WELCOME

Welcome to the ninth issue of the quarterly online newsletter supplement to "Self Portraits: The Self Family NetLetter," the Website dedicated to Self family research at http://www.selfroots.com

You are receiving this newsletter because you were kind enough to join "Self Seekers: The Self Family Association." We appreciate all of your contributions, large and small, and we hope you will continue to support our page, our surname list, and this newsletter.

...it means that you (and we) have survived the "Y2K Crisis," and all of Selfdom can now look forward to the year 3000. Wouldn't it be great to be able to see ahead that far? Already awed by the new cousins we've found in just 3 1/2 years, we would surely be totally amazed at how the Self genes will have spread throughout the world. Possibly there will be new research techniques by then. The possibilities are endless, and it's so hard to concentrate on today when tomorrow beckons as brightly as yesterday...

In the meantime, we are proud to be a very large repository of Self information. With three domains, a second Webpage at RootsWeb, a surname forum and a suite of cluster pages at RootsWeb (see the link on "Self Portraits"), a Listserv, a Collaboration Surname list on the LDS "Family Search" site, a site on "My Family.com," well over 5,000 pages of connected and unconnected Self lines, and over 925 valid e-mail correspondents willing to share information, we are well able to help you with your family research. We are also the Surname Resource Center (SRC) for the surnames of Self, Selfe, and Selph.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

We have added more Webpages to our family of publications.In addition to SelfSite at RootsWeb, an extension of Self Portraits containing our Census pages as well as state-by-state and county-by-county "loose ends," Selfs presently unconnected to any of the major branches, we now have our Family Record Online which enumerates families presented on our Self Family of the Week page. Also, our 1998 "Self Seekers" newsletters have been uploaded for viewing by all cousins.

We would like to have your gedcom so that we can add your information to our database. With your permission, we will also list and distribute your gedcom on request (but only with your permission). Please send us gedcoms so that we can start a library that will help others. If you've already submitted one, kindly re-send so that we will have the latest information. We would appreciate being kept informed of new family members as well as other changes.

If you haven't joined our Self Surname Mailing List yet, please subscribe. Instructions will be found on the main page of our Website. Note that we also host the Swindle and Edens Surname Lists as well as listservs for Erath County, TX., King County, TX., Bossier Parish, LA., Murray County, GA., Grayson County, TX., and Clay County, NC. In addition, we host the King County, TX, Murray County, GA, and Clay County, NC USGenWeb sites. Our three county sites join "Self Portraits" in featuring a handy search engine for locating topics discussed in previous messages posted to their corresponding listserv--please click on the button directly beneath the instructions for joining the listserv on the main page of each site.

Visit our supplemental Self site, please do so at your earliest convenience. This site is for Self Seekers only. Feel free to change or update your own profile to enable services that will be of most use to you. For example, you cannot send e-mail unless you provide your e-mail address in the profile. We would especially like you to upload photographs and articles to this new site.

Membership fees remain the same in 2000: Regular Member, $12 and Charter Member, $25. If you are a Patron Member, your initial contribution is gratefully acknowledged and good for the lifetime of the "Self Seekers" association. We would appreciate payment of these fees by January 31, 2000.

Remember the July 1998 issue? Remember all the wonderful photographs, articles, and genealogy? We can't do it without your help. PLEASE contribute something. Photographs, articles, family trees, and reunion recaps will be gratefully received and enjoyed by everyone.

Several summers past, when we sat for hours at barely functioning computers in the hot confines of our local LDS Family History Center-- trying to capture every Self in their CD-ROM archives--our greatest wish was that we could someday access these same resources online. Now our dream has come true: the "Family Search Internet Genealogy Service" has arrived!

OVERALL ANALYSIS

"Family Search" is a combination of the two popular LDS programs, "Ancestral Search" and the "International Genealogical Index" (IGI) and several other databases. It has obviously taken a major effort to make all these records available on the Web. But it has paid off for users in many ways. Not only can we view the records from any Web-ready computer, but the online database seems to contain a lot more information than the old CD-ROM system. Moreover, this information appears to be updated much more frequently than the CD-ROM collections in the Family History Centers.

In addition to the two main databases, this site offers a complete search of its "Family History Library Catalog." You can look up records by location, by surname, or through an "All Searches" engine which allows searching by location, surname, author, call number, or film number. You can also get a listing of Family History Center locations by country, state, county, and city; however, it is made very clear that these are not mailing addresses--FHC staff does not handle correspondence.

The Webmasters have gone out of their way to provide helpful hints for researchers based on the excellent quality of assistance provided at their Family History Centers. Their "Search Guide" is divided into three sections: "How-To," "Word Meanings," and "Catalog Helper." Using these guides, novices can learn the procedures of genealogical research and familiarize themSelfs with the terminology used in their hobby. They can also use a step-by-step process to determine which kinds of documents would best provide specific types of information for finding individuals in various geographical locations. These guides are very well designed and appear to work flawlessly.

Two features available only online are: a search for Websites containing your surnames or other specificed keywords; and surname "Collaboration." The latter is an e-mail based service that begins when someone establishes a surname collaboration list. (You may already have discovered that we've set up a "Collaboration" List for the Self surname.) Researchers can then check to see if there is a list present and post information to it. An e-mail message is automatically sent to all those on the list. This list is unlike a regular listserv in that there is no real administration involved and it is not possible to moderate discussion in any way. Also, notifications are not backed up in archives or placed on "bulletin board" sites. Replies to any message will go to everyone on the list. For this reason, listmembers need to know that they should supply enough facts in their message to help identify the object of their search--the surname they are seeking, a brief lineage if possible, and their own e-mail address if they wish to be contacted directly. Sometimes it is frustrating to receive a notification that says simply: "John Self."

Despite initial predictions to the contrary, we've always found that access to this site is quite fast and reliable. In fact, it is truly amazing that the LDS Servers are able to keep up with what must be a tremendous demand. One of our friends in Utah told us that the "Family Search" site received approximately 500 hits per minute on its very first day. The staff was quick to activate at least one new Server to help handle the traffic. We have since received very few "busy" messages, and even the routine maintenance now appears to require little or no downtime.

STARTING OUT

The main screen of the "Family Search Internet Genealogy Service" Website defaults to the "Ancestor Search," a very basic search engine that yields combined results from both the "Ancestral Search" and IGI databases. Here you can enter the first and last name of your ancestor with optional "cgi" boxes for the names of parents and spouse. There is a handy new "Tips on How to Search for Your Ancestor" link which gives immediate help for those new to genealogy and/or the site.

Two other types of searches--Keyword and Custom--are available with a click on their respective "tabs" at the top of the page. Keyword Search is mainly for searching other Web pages listed with the LDS. Custom searching brings up all the other databases available on the site.

All the pages have the same vertical column on the left-hand side which provide links to other site options. "What's New" keeps you informed of the latest improvements and offerings. "Browse Categories" has an amazing amount of information categorized by type of document. You can add and update your own gedcoms through "Preserve Your Genealogy," and you can add your own family site to the searchable list of Webpages registered with the LDS. You can "Order Family History Resources" here--purchasing their typically low-cost items is done through the familiar "cart" method, and there is an accompanying help screen with explanations of each phase of the ordering process. This area also includes links to free downloads. Finally, you can learn more about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints through a link which takes you to their main page, give feedback to the Webmaster, or get general assistance in navigating the site.

ANCESTRAL SEARCH AND THE IGI

The rest of this article will concentrate on "Ancestral Search" and the "International Genealogical Index," the two research tools most used by those who frequent the LDS Family History Centers.

On the "Family Search" site, you have the option of searching these two databases separately (as you do at your local Family History Center) or together in order to save time and pull up many more possible records at once. As noted above, the combined search is the default. To search these databases independently, click on "Custom Search." You'll find that there are additional search options here. For Ancestral search you can now enter years of birth and death, christening, burial, marriage dates, and file number. If you choose the IGI, you can enter birth year, region (required), batch number, serial/sheet number, and film numbers along with the standard search boxes.

The format of the records you'll get from these searches is very similar to their familiar appearance on CD-ROM. The fonts are easy to read, and links are in place to help you go from family group sheets to individual records and back. Most references to living people are deleted with the exception of those individuals who have presumably given permission for their personal data to be posted to the Web. Submitters and Temple information are also included.

A WISH LIST

It's really difficult to criticize the "Family Search" site. Given the scope of the project, there are very few failings here. So, we've simply prepared a wish list--improvements that might be implemented in the future.

Navigation: The links in "Ancestral Search" are often confusing, especially on one's first few visits to the site. It took a while for us to realize that clicking on an individual within a family group sheet brings up the individual's own record--and then you have to click on the "Family" button next to that person's name in order to see his or her own descendants (the "Pedigree" button is, on the other hand, pretty straightforward). Perhaps the "Family" buttons should be marked more explicitly, replacing that word with something more meaningful, such as "Descendants" or "Group Sheet."

Once you do figure out how to proceed, there is yet another ambiguous display that awaits you. All individual records have "Family" button next to the featured person's name--but if you click on that button for a person who has no marriage and/or descendant data, you are returned to the family group sheet for that person's parents. We would like to see a friendly screen that simply informs you that data is unavailable.

In another isolated case, a search retrieved the record for a woman who was married twice, once to a man who also had had two wives. The program has a default spouse--so to get all information possible when working with multiple marriages, it's a good idea to click on the spouse name (and then on Family) for that person (rather than for the person who had two or more marriages). In this instance, clicking on the husband took me to the same wife whose record took me to that husband. If this sounds confusing, it is--some type of loop was created, and I never could see the family group sheet for the secondary spouses of either person. Family Group Sheets: One thing that's sadly missing from the online version of the IGI is its ability to gather together families through a succession of links that would produce a family group sheet or even a simple listing of parents and siblings. This would be an especially important improvement since many individual records in the IGI have no counterpart in the "Ancestral Search" database.

We have also noticed, on occasion, that family members are erroneously "cross-linked." For example, a family group sheet may contain individuals that belong to an earlier or later generation. However, this could easily be a discrepancy on the part of the submitter and not a "bug" in the online display. A related problem is multiple listings of the same marriage. Again, this may occur because two separate submissions contain slightly different information.

Searching: It is now possible to search by first/last name or by last name alone. It would be helpful if we could also enter middle names and have the program actually return only records for the entire specific name. Admittedly, there is probably a logical argument for not including middle names as search options. First, it would take a lot of technological effort on the part of the LDS Webmaster. Then, not allowing middle names makes for a broader search and yields more results. If you have, perhaps, the wrong middle name for your ancestor, you would never find him using that name in your search. Also, the correct record might not even contain a middle name. A similar issue arises in search results that return variant names (i.e., searching for "Nancy" might give you "Ann," "Anne," "Anna," and "Hannah" as well). In the CD-ROM version, you are asked whether you want to perform an exact name search or a search of both exact and close matches. This would be a wonderful feature to include in the online search engines. Finally, we'd like to see the results list arranged in some kind of order--for instance, alphabetical or by date of event or by location (and possibly sub-sorted within these groupings, too) rather than in the haphazard manner in which it now appears. This would eliminate the need to scroll through a hundred or more entries just to find one individual.

Submitters: Currently, the only contact provided for submitters is a snail mail address. Those submitting gedcoms now have a chance to include e-mail addresses, and hopefully those will be included in all databases in the future. It would be a major task for the Webmaster to enter e-mail addresses for submitters already online and keep up with additions and changes, so perhaps all registered users could be provided with a way of doing this task themSelfs.

Messages: Error messages, such as those that occur when the Server is too busy, could be customized to be more user-friendly.

Do you have any suggestions of your own? If so, let us know, and we may use the "Feedback" link to present our wish list to the Webmaster.

SUMMARY

A long time in coming, the presence of the LDS "Family Search" Website was well worth the wait. We are mining it constantly for Self and allied surnames and finding new information all the time. To be able to do this from our own computers is nothing short of a dream come true. It would be no exaggeration to say that well over 100 pages of data would not yet be in our files if we had to rely on our infrequent visits to our local Family History Center. Our "wish list" is small indeed when compared to the unparalleled assistance that the creators of this site have provided to all genealogical researchers. Indeed, since we began this article, this site has changed almost every week, bringing new information and new search strategies almost as if "wishing made it so." "Family Search" is a true tribute to the sharing power of the World Wide Web, and it reflects the success of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in its effort to make genealogy a part of everyone's daily life.

One of the great trials of any family history researcher is the question - how much do I read into the records and what can I assume? Whether we call ourselves genealogists, family tree makers or anything else ("a rose by any other names smells just as sweet"), the problem of assumption is just as great and hard to resolve.

There are two extremes of thought in this area. The first thinks or states; "Never assume anything. We must have a documented source". The second may or may not assume anything, as they are so anxious to get information that they will accept any source or data without examination, contemplation or thought.

May I propose a middle ground that involves some few simple rules? Some of these come from my own experience. Some from LDS Branch Family History Center Training. I have been at this business for almost 30 years and have had to correct enough mistakes that I am certain there is a better way.

First, for those of you who insist on documents and facts for everything, may I suggest somewhat more flexibility? This is not meant to be offensive, however, I am certain that if we all seriously think about what we are doing in family history, we would realize that we are always making some type of assumption about who belongs where and what family goes with which. One of the major keys here is documentation; that is, notes and sources. Keeping track of where we have received information is a very important thing. It also becomes a powerful tool when we share information with others and they add to it.

SOME SIMPLE STANDARD RULES

· Absent other data, assume a husband is 25 and a wife 21 when married.
· Always use the abbreviation "abt" when approximating a birth date (and that means earlier census records that do not have the month listed as well).
· Assume the birth of the first child is one year after marriage and every two years thereafter.
· Use the abbreviation "bef" and "aft" for isolating events in time.
· For locations, find and include the county in which the event occurred – not just the city and state. Make certain that it is the county that existed as of the date of the event.
· For uncertain locations, use "of" and the location of a major event of that person or a parent or sibling.
· No funny signs, words, comments, symbols or weird stuff in the named fields in your computer database. Use the "Notes" section. In other words, do not use "probably", "twin", parentheses, driving instructions, etc. in these areas. It confuses computers when sharing ged.com files.
· If there is a question about the name of a person or a location, separate the possibilities with "or". I.e., SMITH or SMYTH or SMYTHE. Don’t run them all together. Confusing.
· If the event occurred in the last 95 years and you are not a direct descendant, you had better have permission from a close living relative before you go sharing, publishing or assuming anything. This, my dear fellow researchers, is FEDERAL LAW and has caused many complications when we rush to share, print or post things that are not our own direct family.
· Always give or list the source of the information. Give credit where credit is due. Most of us do not do all our own work, but amplify what others have done. The same will certainly be true when we are long gone from the scene.

ILLUSTRATIONS, EXAMPLES, AND COMMENTARY

In many early records, the marriage record is the most common record. Frequently, the ages of the couple are missing. Apply the 25/21 rule above. If you have other information, then let common sense be your guide. For example, a second marriage will not have people of the same young age. Still, there have to be some rules and this is one that I recommend. One little codicil: you cannot extrapolate backwards from an "abt" date. In other words, no recording parent’s assumed birthdates from children’s assumed birthdates. Gets you in a lot of trouble real fast.

From other census records, and US you can generally determine a state for an event. Sometimes however, you cannot pinpoint the event in a specific city, town, shire, parish, etc. You may know that Guido Smith and Penelope Jones were married in Rotgut Co., Oceania in 1066. You can use the above rules to assume that Guido was born "abt" 1041 and is "of Rotgut Co., Oceania". Ditto for Penelope and, if you are fortunate enough to have parent’s names, you can use "bef" and "of" in their cases. Note that "bef" does not violate the "abt" rule for generational extrapolation (got that?) above. At least this gives a range for the data rather that the searching the whole world throughout recorded time.

Most of the early US records were compiled and kept in counties since there were few cities large enough to have record keeping facilities. Counties were added as more and more population immigrated to the area. In one of my favorite cases, one of my Pickleshimer families (yup, it was Bechtelsheimer before someone really scored high on the spelling) stayed in the same place and has records in four different counties. I highly recommend the "Handy Book for Genealogists" as bedside reading. This book (there are others as well as county websites available on the Internet) show which counties were formed and when. Necessary information not to confuse ourselves nor each other.

In my own experience, I have one complete wall of my computer room filled with data that I have accumulated in years of research. I cannot possibly remember it all nor where I got it nor manipulate the data. In 1993, I decided the time was ripe to convert to a computer database. Computers are the best filing system anyone ever invented and a big step towards paperless record keeping. But, they are also vicious invaders of privacy and have no respect for persons, sources nor copyrights. I have personally slugged away at entering perhaps 25,000 names in my various databases over the years. The vast majority have citations, sources, notes and enough information that others can easily see what I was thinking and when (and so can I, as those "senior moments" become more frequent!). We should all do the same.

Finally, researchers such as ourselves, who are supposed to be concerned about our families, sometimes offend each other through failure to give due credit and to defer to the feelings of the living – not to mention the famous Privacy Act (this is the 95-year rule above). I know that our deceased family members are sometimes easier to deal with then the living ones, but that begs the question. We ought to respect all of our family members and those who have worked so hard before us with such limited resources. A highly important part of our Judeo-Christian society, culture and traditions.

I would be glad to entertain comments, questions and discussion on these ideas, suggestions and rules for making our family history lives easier. Please feel free to contact me at [email protected] or at 3108 Rockwall Lane, El Paso, Texas 79936. Thanks to all, cousins!

Cousin David M. Newlin in El Paso Researching Newlin, Self, Vaugh’a’n, Rupp, Hamaker, Spurling, Simer, Burks, Snedeker and others.

Remember that most genealogy programs cannot distinguish between multiple spouses unless there is a date given. This is another good reason to use Cousin David's "abt ---" estimated date if you are using such a program to keep track of your data. If there is no date for one or more of an individual's multiple marriages, the program will export a gedcom with this/these marriages showing as the first union(s). The information you send to your family or post on the Web will be confusing and, in many cases, absolutely wrong. Please use an estimated date for all marriages or, alternatively, find some other way of indicating their chronology.

Job Self was born about 1790 in Georgia and died before 1880 in Vernon Parish, LA. He married Tamer Stringfellow in Bibb County, AL and had eight children: Nancy, Tamer L., Alfred, Egbert, James J., William, John Wesley, and Albert C. His descendants constituted a large Self branch in Louisiana, mostly in and around Vernon Parish, and many still live in the area today.

During the past year we've had correspondence with several cousins who are descended from Job and Tamer. Almost all of them have been in possession of copies of a small booklet entitled "Genealogy of the Descendants of Job Self and Wife, Tamer Stringfellow Self." The booklet was reproduced and distributed at the first reunion of this branch on June 6, 1948. The gathering was held at Castor Lake, near Leesville, LA.

At first glance, the booklet appears to be a goldmine of information. It lists six generations of Self descendants and promises reports of the seventh generation in future years. But upon closer examination, there's a major problem with the presentation: it is just that--a listing--a hodgepodge of names that are, in themSelfs, meaningless. This omission is not a shortcoming, however--the foreword states clearly: "this booklet is small and does not show any of the inter-relationships within the family groups reporting. This type of information is not adaptable to a small booklet as considerable space is required to indicate lineage and relationship."

Being familiar with the limitations of space on the Web, we can just imagine that the compilers of the booklet had come to an agonizing decision. Since they hoped to entice many of the people listed and still living to participate in the reunion, they may have further justified their incomplete work by imagining that those guests would be the only ones interested--they could hardly foresee the interest in genealogy and family history that would blossom fifty years in the future.

Our task, therefore, is a formidable one. We go back time and time again to the copies of the booklet in order to place its listed names in our "family tree." So far--with much gratitude to our corresponding cousins--we have been successful in identifying over half of them, and we have at least a tentative idea of where Job Self himself belongs in the scheme of things. Although we have no proof whatsoever, we've come to believe that all the "Jobs" in Selfdom descend from Olde Robert Selfe's son, Stephen--a tentative relationship that you can view in our Family Record Online. We also feel that William Isaac Self, whose line continued primarily in Natchitoches and Sabine Parishes, is either a brother or close cousin to Job.

The most intriguing part of this mystery, however, is that while almost everyone seems to have copies of this small booklet, no one we've ever met has ever seen the "real" work on the Job Self family that apparently existed at the time of the reunion. The foreword to the booklet states: "a single copy of the above indicated families has been prepared in detail in a manner to show the relationships. This book will be on display at the office of the Assessor in Leesville on Saturday mornings..." We would, of course, love to see a copy of this work to determine if the placement of the individuals we've done is correct. If anyone can find one, please let us know.

In the meantime, we've also discovered that the original reunion booklet has omitted quite a few people as well. Hopefully those gaps will be filled in on our Family Record Online in the coming months. We like to think of this as a reunion in Cyberspace--the descendants of Job Self finally listed and identified at last!

Maybe your ancestors used to tell stories about life in the "old days," stories you remember hearing as a child. Please tell us about them. We will even supply editing and formatting; but we'd all love to know about daily life in the Self families of old--and you may be able to help. Please contact us.

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