Rootweb Mailing Lists

Five members of the Alsace-Lorraine list on Rootsweb answered my request for help with Claude Schmitt's death record. The mailing lists in which I am a member are immeasurably valuable. I would never have progressed as far in my family history research without them. If you're like me (in need of a genealogical 12-step program) lists are a good way to get your daily fix.

So why was I met with blank stares when I mentioned Rootsweb mailing lists at the local Family History Center? Could it be the label? "Mailing list" conjures up images of junk mail and additional trips to the recycling bin. But nothing could be further from the truth.

One of the people in my FHC play group was confused by the concept. It is a little challenging to grasp if you haven't seen a list in action. So I put together a sort-of-tutorial for her and left it at the Family History Center for other visitors to see. Maybe it will help someone in cyberspace as well:

Where can you find other genealogists interested in the area you are researching? On a Rootsweb mailing list!

Start at this web site: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/

Scroll done the left column to MAILING LISTS and click INDEX (Browse all lists)

Let’s pick one of the 30,000+ lists to use as an example. See USA? Just below USA, you’ll see all 50 states. Click MN. Next we’ll choose a county. Click Hennepin.

This web page explains the Hennepin County list; who might be interested in joining and where to look for additional information about the county. One way to measure the usefulness of a list is to see how much activity it generates. To check the activity for this list, click Browse the MNHENNEP archives link near the bottom of the page. These numbers show us this is a pretty quiet list.

Before we judge a book by its cover, let’s see the typical questions/answers people post. Click May 2011. There’s an interesting exchange (called a thread) starting with a request for a recent obituary. You can click on any message to read it.

Want to see another example? Let’s go back to the list index. (Click the BACK arrow a few times to reach the complete index.) How about exploring an International list? Click on Sweden. We could choose a specific area of Sweden if we wanted, but for now let’s click the general Sweden list. Then click Browse the SWEDEN archives (just like we did for Hennepin County above).

Notice a difference? There are many more posts on this list. Click May 2011. See all the different threads? This looks like a great list if you have Swedish ancestors.

If you wanted to join this list, you would follow the instructions on the page titled SWEDEN Mailing List. You can click on Subscribe to SWEDEN-L if you would like to get each message individually, or choose Subscribe to SWEDEN-D if you want to receive all the messages for each day grouped together in one email. All the email fields are filled in automatically when you click on the link, so just “send”.

A confirmation email will be sent with instructions to complete your subscription request. It will contain additional information about the list. (Remember you can leave a list at any time; simply choose the appropriate Unsubscribe option and voila, you’ll get no more emails from that Rootsweb mailing list.) 

BEFORE YOU SEND EMAILS TO THE LISTS YOU JOIN, consider lurking on a Rootsweb mailing list for awhile before you post. In internet culture a lurker is a person who reads discussions on a mailing list, but doesn’t actively participate. Lurking will help you

• become familiar with this specific list’s etiquette

• learn who will be helpful to you and how you can help others

• get lots of information about your area of interest 

When you are ready to post your first question, comment or concern remember two things.  

• Your post will be on the internet forever. (Remember those archives we looked at when we were exploring lists?) and
• Don’t expect anyone else to do all your research for you. List members are most helpful when requests are reasonable.

For example, you could ask things like:

• Where would I find information about boundary changes in this state?

• Can anyone recommend a good translator?

• Which cemetery would a German (or Spanish etc) family have chosen in this place in 1875?

• Have you seen the new database on Ancestry?!?

• Would someone please help me translate these words…?

And finally ~

Please use the Golden Rule ~ a Rootsweb mailing list is the same as any other community. Treat others the way you wish to be treated.

Look forward to making new friends, finding long lost relatives, and conquering records you never imagined.

Genealogy Success Team ~ Week Four

Love the anticipation of my weekly phone meetings with Jenny. Love love the rush of adrenaline that hits me at half time. Love love love the action that takes place in both time zones after we hang up. You rock Jenny, thanks!

Last week's goals (i.e. this week's accomplishments):

• Add Pierre and Sophia to my web site check
• Create a page for Elisabeth check
• Work Elisabeth's birth through my Document SOP (see upcoming post)
• Plan a format and schedule for my It's a Relative blog check
• Add links from my web site to my blog and vice versa check

What must I accomplish before the next meeting?

• Prepare blog posts for two lost children
• Transcribe two French documents and translate one of them
• Attend two Jamboree webinars (today - what fun!)
• Photoshop Thursday's FHC finds
• Work Elisabeth Schmitt through my Document SOP (yes, again!)

This is a pretty ambitious list - I'd better get started!

Success Team ~ Week Two

A simple three item list turns into the most genealogically productive week I've had in months. Why? Because I'm accountable to my team.

I could have spent hours contributing to Find A Grave, but I had already reached my goal and earned my check mark, and I had to move on to the other items on my list. Why? Because I'm accountable to my team.

Could I have accomplished as much without Jenny? M a y b e. Would it have been anywhere near as much fun? No way.

One of my goals last week was to ask the Cincinnati Library for copies of announcements from an archived German newspaper. I've wanted to do this forever, but it kept getting bumped by other tasks. This time it was a Success Team goal, so I had to check this item off my list. And because I'm accountable to my team, I now have this:

It's an obituary from February 1876 for Nicolaus Schmitt, my third great-grandfather! I learned his date of death. I verified an address I'd been following in city directories for years. I saw evidence of a relationship with his children. All because I was accountable to my team.

Checking in once a week, sharing our triumphs and failures, getting an Atta Girl or suggestions for another route, plotting next steps; it's all part of a collaboration that cannot be beat.

GO TEAM!!  

Success Team ~ Week One

Last month I asked for help with my research. I love searching for my ancestors. I could spend hours gathering bits and pieces of their stories. It's just too easy to get sidetracked when no one but me knows where I've been focusing my energy.


Enter Jenny from "Are My Roots Showing?". She answered my call for help with a resounding, "me too!". This morning our virtual meeting gave me a hefty boost of camaraderie, empathy, humor, and genealogical accountability. We set goals for ourselves and recorded each other's plans for the upcoming week. In seven days we'll meet again to report our progress (or lack thereof).

Something tells me we'll both reap the rewards of our collaboration. Go team! 

Genealogy Success Team Wanted

I'm stuck. And I need your help.

This year my family history progress is pitiful and its nearly May. There is much more I'd like to accomplish, but I just can't seem to do it alone.

When I was a young entrepreneur, I met with three people once a week for an hour. We gave each other 15 minutes; five to review, five to brainstorm, and five to set new goals.

We were accountable to each other. We guided each other over bumpy roads, cheered each other on, and forced each other to acknowledge and overcome perceived shortcomings.

I need a new virtual success team focused on family history. Are you interested? Here's what you'd have to do:

• Be committed. Once you join, you must attend 95% of meetings.
• Be prepared to share your accomplishments or lack thereof with three other researchers.
• Be receptive to suggestions and generous with suggestions for others.
• Be sensitive to the privacy of your team members.
• Be prepared, organized, brief, and focused during each meeting.

If you are passionate about your family history but making less progress than you'd like, please consider becoming a member of my Success Team.

New Year's Resolution Update

The "eat less, exercise more" part of my New Year's Resolutions aside, here's where I am on Week 8 of my genealogy goals for 2011:

My current focus is on my Clarke, Gury, Littrell, and Schmitt lines. Still haven't found the country of origin for the Clarkes or Littrells and progress on both has been painfully slow. 17th and 18th century French Gury and Schmitt records are keeping me busy though so I am still somewhat productive.

Received disappointingly little information from St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Funkstown Maryland, but I am so appreciative of their efforts on my behalf! The pastor and his wife offered wonderful suggestions for further research.
Time to focus on the coroner's report that slipped through the cracks last year.

My first cemetery road trip of 2011 is scheduled for May. Hope all the snow melts before then! Oakwoods is at the top of the list.

Shared a Grandma story or two during my last visit. More incentive to jot down my memories before my memory fails me.

The local genealogy society isn't working for me. Need more idea generation and fewer lectures. Where are my peeps?

Chose this year's conference; FGS in Springfield Illinois in September. Husband will join me making the trip even more fun. Hope to meet some of the bloggers I follow and make a new gen-bud or two!

Photo sorting continues, but grudgingly. Must sprinkle in some creativity to retain my interest. Chose six topics about which I can cut and paste. This week I'll start arranging pictures. That oughta inspire me!

Cleaning and organizing computer files to save space (and sanity).

Back on track at Find A Grave - whew! Contributing during my lunch hour works great (until it's warm enough to walk outside).

And from now until then I'll be Living in the Past Lane.

The Serious Nature of Genealogy

Genealogist caught chopping down family tree; microfilm at 11:00!

My family tree research twists and turns like a windsock in a strong breeze. I've studied the history and geography of the places in which my ancestors lived. I've become familiar with the records available in a variety of locations. I've looked for them online, in maps, in books and newspapers, on microfilm.

Every family tree has some sap in it.

The search is still exciting, even after ~ hmm hmm ~ 30 years. When I started, I told myself that if I reach a point that this is no longer fun, I'll stop. The research continues to keep me interested, but some of the researchers I've met have me shaking my head.

Ancestors run in my family.

Why do genealogists take themselves so seriously? We are an odd bunch, really. What other hobby includes searching through dusty courthouse basements, squinting at faded handwriting, attempting to decipher ancient Latin script, and wandering through abandoned cemeteries?

Adam and Eve probably found genealogy boring.

In good times there is a comaraderie among fellow researchers. We willingly share our knowledge, our frustrations, our triumphs - we all belong to the same club. Lately however, I have encountered a different group: mean genealogists.

Genealogy is relatively interesting.

Some of the family members that reside in the living branches of our trees can be a bit challenging. I understand and empathize. Truly I do. But we don't "own" our family history. I think it's wrong to hold the family tree hostage from people who share our DNA.

Genealogists do it generation after generation.

I recently listened in horror as a woman proudly announced her refusal to tell her inquiring family about any of the information she gathered. She felt that they weren't willing to do the work and therefore they should reap no rewards.

Old genealogists never die, they just lose their census.

Perhaps in 2011 we can be kinder, gentler genealogists. Remember we need to recruit new club members and they will need time to learn the secret handshake.

12 Step Program for Genealogists

Child #2 tells me I am a genealogy addict. I counter with my attendance of meetings, ostensibly looking for a cure. Child patiently explains the concept of 12 step programs; they are supposed to help one kick a habit, not provide another fix.

After some thought, I developed my own 12 Step Program. Rather than looking for a "cure", it focuses on encouraging my family to help me find just one more ancestor.

Step 1: When dinner conversation turns to county boundary changes (after nonchalantly steering the family in this direction), share no more than two stories of ancestors impacted by the change.

Step 2: If asked who the new baby looks like, answer using only the names of same-gender ancestors. Share photos when your opinion is met with rolling eyes.

Step 3: Offer to help with grandchildren's homework, especially history and geography. Casually include information about ancestors who lived in these times and places. Stop talking when you hear your children's footsteps.

Step 4: Discreetly include photos of ancestors in baby books, holiday photo albums etc. Act surprised when your children point out the impossibilty of a Revolutionary soldier at last Thanksgiving's dinner.

Step 5: Carry important papers everywhere. One never knows when a 1910 census will come in handy during a lull in the conversation.

Step 6: Make copies of family group sheets and "forget" one every time you visit.

Step 7: Plan vacations that coincidentally (how was I to know?) include the final resting places of ancestors.

Step 8: Help with the purchase of new school clothes for the grandkids. Authentic period costumes can be found on many web sites.

Step 9: Ask everyone, everywhere, about their ethnic origin. When in the company of children and grandchildren, prompt them to share theirs with store clerks, softball coaches, postal employees, directory assistance operators...

Step 10: While at the corner market, point out the simplicity of purchasing food in "these modern times". Tell stories of ancestors carrying shotguns into a nearby forest to shop for the evening meal.

Step 11: Offer to drive the grandkids home from school. Take a different route each time so those cemetery visits don't seem redundant.

Step 12: Take steps to create lifelong addicts genealogists in the next few generations. Openly share your love of family history with the family who is creating their own history today.

A Sense from Belonging

My family tree contains more leaders than followers. The trend has been to do, rather than wait for direction. Some of us have learned to sit on our hands when the call for volunteers is heard, lest we become overwhelmed by our desire to help in everything.

This "selective joining" brings a stronger commitment to the groups in which we take part. And taking part in group activities and organizations creates a picturesque record of one's life.

One of my ancestors joined a lodge that set aside a portion of membership dues for life insurance. Good decision; he died shortly afterward and his widow was able to meet her financial obligations. Others have become members of unions, or clubs related to their occupations. The roles they played in those organizations helps me get a sense of the people they were.

Women frequently joined charitable groups and helped meet society's needs. Their accomplishments were often featured in the local newspapers. The responsibilities my female ancestors accepted (in addition to those they had at home) paints a picture of the kind of people they were.

What will your descendants learn about you when they read about the clubs and other organizations you joined?