RootsWeb Review Articles and Columns 2007-2011

RootsWeb Review

RootsWeb Review was the first of the great genealogy online newsletters and published as part of the first great online genealogy site, RootsWeb. Founded by Karen Isaacson and Brian "Wolf" Leverich, Julie Case and Myra Vanderpool Gormley decided to publish the first edition of the RootsWeb Review in 1998.  See the History of RootsWeb.

I joined the Review, along with Joan Young, as Columnist in 2007 and continued until it ceased publication in 2011.  There were a series of editors, concluding with Anna Fechter of host Ancestry.com.  If you wish to read past articles, follow the link to the archives and search for any of the writers, editors or contributors, such as Case, Fechter, Gormley, Sesniak or Young. 

RootsWeb Review Archives

A comprehensive list of all past articles is below.

RootsWeb Review Archives (E-zine)

http://rwr.rootsweb.ancestry.com/

Select RootsWeb Review Articles

Columnist Introduction (07 March 2007, Vol. 10, No. 10)
Demystifying Copyrights (14 October 2009, Vol. 12, No. 10)
Digital Genealogist: Applying Watermarks to Documents and Images Q&A (8 Jun 2011, Vol. 14, No. 6)
Digital Genealogist: Identifying Photographs and Photographers (31 October 2007, Vol. 10, No. 44)
Digital Genealogist: Message Boards and Identifying Photographs (03 October 2007, Vol. 10, No. 40)
Family Reunions (9 February 2011, Vol. 14, No. 2)
Genealogical Resolutions for 2011 (12 January 2011, Vol. 14, No. 1)
Genealogy Favorites and Freebies (14 September 2011, Vol. 14, No. 9)
Genealogy Favorites and Freebies:  Newspapers and Digitization Projects (14 November 2011, Vol. 14, No. 11)
Genealogy for Kids and the Future (14 December 2011, Vol. 14, No. 12)
Genealogy Tip: Blogging Your Genealogy (13 October 2011, Vol. 14, No. 10)
Genealogy Tip: Clearing the Browser Cache (13 April 2011, Vol. 14, No. 4)
Genealogy Tip: Preventing the Unthinkable Computer Crash (29 August 2007, Vol. 10, No. 35)
Genealogy Tip: Translating Latin Genealogical Terms Newspaper Research Tips (9 January 2008, Vol. 11, No. 2)
Genealogy Tip: Using File Searches to Find Lost Files (5 September 2007, Vol. 10, No. 36)
Striking Genealogical Gold in Foreign Records (13 July 2011, Vol. 14, No. 7)
WorldConnect:  Soundex, Metaphone, and Fuzzy Searches (30 May 2007, Vol. 10, No. 22)

Most of my RootsWeb columns / blogs had the slogan that appears after my name. It summarizes how I feel about the pursuit of family history and genealogy.

Mary Harrell-Sesniak

"Genealogy isn't just a pastime; it's a passion."

Photo of one of my ancestors, the Honorable David Macy of Indianapolis, Indiana.

Reprints

Pike County Genealogical Society

Lessons I'm Learning While Publishing a Family Genealogy (08 August 2007, Vol. 10, No. 32)
My Start in Genealogy and Cemetery Surveys," (8 March 2007, Vol. 10, No. 13)
Newspaper Research Tips (9 January 2008, Vol. 11, No. 2)
Soundex, Metaphone, and Fuzzy Searches in WorldConnect (30 May 2007, Vol. 10, No. 22)
When Autofixing Doesn't Work (14 January 2009, Vol. 12, No. 1)

(c) 2013-2014 by Mary Harrell-Sesniak, Houston, Texas. World rights reserved.

2007-2011 RootsWeb Review Articles and Tips Editor Anna Fechter (AF) Columnists Mary Harrell-Sesniak (MHS) and Joan Young (JY)
Article or Tip	Author	Issue
A Few Twittering Tips	MHS	11 November 2009, Vol. 12, No. 11
Beyond the Obvious: Web Browsers and Search Engines	MHS	9 March 2011, Vol. 14, No. 3
Calculating Cousin Relationships	MHS	11 February 2009, Vol. 12, No. 2
Census Records—For Demographics or Genealogy?	MHS	8 October 2008, Vol. 11, No. 20
Clearing the Browser Cache	MHS	13 April 2011, Vol. 14, No. 4
Creating a Printable List of a Folder's Contents	MHS	11 June 2008, Vol. 11, No. 16
Dates and Calendars Through the Ages	MHS	06 June 2007, Vol. 10, No. 23
Demystifying Copyrights	MHS	14 October 2009, Vol. 12, No. 10
Digital Genealogist: When Autofixing Doesn't Work	MHS	14 January 2009, Vol. 12, No. 1
Family Reunions	MHS	9 February 2011, Vol. 14, No. 2
Finding and Citing Genealogical References	MHS	9 September 2009, Vol. 12, No. 9
Finding Newspaper Reports on the Web	MHS	10 June 2009, Vol. 12, No. 6
GEDCOMS and WorldConnect	MHS	8 July 2009, Vol. 12, No. 7
Genealogical Resolutions for 2011	MHS	12 January 2011, Vol. 14, No. 1
Genealogy Forms and Charts	MHS	13 January 2010, Vol. 13, No. 1
Genealogy Kits	MHS	10 December 2008, Vol. 11, No 22
Have You Really Proved Your Ancestry?	MHS	8 September 2010, Vol. 13, No. 9

How to Create Clickable Links                                             MHS         12 August 2009, Vol. 12, No. 8

International Genealogical Symbols	MHS	9 July 2008, Vol. 11, No. 17
Labeling Documents for Genealogical Proofs	MHS	8 April 2009, Vol. 12, No. 4
Lessons I'm Learning While Publishing a Family Genealogy	MHS	08 August 2007, Vol. 10, No. 32
Location, Location, Location	MHS	8 December 2010, Vol. 13, No. 12
Mother's Day at RootsWeb	MHS	09 May 2007, Vol. 10, No. 19
My Start in Genealogy and Cemetery Surveys	MHS	28 March 2007, Vol. 10, No. 13
Newspaper Research Tips	MHS	9 January 2008, Vol. 11, No. 2
Obits and Tidbits: The Obituary Daily Times and Other Newspaper Resources	MHS	12 March 2008, Vol. 11, No. 11
Researching at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)	MHS	14 May 2008, Vol. 11, No. 15
Saving Web Page Text and Creating Screenshots	MHS	9 April 2008, Vol. 11, No. 14
Selecting Memorable Passwords	MHS	13 August 2008, Vol. 11, No. 18
Soundex, Metaphone, and Fuzzy Searches in WorldConnect	MHS	30 May 2007, Vol. 10, No. 22
Tagging Photographs	MHS	8 October 2008, Vol. 11, No. 20
Taking Screen Shots with Window's Snipping Tool	MHS	14 April 2010, Vol. 13, No. 4
Ten Tips for Taking a Cemetery Survey	MHS	04 April 2007, Vol. 10, No. 14
The Digital Genealogist – A Look at File Formats	MHS	13 May 2009, Vol. 12, No. 5
The Digital Genealogist: Identifying Photographs and Photographers	MHS	31 October 2007, Vol. 10, No. 44
The Digital Genealogist: Message Boards and Identifying Photographs	MHS	03 October 2007, Vol. 10, No. 40

The Digital Genealogist: Photography Blues and Other Topics	MHS	05 December 2007, Vol. 10, No. 49
The Red, White, and Blue of RootsWeb	MHS	04 July 2007, Vol. 10, No. 27
The Veteran's History Project, a Project of the Library of Congress	MHS	10 November 2010, Vol. 13, No. 11
Time Lines and Chronologies	MHS	9 June 2010, Vol. 13, No. 6
Tips and Tricks: Keyboard Shortcuts I Can't Live Without	MHS	6 February 2008, Vol. 11, No. 6
Tips and Tricks: Preventing the Unthinkable Computer Crash	MHS	29 August 2007, Vol. 10, No. 35
Tips and Tricks: Using Search Engines to Search RootsWeb and Other Genealogy Sites	MHS	05 March 2008, Vol. 11, No. 10
Tips for Organizing Genealogy	MHS	13 October 2010, Vol. 13, No. 10
To Upgrade or Not to Upgrade – Is it time?	MHS	10 February 2010, Vol. 13, No. 2
Tutorials and How-tos at RootsWeb	MHS	11 August 2010, Vol. 13, No. 8
Umlauts, Acutes, and Accents: Using Character Codes	MHS	18 April 2007, Vol. 10, No. 16
Using File Searches to Find Lost Files	MHS	5 September 2007, Vol. 10, No. 36
What's in a Marriage Banns?	MHS	9 September 2009, Vol. 12, No. 9
What's in a Name? – Naming Conventions and Surname Studies	MHS	10 March 2010, Vol. 13, No. 3
What's on a Death Certificate?	MHS	11 March 2009, Vol. 12, No. 3
Whose DNA Should You Trace?	MHS	14 July 2010, Vol. 13, No. 7
Word Processing and Genealogical Writing	MHS	12 May 2010, Vol. 13, No. 5
WorldConnect Keyword Searches	MHS	23 May 2007, Vol. 10, No. 21

WorldConnect’s Privacy Options	MHS	14 October 2009, Vol. 12, No. 10
Yearbooks at RootsWeb and Elsewhere	MHS	18 July 2007, Vol. 10, No. 29
A Genealogist's New Year's Resolutions	JY	2 January 2008, Vol. 11, No. 1
Acronyms and Abbreviations Lead to Confusion	JY	11 August 2010, Vol. 13, No. 8
Adoption Research Resources	JY	11 February 2009, Vol. 12, No. 2
Archaic and Unfamiliar Terminology in Genealogical Research	JY	12 November 2008, Vol. 11, No. 21
Are You Building Your Own Brick Walls?	JY	12 January 2011, Vol. 14, No. 1
Are Your Genealogy Posts Getting Lost in the Forest?	JY	9 March 2011, Vol. 14, No. 3
Attending Genealogy Conferences	JY	13 May 2009, Vol. 12, No. 5
Becoming a Volunteer Administrator for Mailing Lists and Message Boards	JY	11 July 2007, Vol. 10, No. 28
Brick Walls: The Value of Discussing Your Research with Others	JY	13 February 2008, Vol. 11, No. 7
Census Substitutes: What purpose do they serve? What information do they include?	JY	10 February 2010, Vol. 13, No. 2
Connecting Across Continents and Generations Through RootsWeb	JY	12 November 2008, Vol. 11, No. 21
Demystifying RootsWeb's Message Boards	JY	9 June 2010, Vol. 13, No. 6
Developing a Research Plan for the New Year	JY	13 January 2010, Vol. 13, No. 1
DNA and Genealogy -- Beyond the Paper Trail	JY	9 December 2009, Vol. 12, No. 12
DNA Terminology	JY	14 July 2010, Vol. 13, No. 7
Don't Let Name Spelling Stand in Your Way	JY	19 March 2008, Vol. 11, No. 12

Evaluating Online Genealogical Data -- To Accept or Not to Accept?	JY	10 June 2009, Vol. 12, No. 6
Exploring Lineage Society Membership	JY	14 January 2009, Vol. 12, No. 1
Exploring My Family History at RootsWeb	JY	21 March 2007, Vol. 10, No. 12
Finding a Mailing List at RootsWeb	JY	02 May 2007, Vol. 10, No. 18
Finding Your SMITHs (and Other Ancestors with Common Surnames)	JY	14 May 2008, Vol. 11, No. 15
Following Through with My New Year's Resolutions, Part II	JY	30 January 2008, Vol. 11, No. 5
GEDCOM Tags -- what they are and how to decipher them	JY	8 September 2010, Vol. 13, No. 9
Getting the Most Out of Pre-1850 U.S. Federal Census Records	JY	10 September 2008, Vol. 11, No. 19
Getting to the Heart of the Subject: Are You Guilty?	JY	25 July 2007, Vol. 10, No. 30
Getting Your Message Across on Mailing Lists and Message Boards	JY	10 October 2007, Vol. 10, No. 41
Hidden Gems Lurking at RootsWeb	JY	1 August 2007, Vol. 10, No. 31
Holiday Gatherings and Debunking Family Myths	JY	12 December 2007, Vol. 10, No. 50
Holiday Gatherings as Genealogical Research Tools	JY	8 December 2010, Vol. 13, No. 12
It’s a Love Story	JY	9 February 2011, Vol. 14, No. 2
Learning the Ropes of Registering at MyAccount, Part I	JY	12 September 2007, Vol. 10, No. 37
Learning the Ropes of Registering at MyAccount, Part II: When You Need to Change or Update MyAccount Information	JY	19 September August 2007, Vol. 10, No. 38

Mailing List Archive Searches--A Follow Up	JY	22 August 2007, Vol. 10, No. 34
Message Board Surname Confusion: Who's on First?	JY	13 June 2007, Vol. 10, No. 24
Military Databases on RootsWeb and Beyond	JY	10 November 2010, Vol. 13, No. 11
More on the Message Boards	JY	13 April 2011, Vol. 14, No. 4
Posting Data on RootsWeb Message Boards and Mailing Lists	JY	7 November 2007, Vol. 10, No. 45
Research Clues from the Faith of Our Fathers	JY	9 July 2008, Vol. 11, No. 17
Researching Women Ancestors	JY	10 March 2010, Vol. 13, No. 3
Revisiting Brick Walls (Following Through with My New Year's Resolutions), Part I	JY	16 January 2008, Vol. 11, No. 03
RootsWeb, the Ever-changing Resource	JY	11 April 2007, Vol. 10, No. 15
RootsWeb's Unseen Measures to Protect You	JY	14 April 2010, Vol. 13, No. 4
Sending an Effective Bug Report to RootsWeb or Ancestry	JY	12 August 2009, Vol. 12, No. 8
Social Networking for Family History Researchers	JY	11 November 2009, Vol. 12, No. 11
Social Security Death Index (SSDI) Enhanced Advanced Searches	JY	13 October 2010, Vol. 13, No. 10
The Message Board/Mailing List Gateway	JY	27 June 2007, Vol. 10, No. 26
The New Archives Search Engine	JY	25 April 2007, Vol. 10, No. 17
The RootsWeb Surname List: Just the Facts	JY	16 May 2007, Vol. 10, No. 20
The Social Security Death Index and Ordering SS-5 Copies Online	JY	12 May 2010, Vol. 13, No. 5
The Volunteer Spirit at RootsWeb--Sharing with Others	JY	21 November 2007, Vol. 10, No. 47

Tips for Posting a Reply on a Mailing List or Message Board	JY	24 October 2007, Vol. 10, No. 43
Translating and Deciphering Documents	JY	11 March 2009, Vol. 12, No. 3
Understanding RootsWeb's Social Security Death Index	JY	13 August 2008, Vol. 11, No. 18
Understanding the RootsWeb Acceptable Use Policy	JY	27 February 2008, Vol. 11, No. 9
What Happens to Your Stuff on RootsWeb When You Are No Longer Able to Manage It?	JY	9 April 2008, Vol. 11, No. 14
What Not to Send to WorldConnect	JY	8 July 2009, Vol. 12, No. 7
World Archives Project: Saving the World’s Records Fifteen Minutes at a Time	JY	10 September 2008, Vol. 11, No. 19
Home for the Holidays	AF	9 December 2009, Vol. 12, No. 12
New RootsWeb Feature – Hosted Site Registry	AF	8 April 2009, Vol. 12, No. 4