FAQ: soc.genealogy.surnames.german introduction version 1.0 January 1998 change with this version: updated URL for list of place codes Welcome to soc.genealogy.surnames.german, a forum for queries about German ancestors. The purpose of the newsgroup soc.genealogy.surnames.german and its linked mailing list SURNAMES-GERMAN is to help genealogists make contact with others researching the same ancestors in the German-speaking parts of Europe. Queries from genealogists living in any part of the world are welcome. Queries in English or German will probably have the best chance of results, but may be written in any language. Contents -------- 1. Posting 2. Countries included 3. Be specific about places when possible 4. Umlauts 5. Place abbreviations 6. SURNAMES-GERMAN mailing list 7. Archives 8. To contact a human 1. Posting ---------- All articles in soc.genealogy.surnames.german/SURNAMES-GERMAN are archived and searchable through the World Wide Web. To make browsing the newsgroup and searching the message archives easier, articles posted to the group use subject lines that contain surname, place, and dates in the standard format used for all the soc.genealogy.surnames.* family of newsgroups. The subject lines serve as an index to the archives. See FAQ: introduction to soc.genealogy.surnames.* and FAQ: format for soc.genealogy.surnames.* for more details (posted monthly and available at http://www.rootsweb.com/~surnames/). For example: Subject: KARMANIE/CORMANY; Edenkoben, PFA,BAY,DEU > PA,USA; 1700-1840 Subject: LOUCKS George / SALS; Graevenwiesbach, 6AW,HRR; 1650-1715 Longer migrations can be shown (though many readers may not see the whole subject line): Subject: HAEMMERER; Schwabach+Ansbach, 3AA,HRR > Hilter+Buer, 9BG,HRR > Crapendorf+Essen, OLD,DEU > Baltimore, MD,USA/Brooklyn,NY,USA; 1750-1920 The body of the message can contain any additional text you desire, and should give additional details about the family you're researching. You can post to the group through your news software, or by mailing your query to soc-genealogy-surnames-german@rootsweb.com. This is a moderated newsgroup. All articles posted to the group are reviewed by the automoderator, a computer program, for correct subject format. 2. Countries included --------------------- The automoderator will post queries to soc.genealogy.surnames.german / SURNAMES-GERMAN if they contain place codes ending in any of the following: AUT - Austria / OEsterreich CHE - Switzerland / Schweiz DEU - Germany / Deutschland HRR - Holy Roman Empire / Heiliges Roemisches Reich LIE - Liechtenstein LUX - Luxembourg Posts that include other place codes in addition to those listed above will be crossposted to soc.genealogy.surnames.german and other relevant regional surnames groups. Messages that do not use these place codes will be posted to the relevant other groups in soc.genealogy.surnames.*. 3. Be specific about places when possible ----------------------------------------- Distant cousins are more likely to recognize the family and read your query if you make the geographic location in the subject as specific as possible. It is far more useful for readers to see Subject: SCHMIDT; Unterweilbach, BAY,DEU > Defiance Co, OH,USA; 1850-1930 than Subject: SCHMIDT; DEU > USA; 1850-1930 4. Umlauts ---------- For surnames containing umlauts or eszett/scharfes-S, please use the vowel + E and double-S transliterations (AE, OE, UE, SS) in subject lines. Use of punctuation marks and other representations may cause problems with "sounds like" and exact string searches of the subject lines. Please use any representation of umlauts that you prefer in the body of the article. (Commonly used forms include: and "u ) Note that extended character sets are not standardized, so umlauts that appear correct on your computer may be unreadable on the computer screens of your readers. For a description of the various codes for umlauts, see "soc.genealogy.german Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)", posted monthly to soc.genealogy.german and available on the web at: http://www.genealogy.com/gene/faqs/sgg.html 5. Place abbreviations ---------------------- Standard abbreviations for place names are used to make comprehensive searching of the archives by surname and place easier. The complete list of place codes is available on the web at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~surnames/abbreviations.cgi Place codes for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland are also listed in "FAQ: soc.genealogy.surnames.german place codes since 1815", in cross-referenced lists showing the various border changes since then. Codes for states of the Holy Roman Empire are listed in "FAQ: soc.genealogy.surnames.german place codes before 1806." These FAQs are posted monthly to soc.genealogy.surnames.german, and are available on the web at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~surnames/ 6. SURNAMES-GERMAN mailing list ------------------------------- All queries can be read through the Usenet newsgroup soc.genealogy.surnames.german using your favorite news reader software (or by pointing your web browser to news:soc.genealogy.surnames.german). You can read the same queries by subscribing to the gatewayed mailing list SURNAMES-GERMAN. The main list is digest mode: subscribers receive digests of about 20 messages each. The list is also available in index mode (SURNAMES-GERMAN-I), where subscribers receive a daily list of posts with directions for ordering the complete text of interesting messages; and in mail mode (SURNAMES-GERMAN-M), where subscribers receive each article as a separate message in e-mail. (Mail mode may be limited to subscribers and sponsors of Rootsweb.) To subscribe to the mailing list send e-mail to SURNAMES-GERMAN-request@rootsweb.com containing just the line: subscribe Be sure not to include any additional text or signature; the Smartlist software is picky about anything but the commands it knows. To subscribe in index mode, send your subscribe command to SURNAMES-GERMAN-I-request@rootsweb.com; for mail mode use the address SURNAMES-GERMAN-M-request@rootsweb.com. To post to the list, you can send your queries by e-mail to the automoderator at soc-genealogy-surnames-german@rootsweb.com. Sending your messages to the list address SURNAMES-GERMAN@rootsweb.com will also work. 7. Archives ----------- All articles in soc.genealogy.surnames.german are archived in the central surnames archives at: http://searches.rootsweb.com/sgsurnames.html To search just Swiss queries for example, select Field: SUBJECT, and enter CHE as well as a surname in the "Term" box. 8. To contact a human --------------------- The human moderators of the group can be reached at surnames-admin@rootsweb.com. FAQ by Bill Mills Thanks to Jim Eggert and Fred Rump for suggestions.