As we approach the end of the 1999-2000 term, I would like to thank the many persons who have helped to make the past year so hugely successful for the Rochester Genealogical Society. And I will make a few comments about the coming year too.

We are grateful to Gilbert Tremain Smith, who did a wonderful job as a one-year replacement for yours truly as Vice President for Program. He is to be congratulated on the quality of the programs that he arranged for us. He also forged new links with the Rochester Historical Society (of which our own Society was an "offshoot" in 1938) by arranging two tours there in October and inviting Ann C. Salter to lead our mini-workshop in February. In addition, Gil did yeoman's work in making all of the preparations for Hank Jones' truly memorable visit in March. Finally, we are all looking forward to the June 15 outing at Sonnenberg Gardens in Canandaigua. If you have not yet signed up for this event, there is still time for you to do so. (See inside under "Program.")

Paul Blake deserves our thanks for making the meetings of the Computer Interest Group amiable and interesting, sometimes in the face of adversity. Keep up the good work, Paul! Of course, a real boon both to the CIG and the Society as a whole has been the acquisition of our computer projector. Paul, Jim Hall, and Ken Veneron composed the committee that located just the right piece of equipment -- and at a very reasonable cost.

I again wish to express my appreciation to Cal Graziano, who suggested important changes in the ways in which RGS does its banking, investing, and bookkeeping.

To all of the other Officers and Activity Chairs I wish to say, simply, thank you! Well done!

Last but not least, we are all grateful to you, the members, who have given us your support, advice, and encouragement.

Looking ahead, allow me to call your attention to a very interesting RGS program in the fall by Ms. Diane Snyder Ptak, a Certified American Lineages Specialist living in Albany. At our September 21 meeting she will be speaking on the fascinating topic, "Chasing Elusive Women." Furthermore, she will be offering some of her publications for sale.

As a special bonus, Ms. Ptak is also willing to provide a limited number of personal consultations. One of her specialties is helping others with their "brick wall" cases in genealogical research. The price will be $15 for each half-hour session (actually more like 27 or 28 minutes), of which there will be a total of seven.

At the present time, two of these slots have already been filled, but five remain open. Four of the seven will take place at the Blackman residence in Pittsford, while the other three will be during the workshop and business meeting in the room to the rear of the Fellowship Hall at Asbury. There are still some details to be worked out (such as the kinds of documents that participants should bring to the consultations), but, in any case, the focus should be on one or, at most, two of your most difficult research problems. If you are interested in availing yourself of this opportunity, please call me at my home: 383-0856. These will go on a "first come, first served" basis.

If you wish to learn more about Diane Snyder Ptak and her services, check out her website: http://home.att.net/~dptak. Also, she has an advertisement (including a photo) on page 161 of the March-April, 2000, issue of Everton's Genealogical Helper.

Our new Vice President for Program, Larry Schongar, is off to a great start. (I guess this will be the Regime of the Two Larrys.) He will probably be guided to no little extent by the results of the recent survey. A "little bird" tells me that another one-day trip to Albany for research at the State Library and Archives may be in the offing.

Speaking of Albany, let me mention a Regional Conference of the National Genealogical Society there Saturday, November 11, 2000. The local host will be the New York State Council of Genealogical Organizations (NYSCOGO). The featured speakers will be Sheila Benedict and Cyndi Howells (of "Cyndi's List" fame). For more information on this, contact Ruth Horton Metzler.

Finally, at the Board Meeting this coming July, we will have to decide if our Society wishes to move ahead with Volume III of the Mt. Hope Cemetery project. I hope we have the fortitude to do this, because it is really a worthwhile undertaking. We are now in the final stage of the work on Volume II (thanks to Dr. Gale Smith), but let's keep it going! I have been in contact with Mr. Frank Gillespie of the Friends of Mt. Hope Cemetery, who wishes to create a strong alliance between his group and ours. There is even talk about the possibility of grant money. Jim Paprocki has come up with what seems to me to be a nifty idea of putting all of the data onto a website; again, the details will be forthcoming. In any event, we will need volunteers (lots of them) to do keyboarding, proofreading, etc., so please say "yes," if and when you are approached in the coming months.

Have a very enjoyable and productive summer!

Larry Lee Blackman

by Deborah J. Chauncey Barnes

Ever wonder how someone catalogs an entire cemetery? Let me tell you my scenario in doing just that and maybe it will give you a few ideas to help in your own genealogy research.

I started probably 10 years ago going to Broome County, NY to research my family. I would go to a cemetery and find a few relatives only to have to go back because my research took me to other relatives who were also buried in the same cemetery.

I decided the best way for me to do my research was to catalog these "small" cemeteries. Or at least they looked small and I figured I could do it in no time.

I started out with a pad and pencil, going from one headstone to the next, snapping pictures of a few of them. When I got back to Rochester, I would type the info into my computer. I found my writing was not as legible as one would hope. Dates were sometimes transposed or I could not get an accurate spelling of a name. That meant another trip back to the cemetery after printing out the data to make corrections.

I got the idea one day (after getting writers cramp), why not record it? I got a small hand held audio recorder and recorded the names, dates, etc on headstones. I would spell the names and say the dates a couple of ways to make sure they were correct. This worked pretty well except I would get hoarse after several hours.

Then one day I thought why not videotape the stones. My husband had a camcorder that I'd never seen used. I borrowed it, learned to use it and tried this method. It took much less time to record the data. I read only the stones aloud if they appeared hard to read. Sometimes I would have to get down and feel out the letters and numbers. When I got home and showed the video on the TV it was clearer than looking at the stone in the cemetery! Plus I zoomed in and out and got different angles so I could read many stones that were unreadable in person. I then typed them up on the computer.

I also would get a hard copy of the LDS reading of these cemeteries done in the 1960's which gave me stones no longer there or readable and info that might not be on the stones I read. This gave me a much better reading of the entire cemetery.

Since that time I have done 8 cemeteries in Broome County and a couple in Tioga County totaling over 15,000 stones. I have put these on GENWEB for others to use so my efforts have not only helped my own research but many other genealogist.

I have found that the camcorder can come in handy elsewhere. If you find a document too fragile to put on a copier, the camcorder works in many light conditions (I've taped in near dark, rain and sunshine) and you can get a good picture of the document by zooming in and out. This might also help if someone has a lot of pictures or data they won't let you take out of their home to be copied. Just video tape them and look at them in the comfort of your home. You can also transfer video to the computer if you have the right software.

It was suggested to me that this might work for microfiche and film readers. I took the camcorder to the FHC and tried it on 3 machine (Microfilm reader, Microfiche reader and the Minolta fiche/film printer). It worked relatively well on the Microfilm reader, very well on the Microfiche reader and not at all on the Minolta printer. For some reason the light from the printer confused the camera and it would go out of focus. Even trying to focus manually did not work.

I must admit that the camera I was using is about 15 years old and I am sure they have made improvements to camcorders since then and there is also digital camcorders to consider. My efforts at the FHC may have been more successful with a newer camcorder.

I hope this idea helps you in your research.

Rochester Genealogical Society member Greg Spacher will be featured in episode 6 of the new PBS miniseries, "Ancestors." The 13 episode series, produced by KBYU Television in Provo, Utah, details the stories of eleven individuals who made astounding discoveries while researching their family histories, and the techniques they used to research them. Episode 6 deals with Greg's research into Catholic Church records in Rochester, NY, the discovery of his family origin in Haute Vigneulles and Farebersviller, France and his return to those villages in 1998 and 1999 for a reunion with his modern day cousin's. Greg presented them with giant Ancestry charts and copies of two books he wrote and self-published using information obtained in his research: The Descendants of Christian Spachert 1657-1722 and From Moselle to the Flour City: The Descendants of Joseph Spacher that he translated into French.

PBS and KBYU, in the style of Ken Burn's The Civil War, has made this series both entertaining and informative. Besides the Television series, there are several other components to the project:

• a web site about the series at http://www.kbyu.org/ancestors
• home video series in both NTSC and PAL formats
• two companion books: ANCESTORS: A Guide to Discovery - Key Principles and Processes of Family History Research, by Jim Tyrrell and In Search of our Ancestors: 101 Inspiring Stories of Serendipity and Connection in Rediscovering Our Family History by Megan Smolenyak (in which Greg's experiences in France are recounted)
• an online Teacher's guide
• Instructional Video's in 26 segments that model the five key research processes
• Web courses and personal enrichment courses offered by Brigham Young University.

ANCESTORS began airing on some PBS stations on June 1^st, 2000. Check local listings for your local schedule. WXXI-TV will air the series on Saturdays, beginning July 1^st at 6:30 p.m.. There is a break on August 5^th, but Episode 6, Religious Records, will air August 12^th, 2000.

On Feb. 29^th of this year there was a small fire at at the Records Center in Suitland, Maryland. The fire department from Prince George's County was called to put out the fire and to ventilate a stack area of the building. Approximately 300 cubic feet of records were destroyed by the fire which was of suspicious origin. Most of the affected records were wet or damp from water from the sprinklers. The Archives staff worked through the night to protect other records from water damage.

Another fire was discovered by employees on April 5^th. This time, employees were able to extinguish the fire with hand-held extinguishers. Fewer than ten boxes of records were destroyed. Upon investigation, the fire department determined that the cause was definitely arson.

On the morning of 12 April, an archives employee, Marlon M. Mason, was charged with arson in connection with the April 5^th fire. The accused employee had been employed as a part-time archives aid since December 1994. He was turned over to the Fire Marshall of Prince George's County.

by Carole Phillips Allen

While I had always been curious about my ancestors, I did not get around to doing any research until after both my parents had died and had very little to start with. All that I knew about my father's grandfather, Jonathan Phillips, was that he was born in New York State in 1834, had been a seaman on the Great Lakes and that when he was about 40 years old he married a German widow with one daughter. There were two children (that I knew of), from this marriage, my grandfather and his sister.

In an effort to locate the place where Jonathan was born, I obtained his 1911 death certificate, the information, supplied by my grandfather was: "born in New York, father Sam, mother unknown." I obtained his 1873 marriage certificate, but it had no information of value in my search. I checked the records at the cemetery where he was buried only to find that he was in a single grave, not a family plot. Census records did not reveal any new information except that he worked for a railroad during the years after 1880.

I had two aunts and an uncle, all in their 80's, and I began asking them questions. The uncle said that he was too young to remember his grandfather, but thought he had been in some kind of trouble because no one talked about him while children were in the room, but thought that he had owned a boat that he lost that was then turned into a "pleasure boat." One aunt remembered that he was a "salty character" who liked to whittle, but did not know much about where he came from. The other aunt was not too interested in talking about him, but little by little I learned that there were two families of Phillips relatives that she knew of. The first lived in Michigan and when I finally found them I learned that the family had died out about 1955. Then my aunt told me about a family who had lived on the south side of Chicago when she was a girl. This family had a daughter her age, but she lost contact with her about 1960 and thought she was dead. She also said that he had been married before he married her grandmother, but there were no children.

I then began a search for the lady's grave and found the family's plot in Indiana, but the lady was not there.

I learned from the cemetery caretaker that the lady was still alive and she provided me with her address. I wrote to the lady and received a letter from her daughter who said that her mother had saved a letter written to a great grandmother in 1909 regarding the settlement of the estate of Edward Phillips in Rochester, New York.

I obtained a copy of the probate case of Edward Phillips from the Monroe County Surrogate's Court. It was 86 pages long and revealed that Edward Phillips, age 43, the unmarried son of Samual Phillips (1805-1884) and Bridget Mack (182?-188?), died in 1909. His brother Frank Phillips filed as administrator of the estate stating that he and a sister, Josephine Brown, were the only survivors. Then Mary Bridgeman appeared before the court and stated that she was a half-sister of Edward Phillips, the daughter of Bridget Mack from an earlier marriage; and that she and the daughters of Edward's sister, Nora McCrea (d. 1982) were also entitled to a share of the estate. Mary also told the court that Edward Phillips had ten half-brothers and half-sisters, the children of Samuel Phillips and his first wife, Diana Peterson (1808-1855). The court ordered that the other heirs be located. After two years the court determined that the heirs to the $1,230.06 estate of Edward Phillips: Frank Phillips of Charlotte; Josephine Brown of Rochester; Mary Bridgeman of Holley, N.Y.; the daughters of Nora, Ida McCrea Rowlands, Edith McCrea Burgess and Ethel McCrea of Rochester; and the children of Samuel and Diana Phillips or their survivors. These children were: Ann Phillips died c.1860, no descendants; Emily Johnson of Saranac, Michigan; Sarah LeRoy died 1897, Michigan; Margaret Blossom, Lake Odessa, Michigan; Caroline Baker, died 1864; Jonathan Phillips, died 1911, Chicago, Illinois; Samuel Phillips, died c. 1860 unmarried; William Phillips, Evart, Michigan; Charles W. Philips, died 1899, Perry Sound, Ontario, Canada and Elisha Phillips, died c.1855, no descendants. The legal fees were $579.37; Frank Phillips received $291.07; Josephine Brown $85.87 (they had expenses); and the share of all the others was $30.40 per family.

With this information I researched the U.S. Census for Monroe County, New York from 1820 to 1880; 1855 and 1865 New York State Census; local histories and Monroe County land records. All the information in the probate case matched these records. I found that Samuel Phillips came to Charlotte in 1813 with his father "Saral" Phillips, mother and four siblings and was the oldest settler still living in Greece in 1877. (History of Monroe County by W.H. McIntosh (Philadelphia: Everts, 1877) p. 205 "Village of Charlotte"). "...Aral Phillips of Steuben County had come in 1813, the first year that Stutson Street is mentioned in deeds..." (Eight Miles Along the Shore..., by Virginia Tomkiewicz and Shirley Cox Husted, Published by the Historical Society of Greece, N.Y., September, 1988, page 137).

It appears that Samuel and his father Sirrell could not write and the father's name is spelled according the writer's opinion. However, the name is probably Cyril, but I use the spelling on his 1769 birth record as he is the only Phillips in the U.S. during that period with this name. With what I was able to trace through the probate case, I have been able to trace this Phillips family back to Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1635.

I am still searching, as I have not been able to determine for certain, who Samuel's siblings were or who his mother was, but I do not find Sirrell after 1820, but do find Polly Phillips in Charlotte in 1830 as the head of a household.

I am still trying to find out about Jonathan's boat and where he was between 1860 when he last appeared in the U.S. Census for Charlotte living with a woman named Mary and a brother and sister and his 1873 marriage in Chicago.

by Edward H. Gaulin

People have been given names like John and Mary, Joseph and Ruth for more than a 2,000 years. Because the population was relatively small and travel very limited, these given names were adequate to describe a specific individual.

The name by which a person is known is more than an identification designating one person from all others. The names have meaning, stories of origin, and tradition. Understanding these meanings can be a helpful genealogical tool and can make "name gathering" almost come alive.

When parents select a name for their child they are sometimes influenced by a physical or spiritual quality they see in that child. Or they may be thinking about some recent event or perhaps some circumstance connected with the birth. It was common practice in some societies for an adult to change his name or assume another at various points during their lifetime. These where normally based upon some adult characteristic or special ability or for an particular exploit. This was common among some North American Indian tribal groups and to French soldiers who came to North America in the 17^th century.

Use of only a single or given name was accepted practice until about 500 years ago for common people. Persons of noble lineage frequently had several names long before this time. The introduction of a second name to identify a person evolved slowly. Probably what happened was when there were two men known as John in one village, the blacksmith was called John the Smith, while John who lived in the forest was John of the Wood. This worked fine for hundreds of years until cities grew larger and travel became more extensive, then these names became John Smith and John Woods.

The second name or surname means 'over' or 'in addition to' the given name. Some mistake its origin from word 'sire' and the spelling 'sirename.' Surnames came about because of need for additional individual identification. By the 12th century about 10% of the male population was named William and 7% were Robert, Richard and John. At the same time, about two-thirds of the females were Mary, Sarah, Ann or Elizabeth.

There are said to be four basic origins of our surnames:

• Place or locality - Names such as Attwood, Bywater, North, West, Hill, Brooks, Forest, Bridge, Woods, etc.
• Occupation or status - like Smith, Taylor, Carpenter, Baker or Baxter, Weaver or Webster, Brewer or Brewster, Pope, Squire, Knight, Banker, etc.
• Characteristic or nicknames - for example: Doolittle, Gull, Armstrong, Moody, Best, Sharp, Badger, Stork, Careless, Short, Tall, Small, Robin, Spendlove, Green, etc.
• Relationships or Patronymics - including Johnson, Richardson, Peterson, MacDonald, O'Neil, Fitzgerald, Beven, Bowen, Pritchard, Jensen, Madsen, Fernandez, Gonzalez, etc.

Patronymics is the practice of taking the father's name. For example, Peter, son of John, is Peter JOHNSON or Patrick, son of Donald, is Patrick MacDONALD or Harold, son of Morris, is Harold FITZMORRIS. But sometimes these are not readily recognizable as patronymics because the diminutive or shorten form of a name, or double and triple combinations, or variant spellings are used.

• Variants of Richard - Rick, Dick, Hick, Ryck, Hitchcock, Ricks, Higgins, Dickens, Digg, Richardson, Dickerson, Pritchard, etc.
• Variants of William - Will, Bill, Wilkins, Wilkenson, Wilmont, Wilson, etc.
• Variants of Robert - Rob, Bob, Hob, Dob, Robins, Dobbins, Hobbes, Hobkins, Nabb, Dobbes, etc.

Some countries have or have had, strong traditions in naming their children in order of birth. This practice can be valuable to a genealogist, but it can also cause him to make unsupported assumptions. However it must be remembered that while many people followed these traditions, many others did not.

SCOTLAND - the 1st child was named after his paternal grandfather; the 2nd after his maternal grandfather. The 1^st female was named for her maternal grandmother; the 2^nd for her paternal grandmother; and the 3^rd child was named for the mother.

THE NETHERLANDS - the males were named the same way as in Scotland, but the 1^st female was named for her paternal grandmother; the 2^nd for the maternal grandmother.

SPAIN (MEXICO) - heavy use of the name Maria as a first or middle name. Frequently every female in a family will be named Maria with a different middle name.

FRANCE (QUEBEC & LOUISIANA) - similar to the Spanish, the French commonly call their daughters Marie or Marie-(Therese or ___) and their sons Joseph to honor the Holy Family. Compound (hyphenated) given names are frequently used for both sexes. French males many times have a name using Jean (John) or Joseph (and others) as the first part and occasionally Marie as the second. I have male ancestors named Joseph-Marie GAULIN.

Some religious groups have also established naming patterns. Members of the Church of England usually named their children from names in the New Testament, while Jews usually use Old Testament names. Another curious custom is that names were often selected by arbitrarily opening the family Bible with the eyes closed and then selecting the name closest to the fingertip. Frequently, when a child died in infancy, the next child born to that family of the same sex, was given the same name. In the early days of Canada, there were times when several children of the same name were living at the same time in a single family. Confusing!

Some early New Englanders were named for their virtues: Faith, Hope, Charity, Submit, Patience, Silence, Content, Temperance, etc. I'm not sure how they recognized these virtures so quickly in their children. Children have always been named for famous people: Washington, Napoleon, Lewis, Clark, Perry, Patton, etc. Following the American Revolution, names like Freedom, Liberty and Independence were popular; after the Civil War, Lincoln, Lee, Grant, and Sherman were common. After the Great Depression in the United States Roosevelt was a popular name. I was named after Edward VIII, King of England, the world's most eligible bachelor, when he abdicated the throne to marry the American divorcee Wallace Simpson in 1936. My mother thought he was wonderful and probably still does. Americans also developed the habit of naming their first son after his father, hence the use of Senior, Junior, the 3^rd, the 4^th, etc.

You will frequently notice the use of one or more of the same given names being used in every succeeding generation of a family, especially for the first son. This can be helpful to a genealogist, but it can also be frustrating and cause misidentification. Another common practice is to use the mother's surname from one generation (i.e. RANDALL) as a given name in succeeding ones (i.e. Randall ELLIS). This is usually an excellent flag to dig deeper into that line for a positive connection.

What's in a name? Probably more than you might have imagined!

Nine new audio tapes have been added to the tape library on a variety of topics. This summer you can still borrow these new tapes or any of the older tapes via mail. Send tape number and $2 for postage and handling and also $1 deposit for each tape requested. The deposit money will be returned when the tape is returned.

• Using Creativity to Find a German Genealogist by Charles Naundorf
• Genealogical Resources in Monroe County by Richard Halsey
• Genealogical Resources of the New England Historic Genealogical Society by Larry Blackman, PhD
• Utility of Computers at Family History Center by Regina Stewart
• Using an LDS Family History Center - How and Why by Sharleen Peck
• Genealogical Resources of the Buffalo and Erie Co. Public Library by Patricia Blackett
• The Holland Land Office Museum; Its Facilities and Its Western N.Y. Archives by Sue Conklin
• Finding the Birthplaces of European Ancestors by Glen R. Atwell
• Getting Past that Brick Wall by Glen R. Atwell

Published in the Federal Register of 25 April 2000 are changes to the National Archives fee schedules that will effect genealogists. For those visiting Washington or any of the regional archive branches, the price of self-service copies from paper is going from 10¢ to 15¢. Copies from microfilm are going from 25¢ to 30¢ These self-service copies represent almost half of the copies made by the National Archives.

The National Archives also receives approximately 125,000 mail requests a year for records, of which 76,000 result in copies of files being sent. A great many genealogists are used to sending form NATF-80 to order various military records. These will be replaced by form 85 for Bounty Land Warrant Applications and also for Veteran Pension Applications. Then a form 86 will be initiated for copies of Military Service Records.

The fees for the above mail requests are also to be increased. Most fees will be around $17.50 except for pension files which will be set at $40. That dramatic increase in the fee for pension records is due to a change in the methodology of obtaining pension files. Currently, you receive about 20 per selected pages from the file and would have to send a separate request to receive the remaining pages. The National Archives says that the average Civil War pension file is, in fact, about 105 pages. Revolutionary War files are smaller but they are on microfilm and it cost more make those copies. Under the new plan, you would receive copies of all pages in the pension file for the $40 fee. Those who have ordered the full pension file package in the past have found genealogical clues in pages that they would not have found had they only received the 20 selected pages. So it will probably benefit genealogists by having all the records in the full pension file.

The revised fee schedule is slated to take effect September 1^st but the National Archives is taking comments through June 26^th. Send your comments to: Regulation Comment Desk (NPLN), Room 4100, National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, ND 20740-6001.

From: Neil J. Welch; 5661 Pipers Waite; Sarasota, FL 34235.

Desire contact with descendants and/or acquaintances of: Marcus Edward (b. c. 1850) & Letitia (HALL) FULLER. She was b. 29 Mar. 1851, Blackstock, Cartwright TWP, Durham Co., Ontario, CANADA. In 1934, their daughters lived in: Jeanette PERCY, Sodus, NY; Ida ZELLWEGER, Hilton, NY; Eva Grace MEADE & Bertha FULTON, Rochester, NY. Also, Vivienne MEHL was a family member.

From: Lucille Horne; 9505 87 St.; Fort Saskatchewan, AB, CANADA T8L 1G9.

Seek info on Elizabeth Delania ROBBINS (Mrs. BESLEY). She was b. 10 May 1901 to Julia COMFORT & Melvin BACON in Morris Run, PA. At this time, Julia lived with Truman Rumsey ROBBINS. Their marriage appeared in a Tioga Co., PA newspaper. On the 1915 census, Elizabeth was with Julia & Truman ROBBINS. Was Elizabeth�s maiden name truly ROBBINS?

From: Mrs. Alliene Titus; 22 Albert Av.; Buffalo, NY 14207-2120.

The 1820 NY Census lists David & Ephraim DAY in Murray, Samuel DAY in Murr., many Jonathan DAYS, & Ira DAY in Cairo TW, all near Monroe Co., NY. My gr.-gr.-gr.-grandfather Ira T. DAY was b. in NY but m. 30 Aug. 1838 in Huron Co., Ohio and continued living in Ohio. The 1840 Ohio census lists Ira, David, Ephram, S.R. & Jonathan DAY in Clarksfield TW, Huron Co., Ohio. Are these the same DAYS as on the 1820 NY census?

From: Anthony D. Skodinski; 812 Woodlawn Av.; Owosso, MI 48867.

Need names & b. dates of the parents of and b., m. & d. dates for Rufus MESSENGER (d. 30 Jan.1831) & wife Rosannah. He was from Conn. (?Granby) and lived in Pittsford, Monroe Co., NY in 1791. In 1811, Rufus & Rosannah swapped their Pittsford land for Stephen Lusk's Brighton land. Need m. dates for their MESSENGER children: Ann; Fanny; Harriet; Lavina (m. Jonathan Gale); Nancy; Philinda; Rufus Milo (of Parma, Monroe Co., NY); & Warren (of Brighton, Monroe Co., NY).

From: Russell J. Messenger; 1081 Chicago St., S.E., Apt. 20; Albany, Oregon.

Desire a birth and/or baptismal record for: Alicia Ann MURRAY, b. 15 April 1854 in Rochester, NY. Her parents were Ann HARRINGTON & John Balfe MURRAY.

From: Mary E. Michaels; 5030 Dupont Ave. South; Minneapolis, MN 55419.

Interested in Samuel SILSBY. The 1877 History of Monroe Co. says that Samuel was ordained to ministry by the Christian Church. A copy of this event is desired, along with any other information about SILSBY in Monroe Co.

From: Mrs. Virginia F. Settle; 60855 Raintree Dr.; Bend, Oregon

From: Alice L. Chappell; 4699 Union Church Road; McDonough, GA 30252-8113.

Looking for info about brothers Ralph & Vernon S. REED. Ralph (b. 7/27/1890) was the foster child of (my) Grandfather Henry Evert of Adams Twp., OH. Ralph never married. Vernon (b. 7/24/1887 & d. ca. 1970's) once lived with (my) Uncle Sam Kistler. Vernon worked for the telephone co. in Rochester, NY & was m. to Florence. They had three dau., probably m. in Rochester, NY. One dau. lived in Calif. ca. 1970. Wish to contact Vernon's daughters and/or descendants.

From: Margaret L. Hawk Hoffman; 548 Garden Place; Marion, OH 43302-5862.

Searching for records of Pinnacle Hills Cemetery in Riga, NY where Gr.-gr.-grandfather James RYAN was buried April 1870. James was b. ca. 1823-5 in Ireland. He m. Sarah A. STAPLETON on 10/19/1844 in St. Mary's Catholic Church, Rochester, NY. She was b. ca. 1828 in Ireland & d. & was buried Aug. 1892 in Michigan. RYAN children, all b. in NY (1846-1859), were: Mary; John James (m. Ella E. THOMPSON); Michael William (m. 1. Ida McMILLLIAN & 2. Maria A. MALONEY); Catherine (m. John LAJESKA); James Henry (m. Julia O'LEARY); Sarah Jane; Andrew; & Ann E. Would appreciate more info.

From: Nancy J. Yother; 591 Woodland Dr.; Lake, Michigan 48632-9588.

Please help me find my birth father. I was adopted in CA and have been given my adoption file because I am ill. My birth father is David Lewis FISHER, b. 7 July 1935 in Rochester, NY. He�s of Italian/Catholic descent.

From: Lisa Scott; 7057 Lanewood Av. #306; Hollywood, CA 90028.

Desire info on Asahel HALE line. He was b. ca.1794, VT and was in War of 1812 from NY. He m. 1815 Irene REEVES (b. 1798, NY). They had five children b. 1816 - 1831, Phelps, NY. Was Asahel son of Elijah HALE, b. Maine, lived in Mass., VT, & Conn. before coming to NY?

Joshua & Julia REEVES had Irene (b. 1798, NY). Joshua was in 1830 Phelps, NY census but was in Mich. in 1836. Joshua of Mich. d. after 1840 census but before 1849, leaving Julia, at least two sons (James & Isaac), & Irene HALE. Also, a Joshua REEVES (Rev. soldier) d. 1845 Junius, Seneca Co., NY, leaving a son Moses and three daughters but no wife. Were there two Joshua REEVES in Phelps area, NY? Or did ONE Joshua have a family in NY & another in Mich.?

From: Shirley Long Woodward; 10809 N. Fairway Ct. W.; Sun City, AZ 85351-4145.

Looking for antecedents of Benjamin BROWN, b. Nova Scotia 29 Nov. 1795; m. Jane STICKNEY 6 Sep. 1818 in VT or Essex Co., NY; d. Parma, Monroe Co., NY 13 July 1840. Benjamin came to VT ca. 1812 - 1815. He was in Chestertown, Essex Co., NY before 1821; in Rochester by 1822; and in Parma, Monroe Co., NY by 1826. Benjamin had 150 acres seven miles from Parma.

From: Joyce M. McConaha (#1375); 484 Wines Way; Stevensville, MT 59870-6060.

Looking for Rochester, NY marriage & birth records for the family of Christian HETTINGER. He arrived in NY (from Luxembourg) in May 1854. Son Peter HETTINGER m. Anna KIRCH/KIERSCH ca. 1857-8. Their dau. Anna was b. ca. 1859.

From: Loretta Donlea; 4505 David Lane; Crystal Lake, IL 60014-6404.

Where are burial records for the Flynn Road Cemetery (MASSEY Family Ground) in Greece, NY? I believe I'm a direct descendant of these MASSEYS. An internet source says many of the cemetery stones are destroyed. I need records for people buried in this cemetery.

From: Dana Massey Lound; 987 So. Diamond Rd.; Mason, MI 48854.

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