FAQ: soc.genealogy.surnames.* archives version 2.6 (revised February 28, 2000) Changes with this version: dejanews is now deja.com There are several options for searching the soc.genealogy.surnames.* / SURNAMES-* (formerly GENNAM-L) archives: three web sites and a search by e-mail of the old GENNAM-L archives. The web sites are: http://searches.rootsweb.com/sgsurnames.html for messages December 1994 - present http://www.deja.com/ for messages since summer 1995 http://apple.ease.lsoft.com/archives/gennam-l.html for messages December 1994 - August 15, 1997 (This site may close soon.) The searches.rootsweb.com site has all messages in the soc.genealogy.surnames.* newsgroups/ SURNAMES lists, and their predecessor soc.genealogy.surnames/GENNAM-L from the begnning of the group in December 1994 to present. For messages since August 15, 1997 in the newsgroup soc.genealogy.surnames.global, the regional subgroups, and the SURNAMES-* mailing lists, the deja.com web site offers convenient archives at: http://www.deja.com/ The apple.ease.lsoft.com site archives all messages from soc.genealogy.surnames / GENNAM-L from its beginning in December 1994 until August 15, 1997. The web sites and e-mail search procedures are described in more detail below. 1. Rootsweb web site http://searches.rootsweb.com/sgsurnames.html This site is provided by the Rootsweb Genealogical Data Cooperative, and will become the main archive for the soc.genealogy.surnames.* newsgroups and the SURNAMES-* lists. It has all messages from the beginning of the groups to present. 2. archives for messages since July 1995 Deja.com can be used to search the soc.genealogy.surnames.* newsgroups for recent messages at: http://www.deja.com/ This site can also be used to search part of the old soc.genealogy.surnames archives, but it only covers messages since mid 1995. For a complete search since the group began in 1994, you should use the rootsweb site mentioned above. 3. apple.ease.lsoft.com (formerly eWorld) web site http://apple.ease.lsoft.com/archives/gennam-l.html (Note that's a lower case L in gennam-l.) This site may become unavailable anytime after August 15, 1997. It archives all messages in soc.genealogy.surnames / GENNAM-L from the first message posted to the group December 7, 1994 to August 15, 1997. An e-mail interface to this archive is described in section 4 below. This site is easy to use and provides good online directions. "The subject is or contains" box searches the Subject: lines of all messages in the archives. You can use quotation marks for a case-sensitive search to distinguish surnames from given names or place names. For example, "HAMILTON" will find the surname HAMILTON in Subject lines; "Hamilton" will find places such as Hamilton, Ontario or Hamilton County, Tennessee; the double quotes must be typed. Leaving out the quotation marks will find surnames, given names, and places together. The "search for" box is used to search the complete text of all messages. "The author's address is or contains" box can be used to search for messages from a certain poster. The "since" and "until" boxes search by the date of the message (not by dates given in the subject line). The search takes a while, so be patient while the computer looks up your ancestors. To search the archives of other lists hosted there, see the index of mailing list archives at: http://apple.ease.lsoft.com/archives/index.html 4. Search by e-mail - apple.ease.lsoft.com archives The e-mail search through listserv may become unavailable anytime after August 15, 1997. Thanks to Apple for maintaining the listserv for two years, allowing readers and posters to build a surname-query database of 62,296 messages. This archive covers messages from December 7, 1994 to August 15, 1997. To search the archives by e-mail, send search commands to listserv@apple.ease.lsoft.com Some examples of searches by e-mail and the results sent back by listserv follow. To search by subject line: search * in GENNAM-L where subject contains MILLS >-> 59 matches. > >Item # Date Time Recs Subject >------ ---- ---- ---- ------- >000972 94/12/20 19:52 21 MILLS; ENG>NJ,USA 1800-1900 >005478 95/03/13 11:41 11 HICKS/MILLS/MILDRED; JAM > AVN,ENG/SOM,ENG 1805-1843 > [snip] >To order a copy of these postings, send the following command: > >GETPOST GENNAM-L 972 5478 6386 7814 9506 9714 10648 10651 10780 11237 11589 >11996 12933 13066 13596 15135 16776 17087 18020 19232 19640 19887 21085 A search of the message text using "and" & "or". With fewer matches, listserv shows the context of each hit. search (Joanna or Johanna) and mills in gennam-l >-> 28 matches. > >Item # Date Time Recs Subject >------ ---- ---- ---- ------- >013929 95/08/06 17:28 661 RSL Aug 1995, Part II: Address list >017483 95/10/08 20:29 752 RSL Oct 1995, Pt II: Submitter contact info [snip] >>>> Item #20341 (25 Nov 1995 17:41) - SPRINKLE / SPRENCKEL; DEU>PA,USA>MD,USA>MS,USA>AL,USA; 1697-1969 >family continuation)***, m#2- Matilida BOSARGE >VIN9c4. Stencil (1835-1863), m- Johanna MILLS > ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^ >VIN9c5. Peter (1827-1913), m#1(1850)- Catherine MILLS (1832-1864) > ^^^^^ >children: > To search on both the message body and the subject line: search mills in gennam-l where subject contains NY,USA >-> 25 matches. > >Item # Date Time Recs Subject >------ ---- ---- ---- ------- >000922 94/12/20 13:19 96 LITTLE; NY,USA>VA,USA>MO,USA>OK,USA; 1787-1907 >001810 95/01/04 22:17 38 BRUCE / SCOTT; SCT+IA,USA+NY,USA+NE,USA+IL,USA; 1821-1924 [snip] >>>> Item #922 (20 Dec 1994 13:19) - LITTLE; NY,USA>VA,USA>MO,USA>OK,USA; 1787-1907 >He married 11. Barbara Elizabeth Lunsford, daughter of 22. Merryman > Lunsford & 23. Susan R. Mills, 9 Sep 1857. Born 18 Oct 1826 in > ^^^^^ >Bedford Co, VA. Died 31 Dec 1869 in Jackson Co., MO. > Quotation marks make a search case sensitive; this also works for searches of the message text. (Be sure to use double quotes; single quotes or apostrophes won't work.) To search for Mills as part of a place name rather than a surname: search * in gennam-l where subject contains "Mills" >-> 6 matches. > >Item # Date Time Recs Subject >------ ---- ---- ---- ------- >010648 95/06/12 14:02 13 DECATUR/HAMILTON; Mills Co./Lee Co., TX,USA; c. 1880- >010651 95/06/12 14:02 11 JOINER/HAMILTON; Lee Co./Mills Co., TX,USA; 1875- >011237 95/06/21 17:25 16 GANT; Indianapolis, IN,USA > Baileys Mills, OH,USA; 1800-1970 >015135 95/08/26 21:24 25 CHANTLER Moses; Abinger Mills, SRY,ENG > ON,CAN; c. 1790 >021189 95/12/08 17:51 30 WARLICK Andrew; Mills River, Henderson Co, NC,USA; 1868 >030846 96/04/15 19:42 19 MILLS Cyrus Taggart (Mills College founder); Paris, NY,USA; b. 1819 > >To order a copy of these postings, send the following command: > > GETPOST GENNAM-L 10648 10651 11237 15135 21189 30846 For a soundex-like search, you can use the "sounds like" option. This often gives an unexpectedly large number of hits. > search * in gennam-l where subject sounds like smith -> 384 matches (only the first 100 will be shown). Item # Date Time Recs Subject ------ ---- ---- ---- ------- 000182 94/12/10 02:58 35 RICHARDSON; Smyth Co, VA,USA 1700-1900 000183 94/12/10 02:30 23 MCDANIEL Alexander; Smith Co, MS, USA 1800-1850 000614 94/12/16 16:58 23 Re: RICHARDSON; Smyth Co, VA,USA 1700-1900 000691 94/12/16 17:00 17 SMITH; KY,USA; 1824-1876 >... 001708 95/01/02 19:34 16 SMITH Isaac Watt; Charlotte Co,VA,USA 1750-1800 001729 95/01/03 16:50 12 LYNN; Summit Hill, PA,USA 1850-1920 001769 95/01/04 15:02 52 SMITH, Henry, Harry C.; IA,USA + IL,USA 1844-1922 001983 95/01/07 00:27 18 SMITH, James F.; TN,USA > MO,USA 1818-c1870 002202 95/01/10 10:13 24 LACHYE/LACKEY; Saint John, NB,CAN 1830-1900 >... 007391 95/04/17 23:06 9 SINNOTT; Enniscorthy, WEX,IRL; 1840-1886 >... To search other mailing lists formerly hosted by eWorld, you can send the same search commands to the same address (listserv@apple.ease.lsoft.com), substituting the desired list name in place of gennam-l. For those familiar with doing listserv searches on VMS systems (such as the listserv at gatech that used to host gennam-l, or the one at nodak that used to host roots-l), the job control language preceding the search commands is not required.