JEANS   &   GENES 

                                            February 11, 2007

Has anyone noticed lately that when looking at family trees on  Ancestry
that a growing number of them do not have a contact name, only “unknown”
at the top of the page. This really makes it  difficult to identify
sources, connect with the contributor or  verify that the info is
correct. I for one would like to complain  about it, but not sure
where to send the complaint. - Lois Heath <lois_heath@yahoo.com>
Lois-

The unknown trees are the ones that were added to One World Tree from
the old old World Family Tree CDs. The contact info is private on
those CDs and, therefore, also on the CDs.

I know many of the trees on those old CDs are also included in WorldConnect--so
you might search there for the same surnames and you may well find
the submitter listed there.

Joan   JYoung6180@aol.com

Good grief! Have you given no thought to the many WorldConnect submitters
who later pass away but leave instructions with their heirs that their
family tree is to be left online as a help to future researchers who
may want to add to it or correct an error? Errors can be corrected
via Post-em Notes and additions can be uploaded in your own trees.

I personally helped some submitters who knew they had a terminal illness
or who were about to go into a nursing home and lose Internet access
(and the ability to keep their tree updated) forever. But they didn’t
want their life’s work to be lost or not be available to provide others
with a starting point for the future.

When a friend of mine learned she had only a month to live with terminal
brain cancer she worked for those last few weeks (as long as she was
able) to get her most recent GEDCOM uploaded to WorldConnect and it
was her last wish that no one ever remove it.

Joan      JYoung6180@aol.com

Our Cemetery Project is almost done. We only have about 3 cemeteries
to survey. I have found some more family cemeteries that weren’t surveyed
in the past. Help would be appreciated if you know of others that
haven't been done.

Don Sailors and I hope that in late 2007 Rockdale County will have
its first Cemetery DVD/CD on the market. What a joy it will be to
see this in our new Special Collections Room. Judy Bond 770-922-4902.

The Rockdale County Genealogical Society sincerely appreciates the
efforts which Judy and Don Sailors have made toward resurveying all
of the Rockdale Cemeteries.   This work should bring the listings
to current status.  Some of the cemeteries have not been surveyed
since the thirties. 

We would like to post our hours of operation at the Family History
Library in your monthly newsletter. The hours are:
Tuesday: 10:00am-2:00pm, 7:00-9:00pm Wednesday: 10:00am-2:00pm, 7:00-9:00pm
Thursday: 10:00am-2:00pm Others times available by appointment by
calling 770-785-9888.

Thank you,

Chris

We must thank the Latter-Day Saints Church for the generous use of
their facilities during the time when the Nancy Guinn Library was
not available to us. They really came to our rescue.  The only other
site which was easily available to us would have been quite expensive.
Our meager treasury would not have been adequate. 

I was so glad to see a response from Dr. Brian Leverich regarding
the genealogies posted to WC and other similar sites. Long ago when
I started my research, tracing ancestry was very difficult. I was
lucky to get a good start for my husband’s family because both his
grandmothers and his mother were savers of family documents & letters.
After their deaths, no one else in the family wanted that “old junk”
(or the two Bibles with entries for several generations of births,
deaths & marriages) so I took it. I wasn’t so fortunate with my own
family. All four of my grandparents died long before I was born, and
the only information they left were names and dates & some places
of birth as far back as my great-grandparents.

For you kids: in pre-internet times, most census records, county history
books, land, birth, death & marriage records, etc. were available
only in each separate locality. Extensive genealogy libraries were
few and far between. Research required a lot of correspondence, phone
calls, and time, or travel and money. Census records were not indexed.
Old county records were often in some dusty storage place. If you
sent for information, the response might take weeks. Just finding
a library with a book you wanted was almost impossible.

I look upon the Gedcoms, & all other posted genealogy information,
not as places to find a ready-made family tree, complete with sources,
but as a tool. Finding a new name, place or branch for one of my surnames
very often leads me to new sources and a lot of new information, now
verified.

After we retired in 1982 (I’m 87) my late husband and I traveled the
U.S. for four years to do research in the towns where all of his and
my known ancestors had lived. I am a librarian, and like to think
I’m a pretty capable researcher. I was satisfied that I had found
just about everything possible in the sources available during those
years.

As soon as it became possible I expanded my search to the internet.
Rootsweb was the site that outshined them all in those early days
--a free service where we could look for other people researching
the same families. I like to think the mission continues with WC.
I had at least four “brick walls” that I could never have penetrated
without the genealogies I found posted there, and the on-line cousins
I contacted. Most people who post on-line have no intent to deceive,
and welcome corrections [documented, I hope]. For those of you who
resent having their hard-won data re-posted by someone else: Why are
you posting things you don’t want passed on? My on-line cousins have
been very generous with me, and I am only too happy to “pay it forward”.
When I send my data to a cousin I include all the sources and notes.
As a librarian I have no problem giving others information I have
located or confirmed. In return I often receive new information not
available from any other source.

Virginia“Virginia Beck” <ginia2@san.rr.com>