ROOTSWEB REVIEW: Genealogical Data Cooperative News Vol. 1, No. 24, 25 November 1998; Circulation: 233,650+ Copyright (c) 1998 RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative Editors: Julia M. Case and Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG <RWR-Editors@rootsweb.com> * * * * * NEWS AND NOTES FROM ROOTSWEB ROOTSWEB GENEALOGICAL DATA COOPERATIVE IS COMMUNITY-SUPPORTED. However, at the moment, it is supported by only 2-5% of those who use it. Your membership is crucial in enabling RootsWeb to continue to add more genealogical data, Web sites, and mailing lists. The degree of community support directly affects RootsWeb's ability to grow. Basic RootsWeb membership is $12 per year. Sponsorship is $24 per year. Higher levels of membership support carry with them additional perquisites. For details about membership options, perquisites, and payment options, please visit: <http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/how-to-subscribe.html>. RootsWeb's mailing address is: RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative, P.O. Box 6798, Frazier Park, CA 93222-6798. * * * ROOTSWEB HELPDESK. Looking for a place to submit a query? The RootsWeb HelpDesk FAQ titled "Queries and Surnames" directs you to various RootsWeb services, and to sites hosted by RootsWeb that will help you maximize your research. <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~help/index.htm> * * * * * Regarding the SSDI article in Vol. 1, No. 23, there is another reason why a person might not be in the SSDI. Both my parents had worked for firms where they paid into FICA. However, their last and longest jobs were with the railroad from which they retired. They started to receive two monthly retirement checks, but after some time their Social Security benefits were transferred to the Railroad Retirement Board in Chicago. They then received a single check until their passing. And their names do not appear on the SSDI. I do not know how common this is nor if the Railroad Retirement Board has a list similar to the SSDI. John Burfiend <burfiend@earthlink.net> [Editors' Note: If a person worked for a railroad after 1936 he might have qualified for a pension from the Railroad Retirement Board in lieu of Social Security. That's why researchers don't find those ancestors in the SSDI. Most of the RR employees' Social Security numbers begin with the digits 700 through 729. Researchers can write to: Railroad Retirement Board, 844 Rush Street, Chicago, IL 60611.] * * * MAILING LISTS: To subscribe or unsubscribe from any RootsWeb mailing list, send an e-mail message with only the word SUBSCRIBE (or UNSUBSCRIBE) in the subject and the body of the message to [name of list]-L-request@rootsweb.com (for mail mode) or to [name of list]-D-request@rootsweb.com (for digest mode). For example, if you have interests in Tasmanian research, send your SUBSCRIBE message to: AUS-Tasmania-L-request@rootsweb.com For an index to most user mailing lists hosted by RootsWeb, visit <http://www.rootsweb.com/~maillist/>. NEW MAILING LIST REQUESTS. USGenWeb and WorldGenWeb hosts may have FREE locality mailing lists for the areas they host and for that purpose may ignore the "Sponsors-only" warning on the list request page. Please request new mailing lists at: <http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/members/listrequest.html> NEW SURNAME MAILING LISTS BENN BISH (includes BISCH) BRICKER CHANEY DEWOLF (includes DEWOLFF, DOLPH, DEAOLPH, D'OLF, etc.) DINGMAN DOBBS FARNI (includes FARNEY and FORNEY) HAGAN HASSELL HUGGINS (includes HUDGINS) KELLY KINZER (includes variant spellings) LANGEN LAW_R_KELLY (Lawrence R. KELLY family research mailing list) LEHMKUHL MCMAHILL MOUSER MUSE (includes MEWES, MEWS, MUIS) NORTHCUTT (includes NORTHCUT, NORTHCOTT and NORTHCOT) PETREY PRESTON REMICK ROUNSAVELL (and the many variants) SALO STOWERS STRAUSS TARRANT THORNHILL (especially descendants of Capt. Cudbert THORNHILL, 1721/2-1809, of England and India) TIGNOR (includes TIGNER and TICKNER) TOLAND WHITSETT NEW REGIONAL MAILING LISTS AUSTRALIA AUS-NSW-Hunter-Valley -- Hunter Valley, New South Wales AUS-Tasmania -- Tasmania SCOTLAND MORAY -- Morayshire, Banffshire, and Nairnshire, Scotland U.S.A. ALJEFFER -- Jefferson County, Alabama COPARK -- Park County, Colorado COPUEBLO -- Pueblo County, Colorado FLSUWANN -- Suwannee County, Florida GACOFFEE -- Coffee County, Georgia GACOLUMB -- Columbia County, Georgia GAHARRIS -- Harris County, Georgia GAOCONEE -- Oconee and Clarke counties, Georgia <http://www.rootsweb.com/~gaoconee/> IACALHOU -- Calhoun County, Iowa IAJASPER -- Jasper County, Iowa IAVANBUR -- Van Buren County, Iowa INDUBOIS -- Dubois County, Indiana INPIKE -- Pike County, Indiana LAMADISO -- Madison Parish, Louisiana MABERKSH -- Berkshire County, Massachusetts MAHAMPDE -- Hampden County, Massachusetts MAMIDDLE -- Middlesex County, Massachusetts MIBRANCH -- Branch County, Michigan MIMUSKEG -- Muskegon County, Michigan MO-RayCounty -- Ray County, Missouri [not new] MOSTEGEN -- Sainte Genevieve County, Missouri NCCASWEL -- Caswell County, North Carolina NCGRANVI -- Granville County, North Carolina NCLENOIR -- Lenoir County, North Carolina NCROCKHA -- Rockingham County, North Carolina NEBUFFAL -- Buffalo County, Nebraska NYRENSSE -- Rensselaer County, New York OHDELAWA -- Delaware County, Ohio OHSTARK -- Stark County, Ohio OKCOTTON -- Cotton County, Oklahoma <http://www.rootsweb.com/~okcotton/> OKJEFFER -- Jefferson County, Oklahoma <http://www.rootsweb.com/~okjeffer/> SCLANCAS -- Lancaster County, South Carolina TNRUTHER -- Rutherford County, Tennessee TNTIPTON -- Tipton County, Tennessee TXBRAZOS -- Brazos County, Texas WVDODDRI -- Doddridge County, West Virginia WVLEWIS -- Lewis County, West Virginia WVWETZEL -- Wetzel County, West Virginia WVWOOD -- Wood County, West Virginia NEW ETHNIC, SPECIAL INTEREST, and MISCELLANEOUS MAILING LISTS ARCHIVES-RevPen -- USGenWeb Archives: Revolutionary Pensioners Board-Exec -- USGW Board OH-FOOTSTEPS -- Original Ohio source material -- wills, deeds, bible records, tax lists, cemetery files, pension applications, obituaries, old letters, marriage lists, etc. USGW-Nominate -- USGW Board WARof1812 -- Veterans of the War of 1812 and all the battles from 1812 to 1814 * * * * * NEW WEB ACCOUNT REQUESTS. Please see the instructions at <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~help/help/websites.html#Q1>. NEW WEB SITES. Some of these might not yet be accessible. If one that interests you isn't up yet, please check again in a few days or a week. <http://www.rootsweb.com/~[account name]> (note that the ~[tilde] before the account name is required) will work for most. If not, you'll find most of them at USGenWeb <http://www.usgenweb.org> or WorldGenWeb <http://www.worldgenweb.org>. For example, to visit the site of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Society for Genealogical and Historical Research, go to: <http://www.rootsweb.com/~pasepsgh/>. AUSTRALIA ausshoal -- Shoalhaven, New South Wales ausvic -- Victoria aussa -- South Australia BANGLADESH bgddhaka -- Dhaka CANADA canpcbogs -- Perth County Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society canbc -- British Columbia bckooten -- Kootenay, British Columbia qcmtl-e -- Montreal-East, Quebec qcmtl-w -- Montreal-West, Quebec ENGLAND engcemet -- Cemeteries engnbl -- Northumberland NEW ZEALAND nzlwelli -- Wellington nzlmanaw -- Manawatu POLAND polswiet -- Swietokrzyskie U.S.A. colarime -- Larimer County, Colorado mobcgs -- Butler County (Missouri) Genealogical Society mosccgs -- St. Charles County (Missoui) Genealogical Society ncmcdowe -- McDowell County, North Carolina nejeffgs -- Jefferson County (Nebraska) Genealogical Society neholths -- Holt County (Nebraska) Historical Society njnjhhs -- North Jersey Highlands (New Jersey) Hist. Soc. ohoccgs -- Ottawa County (Ohio) Genealogical Society orlncogs -- Lane County (Oregon) Genealogical Society pasepsgh -- SE Pennsylvania Soc. for Gen. and Hist. Research sdsvgs -- Sioux Valley (South Dakota) Genealogical Society tnhcgsh -- Hawkins County (Tennessee) Gen. Hist. Soc. wiadamgs -- Adams County (Wisconsin) Genealogical Society * * * * * NEW GENCONNECT BOARDS: Link to GenConnect Fun Facts at <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/stats.html>. Pam Carey <durp@one.net> provided the following information. 158 new GenConnect boards were activated 11/8 - 11/21, as follows: ARCHIVES 5 (in beta-testing) AUSTRALIA 1 <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/index/Australia.html CANADA 6 <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/index/Canada.html> ENGLAND 8 <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/index/England.html> FRANCE 1 <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/index/France.html> PAPUA, NEW GUINEA 1 <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/qindex.html> USA AL 4 <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/indx/Al.html> FL 14 <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/indx/Fl.html> GA 7 <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/indx/Ga.html> IA 3 <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/indx/Ia.html> IL 1 <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/indx/Il.html> IN 4 <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/indx/In.html> KY 4 <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/indx/Ky.html> MD 1 <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/indx/Md.html> MI 2 <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/indx/Mi.html> MO 25 <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/indx/Mo.html> MS 1 <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/indx/Ms.html> MT 5 <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/indx/Mt.html> NC 5 <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/indx/NC.html> NY 4 <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/indx/NY.html> OK 1 <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/indx/Ok.html> PA 1 <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/indx/Pa.html> SC 5 <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/indx/SC.html> TN 21 <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/indx/Tn.html> TX 1 <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/indx/Tx.html> VA 7 <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/indx/Va.html> WI 9 <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/indx/Wi.html> WV 11 <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/indx/WV.html> * * * * * VIRGINIA RECORDS (Part One of Two) by Brian Mavrogeorge, Director of Genealogy Initiatives Palladium Interactive <bmavrogeorge@palladium.net> Ultimate Family Tree <http://www.uftree.com> When someone says "the records were burned" I immediately think they must be researching in Virginia. The original capital, Jamestown, was destroyed three times, Richmond was burned in 1865 and many courthouses were destroyed during the Civil War. Virginia research is a challenging quest. The Library of Virginia site <http://www.vsla.edu/lva/lva.html> states: "early official records of births and deaths in Virginia are almost nonexistent." Records for births and deaths were kept in the local parish; there are few marriage records prior to 1730. However, Virginia was one of the early states, after the New England states, to have vital record registration (1853) and to begin recording births and deaths at the county level. But that stopped in 1896 and it was not until 1912 that vital records were again kept statewide. So it is important to establish the parish or the county where an event took place in order to continue your search in church records, cemetery records, and newspapers. For that you need some kind of a statewide index. A good place to start is the "Virginia Historical Index" (1934-36; reprint, Gloucester, Mass.: Peter Smith, 1965). This multi-volume index, often referred to as "Swem's Index," has entries for several historical and biographical publications through the 1930s and 1940s. Don't overlook the Ultimate Family Data Library's Master Index to its collection of Virginia data. The Ultimate Family Data Library's online index <http://www.familyinfo.com> includes abstracts of Virginia records from the mid-1700s to 1800s. You can subscribe to the data online or order it on CD-ROM. * * * * * MISSING LINKS: A Weekly Newsletter for Genealogists, edited and published by Julia M. Case and Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG, is a free e-zine usually distributed on Fridays. Back issues are available for download from <ftp://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/mlnews>. To subscribe to MISSING LINKS, send an e-mail message that says only SUBSCRIBE to: Missing-Links-L-request@rootsweb.com * * * * * PERMISSION TO REPRINT articles from ROOTSWEB REVIEW is granted unless specifically stated otherwise, PROVIDED (1) The reprint is used for non-commercial, educational purposes. (2) This notice must appear at the end of the article: Written by <author's name, e-mail address, and URL, if given> Previously published by RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative, RootsWeb Review, Vol. 1, No. 24, 25 November 1998. You may visit RootsWeb's main Web page at <http://www.rootsweb.com>. * * * * * ROOTSWEB REVIEW is e-mailed on Wednesdays to all RootsWeb Members, subscribers to RootsWeb-hosted mailing lists, submitters to the RootsWeb Surname List (RSL), and other RootsWeb users. DOWNLOAD BACK ISSUES FROM <ftp://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/review>. UNSUBSCRIBE INSTRUCTIONS: If you would prefer not to receive future issues of RootsWeb Review, please e-mail: RootsWeb-Review-L-request@rootsweb.com and put ONLY the word "unsubscribe" (omit the quotation marks) in the subject line and in the body of the message. * * * * * PLEASE NOTE: The editors of ROOTSWEB REVIEW, the staff of RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative, and the HelpDesk volunteers are unable to respond to requests for genealogical research help. ____ Julia M. Case <Julie_Case@prodigy.com> Coeditor of ROOTSWEB REVIEW <http://www.rootsweb.com/~review/> Editor-at-Fault of MISSING LINKS <http://www.rootsweb.com/~mlnews/> To subscribe, send SUBSCRIBE message to RootsWeb-Review-L-request@rootsweb.com Missing-Links-L-request@rootsweb.com ROOTSWEB GENEALOGICAL DATA COOPERATIVE P.O. Box 6798, Frazier Park, CA 93222-6798 <http://www.rootsweb.com>