BACK TO MAIN PAGE

 

 

The USGenWeb Phenomena

  


Read about The USGenWeb Project and the White Paper about its goals.

Please note that any email addresses and website urls listed below no longer function, the following is as it was originally posted.

Carmen J. Finley, Ph.D., C.G.
[NGS/CIG DIGEST, Vol. 16, No. 5
(National Genealogical Society Computer Interest Group, September October 1997), p. 1.
Reprinted by permission of Carla Ridenour, Editor.]

Mobilizing nearly 3,000 volunteers to create a U.S. county-centered Internet genealogical resource in less than a year is hard to believe, but this author lived through it and has witnessed the success of USGenWeb.

Celebrating its first birthday officially on June 1st, the USGenWeb came into being after Jeff Murphy decided to create a home page for his Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, ancestors in late 1995. Jeff's dedication to his personal project was obvious. Early in 1996 other folks in Kentucky said, "Hey, this is a good idea. Why don't we do it for every county in Kentucky?" The Kentucky Comprehensive Genealogy Database Project was born April 1,1996. Almost immediately, folks in other states began to take notice and the USGenWeb project was formed. To say the enthusiasm grew like wildfire would be a gross understatement.

The concept was simple. Anyone who wanted to host a county page had to provide at least three basic things: (1) information about local resources, (2) a place where people could post their queries and read those posted by others who were researching that county, and (3) develop a "lookups" page where people could share their resources--books, CD-ROMs, or skills.

Local Resources

All counties have a section on local resources and the variety is endless. The names and locations of local genealogical and historical societies, libraries, and court houses is almost universal. A list of standard secondary sources is commonly found. The location of county towns, cemeteries, churches, and waterways might also be listed. It is not uncommon to find early maps, many of which have been supplied gratis by Gold Bug Historic Maps & Software. For example, the Augusta County, Virginia, page has early maps showing the county boundaries in 1738, 1770, 1776, and 1791. Another map "gem" included is the early plat map of Beverley Manor showing the property first patented to early owners.

Specialty lists of vital records, census records, military and pension records, ships' passenger lists, archives, and manuscript collections held by libraries in the immediate area can also be found on many county pages.

Links to web sites created by other persons on their kin who lived in the area are common. Many counties also have created links to neighboring counties and/or to parent counties so it is easy to "search the territory" for more clues.

Among some of the more unique things found in the area of local resources is the Pennsylvania Trading Post. Developed by Mary Harris, coordinator for Chester County, Pennsylvania, genealogical books or materials for sale or trade are listed. Potential buyers can also list books they woule like. Mary has also added a listing of Chester County homes in found on the National Registry of Historic Places.

Joe Patterson, the coordinator of Cumberland County, PAGenWeb page, has created special discussion groups for Pennsylvania Dutch and other specific interest groups in his county. He also offers a pictorial tour of Carlisle where you can view some of the historic homes in the area.

A number of counties have links to local newspapers online where recent issues of one or more county newspapers can be read. Bonnie Palmer has created newspaper abstract sections which start as early as 1855 for Rusk County, Texas. Here you can also find a page devoted to the history of the Cherokee in that area.

Chat rooms are beginning to spring up where a number of people who have common research interests can discuss common problems in real-time. (Northampton and Luzerne Counties, Pennsylvania, and the Georgia State page, for example)

In Iroquois County, Illinois, Loretta Barlow has a "Key to the City" page which gives information on place names found in early documents but not necessarily shown on maps. Here can be found obituaries from the Daily-Journal in Kankakee and 18 months of archived obits.

A particularly nice section developed on Scottish research can be found on Lynda Smith's Cumberland County, North Carolina, page. Shari Handley, who hosts both Somerset and Wicomico, Maryland, sites has done an interesting variation on her "County History" section. Rather than giving a broad, general history, she features specific aspects of county history (a town, a family, a person). These articles are changed quarterly and the old articles are still available through her archived files.

There is, of course, wide variation in the kinds and amount of information found on the different pages. The above is not all-inclusive but gives a fair sampling of the variety that can be found. Some of the volunteers are less skilled at HTML coding and graphics than others. This author considers her page as pretty much "plain vanilla" but filled with good information. A page that is both crammed with content and pleasing to the eye is Pam Reid's Gloucester County, Virginia, page.

Queries

Queries can be posted on every county page. There are two methods commonly in use by the county coordinators. There is an autobot system where a simple form is used. The advantage of using this system is that the names are automatically included in a national index and the query is automatically formatted in HTML code and returned to the county of origin. This makes it very simple for the county coordinator to cut and paste the query to his/her query page. The only disadvantage of this system is that there is usually a delay of a few days between the time of submission and the time the query is posted. The delay is preferable to the weeks or months it takes with any query submitted to a genealogical journal or newsletter. It is also FREE.

The other system commonly in use is a simple e-mail message to the county coordinator, which has the advantage of speed. It goes directly to the county coordinator without going through the autobot system. However, what it gains in speed it loses in inclusion in the national indexing system..

Queries are now coming into the USGenWeb system at the rate of about 12,000 per week nationally. Some county coordinators have added a cross indexing system which allows the user to look quickly for a surname of interest, click, and go directly to the query where this surname is found. A nice feature for the user, but whether or not a given county has it really depends on the time the coordinator can devote to creating and keeping it up.

Another closely related feature found on many county pages is the surname index, which instead of being keyed to the queries is simply a list of surnames and the e-mail address of persons interested in researching that surname.

The query section is, without doubt, the most popular feature of the project and there is a virtual "feeding frenzie", revealed by the counters on the pages. An evaluation form now in the early stages of development also shows that queries are a favorite.

Lookups

The lookups page, which was designed to allow people to share their resources, has not been without its problems. Again, the concept was simple. If someone has a book, a CD-rom, or special skills they are willing to offer to others, their e-mail address is listed. A visitor can e-mail the person who has offered to share and ask him or her to look for specific information on their family.

Early on, the copyright issue was discussed. How much can one "share" without stepping on the toes of the publisher who owns the copyright? Weeks of long agonizing discussion led to an official policy which places limits on how much information can be furnished. On the Augusta County page there is a disclaimer: "Due to concerns about copyright infringement, we cannot quote long passages from copyrighted sources. However, if substantial information is found, we can tell you the nature of the information and do our best to help you locate a copy of that source."

In addition, books under copyright protection are not listed unless there is explicit permission from the publisher. Material which is out ofprint and in the public domain is fair game!

Individualization

While all pages have certain things in common, the volunteers who host county and state pages have a great deal of latitude to develop special interests as long as there is a relationship to what the family historian will find helpful.

A particular bias of this author is that there is an obligation to help educate genealogists and promote information on proper research. A section called "Sharpen Your Research Skills" has been added to the Augusta County page. This is simply a collection of links to other sites with special topics on how to do things better--from general hints to more specific items such as deciphering old handwriting, photographic preservation, getting the most out of land records, origin of family names, citing sources, taking tombstone rubbings, and writing better and more productive queries.

The System

So far the discussion has centered on the county unit as the purveyor of good genealogical information. That is proper because that is where one has to look for family information. However, the county unit came into being only after a system was developed starting with the national level, which filtered down to the state level and finally to the local level. Key players in this system include John Rigdon, who is the overall USGenWeb coordinator, and Linda Lewis, who established the USGenWeb Archives. While it is impossible to hand out bouquets to all the hard working volunteers who have helped make this system work, it would be remiss not to mention Dr. Brian Leverich and Dale Schneider. These are the two who provide much of the web space that many USGenWeb page coordinators call home. Brian is the systems administrator at Rootsweb Genealogical Data Cooperative which is host to many genealogical endeavors in addition to USGenWeb. Dale also hosts many sites and is the sponsor for the WorldGenWeb, which, by extension offers a home to countries outside the United States. One easy address gives you access to all:

http://www.usgenweb.com/ 

From this USGenWeb locator page the state of interest can be selected and from the state page, the county of interest. There is also a link to the WorldGenWeb.

The USGenWeb Archives

Not long after the recruiting of volunteers to establish county pages began, a companion effort was started to develop the USGenWeb Archives. Under the direction of Linda Lewis, who also coordinates VAGenWeb as well as several county pages, the archives came into being. What goes into the archives? Primary documents go into the archives. This includes wills, land records, vital statistics, census records, and other primary records, organized by state and county. The archives now contain the equivalent of about 200,000 printed pages. Considering the vast amount of material that could potentially be included here, this is still modest, but growing fast. Anyone who has transcriptions of primary records can contribute to this resource. The Internet address for the archives is:

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/usfiles.htm

Special Projects

Once the basic structure of USGenWeb came into being, other special projects began to emerge. As a new coordinator of Augusta County, Virginia, I thought it would be great if Chalkley's "Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish in Virginia: 1745-1800" could be available online. This three-volume series of about 1,500 pages contains the transcriptions of nearly all court records in Augusta County during that time period. How to do it? The first step, of course, was to find out if there was a copyright problem. The Genealogical Publishing Company in Baltimore reported that Chalkley was out-of-print and in the public domain. The next step was to find people who had the skills and time to take on such a project. Posting a notice of intent on the lookups page brought forth a number of volunteers. This project, now under the direction of Trudy Lusk, who is doing the major input, has been online since mid-November. As of this writing about one-third of the first volume is completed, and the pages are receiving visitors at the rate of about 2,000 per month.

Another online book transcription is under way at Shari Handley's Somerset County, Maryland, site. "They Lived in Somerset: 17th Century Marylanders" by Wilmer O. Lankford contains an alphabetical listing of 5,404 men, women, and children who appear in various records of the county and are keyed to the records where they are found.

Next, the idea of transcribing census records was born. Under the direction of Ken Hollingsworth, this project is now getting under way. Ken, along with the help of James Streeter who maintains the census web site, has worked out a scheme for assigning work to volunteers and are keeping track of who is doing what.

Not long after that Pam Reid, who hosts the Gloucester County, Virginia, page proposed the Tombstone Inscriptions project in a salute of Memorial Day. She is serving as the coordinator of this nationwide project which collects information on cemetery records.

How Many People Are Using USGenWeb?
 
As might be predicted, the amount of usage any individual state or county receives is directly related to how long the page has been up and running, as well as early migration patterns. As of mid-June, KYGenWeb, where the project really began, was nearing 195,000 visitors; Virginia and Tennessee, which lie along major early migration paths were pushing 145,000 visitors; New York was approaching 140,000. Georgia has had 90,000 during the first five and a half months of 1997. High volume county pages include Chester County, Pennsylvania, which saw a lot of early immigrants and has been visited more than 25,000 persons by mid-June. Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, with nearly 24,000 since January 1997, and Cumberland County, North Carolina, with 18,000 in a seven and a half month period are also high volume counties. Of course, by the time this article is printed these figures will be out of date.

Testimonials

In recent months an evaluation system has been under development. While it is not yet in place nationwide, it has produced enough data to test the waters on how the genealogical community is reacting. Here are some responses to a question about how things can improve:
The project is an excellent idea as I am able to view material from different states and counties "on demand" and at my own pace. Keep up the good work!

More primary information should be your target. You are on the right track and am so glad you are there. The Internet has revitalized my searching and has given me many new ideas! Thanks for your work.

I have a wonderful time here. Court houses are better, but when you can't go, this is an unexpected joy! Thanks.

I find it hard to get to libraries to do research and this has been a big help to me. My wish is for more marriage records to be available. I enjoy each new item. THANKS!!!!

Fabulous job so far. Transcribe more marriage info, land files for each county, deeds, etc. MORE, MORE. Thanks.

This is a wonderful boon to research. I just visited the Augusta County, VA site and found the maps, histories, etc. that I hope will be universal as much as possible for other sites. I intend to volunteer my services as soon as I can to add to different sites or to host some that need adopting.

I am a long way from Virginia. I don't live close to a city with genealogical libraries. I have found addresses and web sites that should prove helpful to me. Tonight, I found several references to some of my ancestors. This was thrilling.

You are doing great. I find pages most interesting and well designed. Thanks for all the effort that has obviously gone into this site.

Keep it up. Most exciting thing for genealogists since the postage stamp!
Even the General Public Has Noticed

It took only a few months before people began to notice what was happening. Articles began appearing both online and in newspapers across the nation.

September 1996 -The Best of the USGenWeb Project, Journal of Online Genealogy

September 4, 1996 - DeKalb County on the Internet, Smithville (TN) Review

December 23, 1996 - Plugging Into Your Roots, US News and World Report

January 16, 1997 - The Detroit News, Genealogy: You Can Find Family Roots on the Internet

January 19, 1997 - Tracing Your Family Roots Online, Morning Sun [Gratiot County, Michigan]

January 1997 - Corky Knebel - Montana State Coordinator, USGenWeb Project, Billings Gazette

19 February 1997 - Erath County Texas GenWeb - Kathryn Coombs, Journal of Online Genealogy

May 1997 - On Line: USGenWeb Project, On Board [Newsletter of the Board for Certification of Genealogist]

Tech Life - Searching for Roots of Your Family Tree? Internet can make it easier, Philadelphia Inquirer

Most of these can be read in their entirety at:

http://www.dsenter.com/faqs/usarticl.htm

How Can You Help?

If you have even so much as one transcribed primary document--will, deed, Bible record, marriage record, death certificate--it will be gratefully received by the USGenWeb Archives. Simply go to the state of interest and look for access to their archives. Or if, by chance, that state has not yet established its archive director, contact the overall Archives Director, Linda Lewis at <linda@usroots.com>.

Both the Census Records Project and the Tombstone Transcription Projects need volunteers. For the census project go to:

http://www.usgenweb.com/census/

For the tombstone project go to:

http://www.geocities.com/~pamreid/memorial.html

There are also still a few counties that need to be adopted. Check out those states of interest to you and let the state coordinator know.

In Summary

The USGenWeb project which began slightly over a year ago, has developed rapidly and spread like wildfire providing a new research tool for anyone with Internet capabilities. It found a void and quickly filled it. Enthusiasm is high among the volunteers who willing to give of their time. It is impossible to guess where this project will be in another year.
 
The USGenWeb Phenomena: A Progress Report
 
Carmen J. Finley, Ph.D., C.G
[NGS/CIG DIGEST, Vol. 18, No. 2
(National Genealogical Society Computer Interest Group, March April 1999), p. 1
Reprinted by permission of Carla Ridenour, Editor.].

It has been three years since the USGenWeb came into being in the Spring of 1996. The establishment of this system of county-centered online information for family researchers was first documented in the NGS/CIG DIGEST in the September/October 1997 issue. What has happened in the intervening time? Many things have happened. At the county level, coordinators continue to add information and databases and a large majority of them have mailing lists devoted to their county. Query systems have evolved and developed to the point that it is possible to search not only nationwide, but worldwide, for queries and other information that has been posted about surnames of interest. New large-scale projects are being developed; among them are the Archives, Census, Tombstone, Lineage, and Kidz Projects. One of the most exciting things is that actual images of primary/original source records are beginning to appear.

County Level Activities

As one might expect, there is wide variation in the quality and amount of information now available from county to county. There are many excellent sites which grow and develop with each passing day. However, there are still a few "orphan counties" that need to be adopted and developed.

Mailing Lists

One of the most exciting developments at the county level is the rapidly growing availability of mailing lists. Just think of it--a mailing list devoted entirely to the research interests of folks in a given county. In Augusta County, Virginia, for example, a list established about a year and a half ago now has approximately 700 members--all of whom have interests in that county! And there is a search engine on the Augusta County page that will call up all the information on a given surname since the list began. This writer has found participating in a mailing list to be a very fast way to get helpful leads. It depends, of course, on the size of the mailing list and the interests of those on the list at any given time. It may not be possible, because of time constraints, to join and remain active on many lists, but it is easy to subscribe for a brief period, unsubscribe, and then go back later as your research needs develop.

Search Engines

Another relatively new development which has become available through Rootsweb, home of many of the county sites, is a search engine designed for county level use. In other words, the visitor can enter a surname and find all references to it at that county site. Some county pages have grown so large that a search engine represents considerable savings in time to find those things of most interest to any researcher.

Maps

The use of maps is always a welcome addition for the family historian. While many counties have been using a county map, some are also using township maps, and a few are using plats which show the actual names and locations of early settlers. One of the most innovative uses of maps is found is Tom Agan's treatment of the map information provided by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Orange County, Indiana. BLM is discussed in further detail in the section on images below. Tom has taken this information and created colored sections showing the position of each early patent holder. See:

http://www.rootsweb.com/~inorange/toc.htm

and scroll down to "Land."

Following Tom's example, see more BLM maps at Hillsdale County, Michigan, and Howard County, Indiana, which are being developed by Tracey Morris:

http://www.rootsweb.com/~mihillsd/s3-t5s-r1w.htm

http://www.rootsweb.com/~inhoward/sources.html

Excellent use of Township maps can be see at Muskingum County, Ohio, developed by Melanie Cox:

http://www.rootsweb.com/~ohmuskin/musktwpmap.htm

Also see Van Buren County, Iowa, coordinated by Rich Lowe:

http://www.netins.net/showcase/vbciowa/vbcgs/maps.htm

And Dickinson County, Kansas, developed by Kathy Welch Heidel:

http://skyways.lib.ks.us/kansas/genweb/dickinso/landowners.html

For an example of plats showing early patent holders in the Beverley Patent, 1736, see Augusta County, Virginia:

http://www.rootsweb.com/~vaaugust/augusta2.html#maps

Many counties have taken advantage of the offer made by Gold Bug Historic Maps and Software. Gold Bug has provided about 200 sites with historical maps to post for their county. For example, see Augusta County showing county boundaries in 1738, 1770, 1776, and 1791:

http://www.rootsweb.com/~vaaugust/maps.html

Not to mention a wonderful map which unfolds to show the development of America at various periods from 1650 through 1982, developed by Ed Stephan.

http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/Animation/us.gif

Photos

Many counties are making good use of photographs. A particularly interesting page has been developed by Valerie Brown on Rehoboth Church, now in Monroe County, West Virginia. The First Methodist Church west of the Alleghenies was dedicated in 1786, and she intersperses the history of this church with photos.

http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvgreenb/rehoboth.html

Tinkling Spring Presbyterian Church, established in 1740 in Augusta County, is another example of a photo album and early church history.

http://www.rootsweb.com/~vaaugust/photo.html

Jones County, Iowa, maintained by Richard Harrison, has a "Missing Person" section showing early photos of persons whose identity is not known.

http://www.rootsweb.com/~iajones/missing/page1.htm

Tracey Morris has made good use of postal cards of early 1900 scenes of Kokomo in Howard County, Indiana.

http://www.rootsweb.com/~inhoward/postcards.html

In Webster County, Kentucky, Carole Palmer has a page devoted to the Providence High School Class of 1924.

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kywebste/prov/senior1.htm

A substantial photo gallery of Orange County people and places has been developed by Tom Agan in Orange County, Indiana.

http://www.rootsweb.com/~inorange/prephoto.htm

Locating Exemplary Sites

It would be impossible to identify all of the superior sites, but there are a couple of ways to get a good sampling. A USGenWeb Virtual Tour was established last November. Initially set up by John Schunk, the objectives of the USGenWeb Virtual Tour are to exchange ideas and information on the design, content, and presentation of USGenWeb county and state sites for both the tourists and the hosts. Now managed by Darilee Bednar, you can find this site at:

http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/sedgwick/virtualtour.html

During the summer of 1998 a number of Palmer Awards were made to evaluate content, overall presentation, and ease of navigation. This site can be found at:

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ridge/2240/criteria.html

However, there is one county coordinator whose hands-on approach really deserves mention. Shari Handley, who is webmaster for Somerset and Wicomico Counties, Maryland, has for two years organized two special events involving local researchers. In Shari's words:

A county or regional mailing list can be used to create excitement about your county sites, and to motivate subscribers to donate transcribed records and such. I run the 650+ member LOWER-DELMARVA-ROOTS mailing list, and have for the last two years organized a yearly double event during our one week vacation to the area. One event is what we call our annual "CemTrek,"and the other is the "Research Jamboree" that takes place at the Nabb Research Center for DelMarVa History and Culture.

Last year, there were eight CemTrekkers who braved the hot sun, humidity, brambles and chiggers to transcribe another bunch of cemetery data. Afterwards, we had a wonderful dinner of the best the Eastern Shore has to offer at the Red Rooster in Wicomico County (Newt Gingrich ate here!) We had a total blast! Then, the next day, there were about 40 list members who came to the Nabb Center for the Research Jamboree. Folks came from as far away as the Netherlands (!), California, Rhode Island, and Michigan for this event, and I expect even more this summer.

When we return from the CemTrek and Research Jamboree, I write a detailed report of both events for the whole list to read and upload the cemetery data we've transcribed. People seem to love to read the trip report, and I know they appreciate the data.

The Query Systems

From the very beginning of the USGenWeb project there has been high interest in providing a place where visitors could post their queries and read those posted by others. In response to the growing interest and the difficulty in efficiently locating surnames of interest, two systems have developed to the point where it is now very easy to search these massive databases.

Surname Helper

Created by Patty Lindsay, Surname Helper is a surname searchable database of queries and surname registrations posted on various genealogy sites. Participating sites include both USGenWeb and WorldGenWeb sites as well as others. As of January 1999, there was a total of 3,203 sites using this system, of which 2,666 were members of the USGenWeb or WorldGenWeb systems. When this writer searched for "Finley" on the total system, 328 listings were returned. In addition to just queries, there was also found a number of biographies, cemetery, census, death, directory, history, military, newspaper, pension, and will records which come from the GenConnect system describe next. To access the Surname Helper search engine:

http://cgi.rootsweb.com/surhelp/srchall.html

GenConnect

GenConnect is a query board system where a researcher can post queries and share data. A query board system is where the responses to an initial query are threaded so they appear together as a set of information as the data accumulates. Started in December 1997 by Nancy Trice with a single county in Kentucky, the demand soon spread nationwide and worldwide. There are three types of boards, (1) those where you can post to and respond to queries, (2) those you can post to, but queries are not allowed, and (3) boards which are read only boards. Types of boards at this time, include: Bibles, biographies, deeds, obits, queries, pensions, and wills and as of January 1999 there were 6,008 boards in use. A global surname search on "Finley" on GenConnect returned 206 listings. To access this search engine:

http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/

Major Projects

The Archives

First of the major large-scale projects to appear was the USGenWeb Archives initiated by Linda Lewis. Established in July 1996, the goal of the Archives Project is to put public domain records online so that they are freely accessible to everyone. Included are probate, land, vital, church, court, military, Bible records, obituaries, and passenger lists among others. There are now two search engines--one to search by state and the other to search nationwide. To search by state:

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ussearch.htm

To search nationwide:

http://searches.rootsweb.com/htdig/search.html

A detailed report on the archives, authored by Linda Lewis, appeared in the January-February 1998 issue of the NGS/CIG DIGEST.

Several sub-projects have originated from the Archives Project, namely the census project and the tombstone inscriptions project.

Census Project

The USGenWeb Census Project was started in February 1997 with the mission of transcribing all of the US Federal Censuses. This, of course, is an enormous job and transcribers are busily at work, but more are needed to extract the census data from the original rolls. The project got off the ground with about twenty-five people and there are currently more that 500 volunteers at work. Kay Mason, director of this project, wrote a detailed account which appeared in the November-December 1998 issue of NGS/CIG DIGEST. The most exciting development is that the actual census images are also becoming available and eventually the researcher will be able to read the transcribed version and then look at the actual image to verify the information. Linda Lewis is responsible for the image version of the census. More on this in the section devoted to images.

You can view the status of the census transcription project at:

http://www.usgenweb.org/census/

You can view the progress of the census image project at:

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/cen_img.htm

Keep in mind that, because of its enormity, this is still a fledgling project, so you may not find your specific county and year of interest. As of now it is not indexed, nor are the transcriptions linked to their corresponding images, but these sites are well worth watching and re-visiting often.

Tombstone Inscription Project

The Tombstone Inscription Project, started in March 1997 by Pamela Reid, was originally designed as "a lasting tribute to our ancestors." Pam's project is organized state-by-state, cemetery-by-cemetery and she encourages anyone with data to contribute it, or to go read the stones of any cemetery in their area and contribute the data. The NGS/CIG DIGEST carried her report as a lead article in the March-April 1998 issue. Check to see if any of your ancestors have been included; visit her site at:

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~cemetery/

The Lineage Project

The Lineage Project provides a place where individuals can list a specific ancestor, give a minimal amount of information about that person and a way to contact the submitter. It was created by Megan and Barry Zurawicz as one of the USGenWeb special projects. Coordinator Sam Sneed and family have volunteered their services for the past year in maintaining submissions upkeep to the project. Hundreds of researchers weekly, from around the world, e-mail their surnames with accompanying data in hopes of linking others to their personal e-mail address or home pages that contain additional information.

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~lineage/

Kidz Project

The Kidz Project is The USGenWeb Project's resource page for kids. Jen Bawden and Dee Pavey coordinate this project.

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~usgwkidz/

Images Are Beginning to Appear Online

Images of actual documents (primary, original) are beginning to appear online. There are not many, but the mere fact that someone has the foresight to get them started is significant. Some are directly a part of the USGenWeb project or a spin-off of the project. Others, mostly from government agencies, are also beginning to appear and USGenWeb county coordinators are quick to recognize them and make links available to them.

The Census Project described above is by far the largest USGenWeb sponsored attempt to get images online. This project has been given a boost by John Schunk of S-K Publications who produces census images on CD-ROMs. Their offer states:

As each county/year census is completed, a copy of the scanned images will be donated to the USGenWeb Project for non-commercial display on the World-Wide Web. THUS, YOUR PURCHASE OF A CD, IN EFFECT, PROVIDES ON-LINE RESEARCHERS EVERYWHERE WITH ACCESS TO THE COUNTY AND CENSUS YEAR YOU HAVE SELECTED. It's as if you purchased a book and then donated it to your library or genealogy society--except that, in this case, it's not a local library or society, but a world-wide library, easily accessible to everyone!

As of this writing, this process is happening for the states of California, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

One of the first affiliates of a county page to complete a significant project of online images was done by Angela Ruley and Marilyn Headley. They scanned 1,354 images of Rockbridge County Marriage Bonds (1778-1801). These images were scanned directly from the original marriage bonds located at the Rockbridge County Courthouse in Lexington, Virginia. They are well indexed and other helpful information concerning bonds and consent is included.

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/va/rockbridge/license.html

They enjoy a close working relationship with the Rockbridge VAGenWeb site coordinated by Yvonne James-Henderson at:

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~varockbr/rock.htm

Ruley provided details of the development of this project in the May/June 1998 issue of NGS/CIG DIGEST.

The Wilderness Road Regional Museum located in the historic town of Newbern, Pulaski County, Virginia, started scanning in December 1998. Their collection consists of court records, and indexes to wills, deeds, marriage, and Bible records. This project is being done by volunteers at the museum but is facilitated by Mike Gwinn, Pulaski VAGenWeb coordinator. See:

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~vapulask/wrrm/index.htm

In Spotsylvania County, Virginia, coordinator Barry McGhie has recently launched a project to reconstruct two early will books covering the period August 1824 through April 1830. Using recordation dates (the dates documents were ordered by the court to be entered into the will books) in conjunction with the folios (page numbers) and libers (books) written on many of the documents, the will books are being reconstructed in the form of digital will books into which transcripts and images of original documents will be entered. See:

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~vaspotsy/willbook/wb.htm

Notable efforts are also being made by government agencies and many USGenWeb coordinators are taking advantage of this by linking to them.

The Library of Virginia has Land Office Patents and Grants images online. These are recorded copies of those documents by which the Crown (between 1623 and 1774) and the Commonwealth (from 1779) transferred new land to individual ownership:

http://leo.vsla.edu/collections/help/LO.html

The National Archives and Records Administration Archival Information Locator (NAIL) is a searchable database that contains information about a wide variety of NARA's holdings across the country. You can use NAIL to search descriptions for key words or topics and then to retrieve digital copies of selected textual documents, photographs, maps, and sound recordings. Their introductory page says, "Although NAIL contains more than 384,200 descriptions and 101,180 digital copies, it represents only a limited portion of NARA's vast holdings." You can see a sample of recently added data at:

http://www.nara.gov/nara/recdata.html

The Bureau of Land Management, Eastern States, General Land Office provides a database and images to more than two million Federal land title records for the Eastern Public Land States, issued between 1820 and 1908. The states included are Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

This site offers researchers a source of information on the initial transfer of land titles from the Federal government to individuals in the specified states.

In November 1998 the GLO began expanding this site by including "serial" patent records issued after June 30, 1908. This also includes records for the western states. More than 1.24 million "serial" patents will be added to the web site during the next three years.

http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/

What Others Say About Us

For over two years this writer has carried an evaluation form on her pages. Here are some of the comments which have been received:

I appreciate all the lookup help I have gotten, particularly from the people in St. Clair County, Illinois, and in Scioto County, Ohio. What I find to be most valuable is information that is placed online for folks to view. For example, the Scott Co., Virginia, page had marriage records that provided information on several ancestors. At other sites I've found valuable census information, the online cemetery files at the Scioto Co. Genealogy hotspot are great, and Civil War rosters have all proved really valuable.

I especially like things like the 'family files' on the Orange Co., Indiana, site-- they also have cemetery lists and searchable census records! It would be nice if all the county pages could have their queries set up to be searchable, and if they would all have maps like some of the Virginia and other pages which show the outline of the county on a state map. Also it's very important to include information on the history of the county, when it was formed, and from what counties, etc. On the whole I think the rootsweb/Genweb archives are the best things going in genealogy today--I live in the Czech Republic and do a lot of research in archives here--without these county pages and on-line archives I would be completely cut off from doing research on my own ancestry, though. I'm trying to use some of the ideas of the county pages for my own page on Southern Quakers-- I've set up a page on the Wrightsboro Monthly Meeting and am trying to encourage others to do the same for other monthly meetings.

I would like to see more census records. I enjoy any of the pages having to with the Civil War. Thanks so much for all the information that is being added all the time, I check back to all the sites occasionally.

I really appreciate your putting this information on-line. Living in a rural area four hours drive from the nearest substantial library, I often have difficulty finding information. On your web site, I found ownership maps of Augusta County which will help me confirm inheritance of a son who was not mentioned in a will. Thanks so much.

I think your sites are wonderful. I don't see how you could improve, except to keep adding more files to the Archives. These are so great for those who can't get out or don't have access to family history centers. I really enjoy your area histories. A great deal of that information came from your sites, or contacts I made on your sites. Do I think you're great? You better believe it!

Carmen, you were one of the first to introduce research material on line with your Chalkley project. The amount of online databases is really exploding across the system which is making USGenWeb really valuable. The county mail lists are also a powerful tool. I just joined yours but am on several of the mail lists in the Northeast.

You're doing a great job--I especially like sites where I can access book texts, as I can here. Yours is one of the best I have found. I sometimes think that counties are pretty stingy about what they post--can't understand it, but that's the feeling I get when I visit one and find virtually nothing that I can get to without having to write, send a check, etc. Your website is very generous and I appreciate the work I know it takes to maintain something like this. I like it!

You're doing Great! and have come a long way. You can`t move mountains in One Day--and if you think about it, that's what you all are doing. Patience is what it takes. Thank you, for all that you are doing and all that you will do.

And on and on!!!

Rootsweb and USGenWeb

The reader may have noticed that many of the URLs above are located at Rootsweb, the Internet's oldest and largest genealogy site. Founded by husband and wife team Dr. Brian Leverich and Karen Isaacson, Rootsweb offers free space to any organization that legitimately offers free genealogical information to the genealogical community. They do, of course, accept donations and have a graduated set of services which are provided for different fee levels. Never-the-less, this writer availed herself of their "free" offer to house the Augusta County VAGenWeb site for well over a year before deciding this was the best thing going since the invention of the postage stamp. The July-August 1998 issue of NGS/CIG DIGEST carried an article written by Karen Isaacson which gives the details of their operation.

Is it Payback Time for YOU?

How many of you have received a bundle of information through the USGenWeb system that takes you back another two, three, four or more generations on one of your family lines? Many persons probably have, and as a result may have had a surge of that feeling, "How can I ever pay you back for this?"

Rarely is there ever a way to "pay back" the individual who provided that information, but there are other ways to express your appreciation to the genealogical community at large. If you have primary or original documents--Bible records, wills, land, vital or other records--the Archives is ready to receive them. If you have cemetery records, the Tombstone Inscription Project would like to have them. If you have old photos, contribute them to the appropriate county. If you would like to help develop the census records, let the director of that project know. All of these can be found through one easy address:

http://www.usgenweb.org/

Last Updated: August 2020