Be Sure to Visit my new 1900 Galveston Storm Website at: http://freepages.genealogy.rootseb.com/~barnette
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COMPOSE FRUITFUL QUERIES
Carefully
composed queries reap bountiful harvests. One of the best ways to find relatives and locate information on ancestors is to post and answer queries in genealogical periodicals and on Internet query sites such as Rootsweb at
http://lists.rootsweb.com/
and the county pages of the various state WebPages of the USGENWEB Project at
http://usgenweb.com/statelinks-table.html . When placing queries one should keep the query short and to the point.
Readers, particularly, on the Internet tend to have short attention spans. Long rambling queries can be confusing and often go unread and unanswered. Be sure to write complete sentences. Identify people in queries
using complete names, complete dates and be sure to reference places. Names with out reference to date and place can be found in any current metropolitan telephone book. Do not send email attachments to anyone
without notifying them. Attachments take a long time to download and are annoying when unwanted or unexpected. Treat others with respect and courtesy. Do not demand-ask. Be sure to thank others for information sent.
Be sure to sign correspondence. In case an email address changes include a telephone number, an email and street address. Unsigned messages demanding someone send everything they have can be resented and yield no answer.
GENEALOGICAL CLASSES
Covering the time frame of the colonial period to the present Mic Barnette will teach Birth, Marriage, Divorce and Death Records for Historians and Genealogists. This class will explore the development, location and contents of some of the most important evidential documents genealogists use in creating family histories. Class will be held from 7 P.M. to 9 P.M. Tuesday October 30 at Leisure Learning's campus at 2990 Richmond, near Kirby. For more information and to register, contact Leisure Learning at 713-529-4414.
CLAY IN SAN ANTONIO
Robert Young Clay, Virginia State
Librarian, will be the featured speaker at the San Antonio Genealogical and Historical Society's annual conference. The conference is being held all day Saturday October 27 at Woodland Baptist Church on Huebner Road in San Antonio.
The Virginia State Library is one of the best repositories for Virginia related genealogical and historical materials and Clay is one of the most knowledgeable persons on that library's holdings. Anyone with
Virginia ancestry should take advantage of this opportunity to hear him. The Library of Virginia's Digital Library Program (DLP) is an internationally recognized effort to preserve, digitize, and provide access to
Virginia's significant archival and library collections. The DLP transfers rare and unique Virginia materials into an integrated, user-friendly electronic research environment. Since its inception in 1995, the Program has digitized
more than 2.2 million original documents, photographs, and maps, and produced more than 80 fully-searchable databases, indexes, and electronic finding aids. To view these databases visit their website at For more
information about the seminar contact SAGHS at 210-342-5242 by email at
TSGS MEETS IN TYLER
Co-sponsored by the East Texas Genealogical Society
the Texas State Genealogical Society will hold their annual seminar Friday and Saturday November 9 and 10 at the Sheraton Hotel in Tyler. Speakers of the Friday sessions will be John Sellers of Sulphur Springs,
Barbara B. Wylie of Grand Prairie and Paula Perkins Parke of Houston. The featured speaker on Saturday will be Dr. George K. Schweitzer who will lecture in costumes relative to each talk. His topics will include
Scots-Irish Genealogical Research, Frontier Religion and Its Genealogical Effects and German Emigration, Immigration and Migration Patterns. For more information contact TSGS at 2107 54th Street,
Lubbock, TX 79412-2610, call 806-747-1319 or visit the TSGS website at
NEWS FROM THE BOOKSHELF
Associate professor of family history at Brigham Young University, Kip Sperry, has compiled Abbreviations and Acronyms: A Guide for Family Historians.
It is available for $22.14, postpaid, from Ancestry.Com's representative, Paula Perkins Parke, at P.O. Box 842052 Houston, TX 77284-2054 or by calling 281-550-7935. The book is an excellent reference tool designed
for genealogists, historians, reference librarians and others searching for the meaning of abbreviations, acronyms and initials found in original and printed genealogical and historical sources. Arranged in an alphabetical format
there is a brief explanation or description for each item listed in the book. Most of the abbreviations in the book refer to English speaking countries, primarily the United States, Canada and Great Britain. Also
included are many medical abbreviations. Generally, references are not made to foreign language abbreviations.
