Friends of PA-Roots Newsletter Vol 1, No 3, 13 December 2006, (c) 2006 PA-Roots
Copyright 2006, PA-Roots
Editor(s): Nathan Zipfel Carol Eddleman
Contents · About the "Friends of PA-Roots Newsletter" · Latest News from PA-Roots · Digitizers · Research tools · Letters to the editor · Reprint Policy · Subscription Information
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About the "Friends of PA-Roots Newsletter"
The "Friends of PA-Roots Newsletter" was created to keep the visitors and friends of PA-Roots informed about what is happening with PA-Roots. We are providing helpful information on how to utilize PA-Roots and resources to assist you in your research.
We are pleased that you have utilized the services of PA-Roots in the quest for information on your family history. Our goal is to provide resources and tools to assist researchers such as you.
If you don't want to be included in our periodic mailings of this newsletter, un-subscription information is included at the end of this issue.
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Latest News from PA-Roots
Pennsylvania Search Engine - We are currently testing the feasibility of utilizing Google to index and search the best of Pennsylvania genealogy related websites. You will find the search box on the main PA-Roots website. If you've got time to test it out, please let us know whether you find it useful. We've included all of PA-Roots, all of the county pages in the PAGenWeb Project and also all of the Pennsylvania section of the USGenWeb Archives. We anticipate adding more websites to the index, but we need help with that. If you'd like to volunteer to identify Pennsylvania Genealogy/History websites to include, please visit http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=009522730692242439823%3Aantzfcz0lp0 Click on the option to Volunteer to contribute to the search engine.
U.S. Biography Project - PA-Roots has recently adopted the U.S. Biography Project. It is a central collection point for Biographies from across the United States. We've established a new website which is located at http://www.usbiographies.org/ We are currently working on a Search Engine to index each of the State/County websites included.
Cemetery Database - PA-Roots has recently completed an upgrade to the Cemetery Database. The database contains over 101,000 individual cemetery records from across the state of Pennsylvania. The new software program greatly improves the speed of searching through the records. Visit http://www.pa-roots.com/cemetery.html If you have a transcript of a Pennsylvania Cemetery that you would be willing to include in the database, please contact me.
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Digitizers
PA-Roots has a dedicated Digitizer Team: Marsha Miller-Marshall, Beryl Redford, Donna Becker, Kathy Kirk, Sharon Ashcraft, Sharon Sheldon, Diane Swartz, Carrie Stone, Lila Baier, Shrina Buetler, Michelle and contributions from others working with Carol Eddleman on digitizing records throughout Pennsylvania. Some of the projects are small bits and pieces of data while others are large collections of data such as Death records for Lancaster county, where there are now over 22,000 individual death records posted on-line. We greatly appreciate each member of the team, who live all over the U. S., but are each interested in Pennsylvania history.
Do you have time to help with a transcription project? If so, you can contact Carol Eddleman on the Help Desk < http://www.pa-roots.org/data/list.php?880 > She will help you get started and even provide you with data, if needed. It's fun and easy.
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Research Tools
Have you ever spent time search maps trying to figure out which county a town or other location is located in? If so you might want to try out our Location Finder tool. We've obtained the database from the United States Geologic Survey with over 49,000 locations included. You can click on the county name and be taken to the PAGenWeb Project county website. < http://www.pa-roots.com/location.html >
Have you ever been annoyed while researching on the internet by clicking on a link with promising data to aid your research only to find that the webpage no longer exists? It can be very frustrating. A solution to help you with that is the "WayBack Machine" at Archive.org. Copy the URL for the page that is missing and then go to http://www.archive.org/ and paste the URL in the search box and go "Way Back" to retrieve the page if it was archived.
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Data Boards
Never before in history has this particular assortment of data been available under a single index. Each and every item added to the files increases the power of the system to find a key to someone's heritage. The Data Boards are the place to post your Queries or to submit Obituaries, Birth Records, Deeds, Wills, etc… There are currently over 370,473 records available to assist in your research. Over 34,000 records have been added during the last 8 months. Visit the Data Board page < http://www.pa-roots.org/data/ > to see the available resources.
5-Minute Lesson on using the DataBoards
First of all you need to register at PA-Roots. Have you done that? If not, go to http://www.pa-roots.org/data/register.php?0 A form will be displayed that will ask for a username and email address and password. Pick one you will remember and click the lower right corner where it says SUBMIT. You'll need to check your e-mail because you need to follow the instructions in the e-mail to confirm your registration.
**After you've registered and logged in, go to http://www.pa-roots.org/data/list.php?1236 which is the Test DataBaord. Look down at the second gray line which starts with GOTO. The second item on the line is NEW TOPIC. Click on that. It should say: YOUR NAME and YOUR Email, now that you are registered. Then, under SUBJECT choose the first one on the page (pretend I sent it to you), which will be: Arburst, Archie [we always enter last name first].
Then, use the Tab button to take you down to the body of the entry. That is four tabs. When you are in the body of the entry, put:
Archie Arburst, single, son of Ruben and Rachel Arburst, aged 5 years, was born in Mt. Pleasant and died Nov. 28, 1893 on Main Street of diphtheria, after an illness of 7 days. Buried Nov. 29, 1893 in the cemetery.
(Source: Death Register of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.)
Then click on PREVIEW under the body of the entry. You can still make any corrections you want at this point. When you are happy with it, click POST MESSAGE and you have made the entry.
Repeat the process from ** for each entry.
Try one and see how it goes!
How busy is PA-Roots?
PA-Roots receives on average 4.5 million unique visits per month!
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Letters to the Editor
We'd love to hear from you. Please send your comments to nate@pa-roots.net
Hi. The site is fantastic. Thanks so much for creating it. Don
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Reprint Policy
Permission to reprint articles from the "Friends of PA-Roots Newsletter" is granted unless otherwise indicated for an individual article. Reprints may only be used for non-commercial, educational purposes. The following must be included with any reprints: "Published by PA-Roots in the 'Friends of PA-Roots Newsletter', Vol 1, No 3, 13 December 2006 PA-Roots http://www.pa-roots.com/"
Back Issues of the "Friends of PA-Roots Newsletter" are available from the archive located at < http://www.pa-roots.com/newsletter/ >
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Subscription Information
To UNSUBSCRIBE from the "Friends of PA-Roots Newsletter", send an e-mail to the following address pa-rootsfriends-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
