Web Voyager
From our Newspapers
Web Voyager
By Ellen Highland Fernandez
Webmaster@cpubco.com
Tracing your Routes using the Internet
As our general population ages, people become more interested in
learning more about where they come from and identifying their
family trees. The Internet offers the researcher the opportunity
to travel around the globe to get information and allows one to
share notes with others who share an specific interest in the
same family.
For the novice researcher, the National Genealogical Society
offers Suggestions for Beginners
A helpful site created by Joseph C. Wolf is titled Tools and
Technique of Genealogical Research
. It tells you how to
organize your notes and research so you don't get buried under a
mass of paperwork and information.
If you are really intent on approaching the subject armed with
expert advice, you can take an online course through Carl
Sandburg College, Galesburg, Illinois
. The college offers
three online courses: Genealogy on the Internet, Beginning
Genealogy and Intermediate Genealogy.
Research Tools
Ready to take the plunge? Here are two starting sites for your
search of your relatives.
The Surname Genealogy Web Project
links to surnames from every country in the world!
Roots Surname List -- Interactive Search
The Roots Surname List (RSL) is a list or registry of surnames.
The list compiler states that "there are almost 200,000 surnames
that have been submitted by over 20,000 net.genealogists, with
additional names arriving at the rate of over 600 a day".
Each surname listed includes not only the date the name was
submitted and the location of the person but contact information
concerning the person who submitted the name. This allows you to
contact your fellow net-genealogists and compare notes. I did a
search on "Highland" and found one of my cousins who is
apparently a net-genealogists himself!
One of the best research tools is other people. Others with
similar interest can share information and offer moral support.
The Dead Persons Society (DPS) in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
was started in 1992 by twelve people. Two years later, the
group's monthly meetings grew to over 50 people in attendance.
The DPS has its own web site which includes links to help
everyone interested in genealogy.
Treasure Maps offers a free
monthly e-mail newsletter which they say contains "helpful,
usable and noteworthy tips and tools for on-line and off-line
genealogy research". You might want to try it out. Send an e-mail
to ragan@southeast.net with "Subscribe TM" in the subject area. I
have not tried it myself.
If you do not belong to a local genealogy group or simply would
like to share notes with others, you can join the Usenet
soc.genealogy.methods which discusses genealogical methods and
resources. It is a moderated group (monitored for off-topic
content).
Other tips include: Using a search engine to search by surnames,
checking newspaper obituary archives, and looking for local
genealogical groups on the web.
Find the Children
This site was submitted to me by a reader. It is an example of
how the web can serve society in a positive way. The National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children web site
has recently been revamped to help
get the information out in a more helpful and simpler way. The
success stories are inspiring.
As you voyage down the cyber-path, you are encouraged to send me your ideas for topics you would like to see discussed and to share your favorite links. Send correspondence to me at:
e-mail: Webmaster@cpubco.com, via post: Web Voyager, Ellen H. Fernandez, PO Box 2000,
Clarksburg, WV 26302, or through our web site. Phone: 626-1466.
EDITOR'S NOTE Ellen Highland Fernandez is the Webmaster for Clarksburg
Publishing Company's site and her column appears on the first and third Sundays every month in
the Sunday Exponent-Telegram
Clarksburg Publishing Company, P.O. Box 2000, Clarksburg, WV 26302 USA
Copyright © Clarksburg Publishing Company 1997