However, these are aging devices. As technology has moved from microfilm to digital images, the companies that manufactured the cameras found their sales dropping to near zero. As a result, they stopped manufacturing the cameras for this obsolete technology. While the LDS church has sufficient units in stock today, replacements are no longer manufactured. These cameras already owned by the church have a lot of moving parts and require some maintenance as well as occasional replacement parts. With parts no longer available from the manufacturers, the LDS Church has had to manufacture many of the parts, a rather expensive proposition. Finally, moving these cameras around the world and making microfilms is expensive. The cameras are bulky. As a result, a lot of money and effort is required to ship these units to the far corners of the world. Carrying unexposed film is also chancy, especially in some climates. Adding to the difficulty is the entire process of shipping exposed films back to Salt Lake City, developing the films, cataloging them, and placing them into inventory. All of this adds to the time and expenses required. In fact, Metcalf reported that films typically do not become available to genealogists until a year or more after they are first created. The church also always presents a copy to the owners of the archive that was filmed. These archivists often have to wait a year for their copy. Contrast this with digital imaging. All that is needed is a digital scanner and a laptop PC. The scanner is a bit bulky, but still much smaller than a microfilm camera. The digital scanner also has fewer moving parts and a much lower purchase price. Simple repairs can be made with readily-available parts. If extensive repairs are required, scrapping the entire scanner and purchasing a new one is cheaper than the typical repair cost of a microfilm camera. A "film" crew can create images for a week and then "burn" a half-ounce DVD disk with the image files. They send the disk by air mail to Salt Lake City or possibly transfer the files across the Internet if a high-speed connection is available. At the same time as the files are making their way to Salt Lake City, a duplicate copy is immediately given to the owner of the archive records being imaged. Another benefit is that the on-site filming crew can handle the cataloging, instead of tasking a cataloging group in Salt Lake City. The filming crews typically can speak, read, and write the local language, so, they can more easily create catalog records as the images are being recorded. Here again, more time is saved. Once the LDS church converts entirely to digital images, you can expect new records to become available within days or a few weeks of being imaged, instead of today's typical delay of a year or more. Once the images are available in a digital format, all sorts of possibilities become available. Images can be stored on CD-ROM or DVD disks, or placed online for viewing over the Internet. The LDS church is watching this technology closely and is testing several possibilities. Apparently no final decisions about distribution have been made yet. However, it seems clear that such images will be available in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City as well as in Family History Centers around the world. Decisions have yet to be made about wider distribution. The best part of the plan is in the ease of replication. Making a copy of a microfilm introduces fuzziness, or "visual noise." Then, making a copy of that copy introduces further loss of image; copying that copy adds still more, and so on and so forth. However, a copy of a digital image is identical to the original. You can make copies of copies of copies; each new image is identical to the original with no signal loss. In short, digital imaging ensures that future generations can have the same access that you and I enjoy. So what about the ten million-plus microfilms already in stock? The easy answer is to "convert them to digital images." Indeed, the LDS church plans to do this whenever possible. However, studies have shown that about one-third of today's microfilms are not suitable for digital conversion. The original microfilms in question sometimes do not contain sharp images. The present films may be dark or over exposed, or the original document may be difficult to read. Converting from analog microfilm to digital images will introduce even more losses in image quality. In such cases, the only recourse is to go back to the original location and re-image the documents in digital media. In fact, the LDS church does hope to revisit many archives and make new images, using digital scanners. However, this expensive process will require many years to complete. Decisions also need to be made on a case-by-case basis: do they send a crew to make digital images of something already available on microfilm, or do they send the crews to a new site to make images of records that are still unavailable on microfilm? Resources are not infinite; the expenditures must be made where they will do the most good. As a result of all the above considerations, you can expect that genealogists will still be cranking microfilm readers for many years to come. (Of course, I should point out that microfilm readers are also becoming rare.) We can expect to see a "blended solution" for many years: some records will be available only on microfilm while others will be in digital format only. A few records may be available in both formats. Yes, we will have an all-digital solution some day. The LDS church officials are not making any timeframe predictions, but I am guessing that microfilm will still be here for another decade, possibly two decades, with digital images slowly becoming more and more common during that time.

I came across this interesting site: If you are interested in seeking your personal relatives who fought in the Civil War as it pertains to WV and Va., take a look at the Allegheny Highlands Message Board and Photos of ... at www.alleghenymountain.org

Okay! With some detective work by Carol, and listings of unpublished genealogies that I have from Richmond/Westmoreland, we can take your family line all the way back to Robert and Amy, founders of the Richmond/Westmoreland line of Sissons. I have William Henry Sisson, Jr., born 21 July, 1856 in Richmond County, and died 4 Jan 1919 in Westmoreland. He was married to Willie Ann Collins (5 Mar, 1860-19 Jul, 1923), daughter of George W. Collins and Elizabeth Ann Reed He was the son of William Henry Sr. (1802-15 Aug. 1871) and Wm. H. Jr. was the son of his second wife, Elizabeth Sanford. William Sr.'s father was Henry Sisson (1762-5 Apr,1830), who married Winifred Smith in 1787. Henry was the son of John (ca. 1727-ca. 1792) and Mary Strother. John was the son of Henry (ca. 1705-6 Mar, 1775). His wife was Ann Meeks (d. after 1778), daughter of Richard and Ann. Henry was the son of William (ca. 1669-6 May, 1719), who married Martha Hudson (sometimes spelled Hodgson). William was the son of Robert (ca. 1630-ca. 1692), who was married to Amy, and Robert and Amy were the founders of the Northern Neck line of Sissons, with Robert first listed in the colony in 1653. So, Laurie, your line reads Robert, William, Henry, John, Henry, William H. Sr., William H. Jr., Benjamin R., George R., your father, you. Lots of information about these men is already listed on the website, ending with William Henry Jr. You might want to contact Carol with details of your line after William H. Jr., to bring it to date. Sharon Sisson Miller Robert, William, Bryan, William, Benjamin I, Wellford, Herbert, George, Sharon and Robert, William, Bryan, William, Benjamin I, Benjamin II, Lucy, Susan, George, Sharon ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, November 23, 2003 6:07 PM Subject: [SISSON-L] Lauries Ancestry > Ok, my grandfathers name was Benjamin Reed Sisson > His fathers name was George Roland Sisson (married Emma Louise > Belfield) > George's Fathers name was William Henry Sisson, who had sons named > Benjamin, Roland, and John > Hope thats good for starters.......... > Laurie > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 >

Steven, Laurie's question wasn't about Sisson. It was about Hollingsworth. That name may be a coincidence, but a Hollingsworth man married a Sisson woman descended from Caleb. We don't have any information yet about Laurie's Sisson line. But if it's a Virginia line, one of us will probably have the details. Sharon ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, November 23, 2003 7:03 PM Subject: Re: [SISSON-L] Hollingsworth > In a message dated 11/23/03 5:03:23 PM Eastern Standard Time, > [email protected] writes: > > > There isn't much information available about the Hollingsworth family, > > because they are still living people. A daughter of Truman A. Sisson > > married a Hollingsworth man. Truman A. Sisson was from western Virginia, > > descended from Robert Sisson by way of Caleb Sisson, who moved into the > > Rockbridge County, VA area after the Revolution. > > Hi Laurie > > Welcome to your extended family. > > Caleb was known as the Squire of Rockbridge -- Big land owner around 1790 to > 1810. There are a few Sissons in the area after that -- Abram Sisson in 1820. > I reside in the Shenandoah Valley and could probable do a look up on the > Hollingsworth family over Thanksgiving weekend. > > Note to Sharon: I thought Robert K. Sisson of Ohio (around 1880) was kin to > the Caleb Sisson branch from Rockbridge-Roanoke. Don't we have a DNA link on > that line? > > Steve Sisson > > Of Eugene Henry Jr, Eugene Henry Sr, Walter George, Eugene Townsend, > John Augustine, Robert Townsend, Robert, William III, William II, William I, > and Robert Sisson* of Richmond-Lancaster County, Virginia (1630-1699). > > > * DNA ancestral patriarch. > > Noteables: > Eugene Townsend Sisson, City of Alexandria, Board of Elections 1887-1889 > John A. Sisson, Arlington Co., Union Scout, 1861-1865 > Robert Townsend Sisson, Fairfax Co. Private, Virginia Militia, War of 1812 > Robert Sisson, Richmond Co., Sergeant, 2nd VA Rgt, Revolutionary War > 1775-1782 > Robert Sisson, Lancaster Co., Clerk of Court, 1667-1671 > > > > > > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 >

In a message dated 11/23/03 5:08:45 PM Eastern Standard Time, [email protected] writes: > I have a good bit of information about the families in that area. If > you'll > send me the names of your Sisson grandfathers as far back as you can, I may > be able to connect you back to the founding Sisson, Robert of Richmond > County. > I can help as well. Just copy me -- Sharon and I will tag team on your information. Steven S.