An Introduction to "The Net"

An Introduction to "The Net"Author(s): Roger PriceSource: North Irish Roots, Vol. 5, No. 2 (1994), pp. 28-31Published by: North of Ireland Family History Society (NIFHS)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27696975 .

Accessed: 14/06/2014 09:47

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

North of Ireland Family History Society (NIFHS) is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extendaccess to North Irish Roots.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 185.44.77.146 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 09:47:40 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=nifhs

http://www.jstor.org/stable/27696975?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


SAYERS - IRELAND AND AUSTRALIA

Gladys Sayers, Member number A 693

Great-great-grandfather George Mateer, son of John Mateer, a tailor, and his wife Elizabeth

Mulholland, was born in Crumlin c1841. On July 11 1862 he married Mary Sinclair, daughter of John

Sinclair, a carpenter in the Second Unitarian Church, Belfast (parish of Shankill). Witnesses were

William Henry Mateer and Mary Milliken. Rev John Porter officiated. William Henry Mateer is thought to be an older brother. George and Mary had a child, John, born some time in 1863. Mary Mateer

died June 19 1863, aged 26 and is buried in the New Burying Ground, Belfast with her father, mother

and possibly four young brothers Andrew, Edward, Robert and Thomas. The headstone makes no

mention of a son John.

George Mateer travelled to Melbourne, Australia on the Pride of the Ocean leaving London

November 2 1863, The fare paid was 15 pounds; presumably he travelled steerage. He gave his

occupation as carpenter, although in Melbourne he established himself as a baker. In April 1867 he

remarried to Anne Jane Chapman, daughter of William Chapman and his wife, Ann Somerville, who

had travelled to Australia in the Frankfield in 1842 from Kilskeery, Co Tyrone. On this certificate he

admitted to being a widower but made no mention of the son John. However, when another son was born in Melbourne in March 1868 he stated he had a child of the former marriage "John, aged 5 and a half", so it is presumed the boy was alive at that date. No trace has been found of the boy coming to Australia and family history always said he was left in Ireland.

Possibly the boy was left with his maternal grandmother whose address was King Street, Belfast. The grandmother died 29.9.1872, aged 67 years when John would have been nine years old. Henry Sinclair lived at the King Street address from that date until 1895. He was possibly uncle to John and

may have cared for him, or perhaps he returned to Crumlin to be cared for by his father's family.

I should very much like to know what happened to John, left without a mother and his father thousands of miles away. I hope he was happy.

AN INTRODUCTION TO "THE NET"

Roger Price, Member number A 1102

So - what else can you do with a computer apart from playing games? Quite a lot, really; it can be a considerable help in genealogical research. The biggest difference you can make to your computing life is to connect it to one of the world's computer networks. All you need is a modem and some

simple software to help you handle the large amounts of information you suddenly find at your finger-tips. In this article I'll tell you a little bit about CompuServe, FIDOnet and Internet.

Computer networks have revolutionised what you can do with your computer. Particularly useful facilities are electronic mail, conferencing, file libraries and database access. All of these facilities are available on each of the networks. The details differ on each network but the concepts are the same.

With electronic mail (e-mail) you can "talk" to people anywhere in the world as if they were next door

28



and without all the delays and costs of postal mail. I live in Belgium and submitted this article by e-mail; by post it would have taken 2-4 days, by e-mail it takes seconds. I exchange frequent e-mails with my 3rd cousin once removed who lives in Arizona and being a Mormon, is a fountain of information on his side of my family -

by mail a letter takes 2-3 weeks.

Conferences are a bit like e-mail except that the messages you write are not private but everybody who

participates in the conference can read them and reply to them. What often happens is that someone else will

reply to the reply (and so on) until a "thread" of related messages develops over several days. It's a bit like

fishing, you may be overwhelmed by replies or get nothing at all! Getting replies depends on posting your

message in the right place with a good title and a bit of luck. The following is a recent real example -

you may even be able to help out on the enquiry!

#: 380922 S7/UK&lrish Genealogy [ROOTS]

30-Aug-94 02:17:03

Sb: #Banbridge, County Down

Fm: John A. McCullough 74101,2030

To: All

I'm looking for researcher in Banbridge to check out some information. My grandfather, John McCULLOUGH

and his wife Mary MAHAFFEY came from this area. John left about 1851-52 and settled in St. Louis, MO. His

parents were Joseph and Eliza McCULLOUGH. *

Replies: 380944-Plus, 381395-J15


30-Aug-94 02:51:36

Sb: #380922-#Banbridge, County Down

Fm: Thomas A. McCammon 75013,2235

To: John A. McCullough 74101,2030 (X)

My Great Great Grandfather, William McCammon, came from the town, his father was John, a linen bleacher.

....Tom...


30-Aug-94 21:57:20


Fm: Brian Gill/UK 100276,3570

To: John A. McCullough 74101,2030 (X)

John,

My grandfather had a footware business in Banbridge though they seem to have come from Newtownards,

County Down where my father was born. I found a researcher in Lisburn but she seems to have given up. The Ulster Historical Foundation, 68 Balmoral Avenue, Belfast BT9 6NY, Northern Ireland. [Editor's note:

Ulster Historical Foundation's new address - Balmoral Buildings, 12 College Square East, Belfast BT1 6DD]

Might be able to help but they suggest an initial cost of 150 UK Pounds just to start with. They have pulished a series of books on Gravestone Inscriptions including the Banbridge Graveyards and there are 4 graves of

McCulloughs. I had a quick look but the dates appear to be more recent than 1852. The reprint of an 1886

Directory shows a pawnbroker and a farmer/landowner named McCullough. Brian

* Reply: 381454-Plus


29



31-Aug-94 00:14:40


Fm: John A. McCullough 74101,2030

To: Brian Gill/UK 100276,3570(X)

Thanks Brian, I'll check out your suggestion. Any James or John McCULLOUGH on your gravestone

publication? I'm collecting information on all McCULLOUGHs from Banbridge. Any help you can provide would be great. *

Reply: 382483-Plus


01-Sep-9421:15:56

Sb: #381454-Banbridge, County Down

Fm: Brian Gill/UK 100276,3570

To: John A. McCullough 74101,2030(X)

John,

I don't have the volumes on Belfast Gravestones, the ones I have are Vol. 11 Newtonards and Vol. 20

Banbridge. On the stone in Scarva Street Presbyterian Graveyard are Jane wife of John McCullough died 6 Jan 1851 aged 38 years, John McCullough died 22 July 1866 aged 55 years and Susanna wife of

John McCullough died 24 Nov 1893 aged 81 years. The Will of John was proved in Belfast on 6 Nov

1866 by the oaths of Joseph McCullough of Tandragee, pawnbroker and Thomas Law of Banbridge, linen manufacturer. Effects under 1000 Pounds. It should be possible to get a copy of the Will. I will

send more later. Brian.

You really do need some software to help you keep track of all the messages and threads and you will

appreciate software that helps you to work "off-line" to save on the phone bills and usage charges (see below for more details).

File libraries contain much useful data and they can save you a lot of time on research and provide answers and suggestions on how to proceed. You can find software tools and utilities, results of

people's research, lists and addresses of people researching various names in different locations and

much more. A recent gem that I discovered is the ROOTS-L Surname list which is a series of files

(updated monthly) composed of surnames submitted by people doing genealogical research who are

willing to exchange data. If you spot something interesting , you contact the person who submitted the surname. An extract of a recent file is:

+ Kilbourne 1548 1866 WoodDitton,ENG>Wethersfield,CT>NY>ONaem

+Kilgore 1660 1907 IRL>VA snyder

+Kilgore 1780 1850 Londonderry,IRL>ButlerCo,PAcash + Killgore 1768 1990 IRL>DE>Philadelphia, PA casez

The layout is a bit cryptic but it's not that complicated. The first of two entries for Kilgore is from someone called "snyder" researching Kilgore, beginning in Ireland and migrating to Virginia (VA) between 1660 and 1907. The second is someone called "cash" researching Kilgore beginning in

Londonderry, migrating to Butler county Pennsylvania between 1780 and 1850. If I wanted to follow up on either of these I would look up the address for snyder or cash in a related file which I can also download.

This is just a taste of what is there - you have to log on and look to believe how much information is just

waiting for you to find it!

30



Now to the networks themselves. CompuServe is the best known commercial network; it has access

points throughout the world with very good coverage in the UK. You are almost certain to be able to

access it by a local phone call; on top of the phone call you have a usage fee of a few dollars per hour which you pay by credit card. FIDOnet is a worldwide collection of computers with are operated

by enthusiasts and which link up every night to exchange information according to a strict hierarchy. You are certain to have a FIDOnet access point near you but not every enthusiast is interested in

Genealogy so he may not have access to the Genealogical conferences; that's your luck! On the

plus side FIDOnet access is usually free or for some nominal fee. Internet is the world's computer network. It is often referred to as electronic anarchy. To get access you have to go through one of

the companies who offer Internet access as a commercial service. Again it is usually a local phone call away with a usage fee.

Technical

All you need, in addition to your PC, is a modem connected to your current telephone line. If you are

buying a modem you should buy the fastest modem you can afford since this will save you phone bills in the long term. For the coming 12 months or so I would propose a modem working up to

14,400bps (V32bis).

To access CompuServe you will want a "navigator" to enable you to work off-line and to keep track

of conference messages. I use "TAPCIS" (which is DOS based) and "NAVCIS" which runs under

windows. Both cost about 80 US Dollars but are well worth the investment; there are others which

are free although they tend to be a bit less functional. For FIDOnet access the software depends on

you local access point. I use a terminal emulator called Telix and an off-line reader called QWK, both

of which are shareware. I am happy to answer any questions on this article - you can reach me by

e-mail on CompuServe Address 100063,1507. Better still - why not just get yourself hooked up for

conferencing and you'll benefit from the collective wisdom of the entire on-line community.

WHAT HAVE I EVER CAUGHT ON "THE NET"?

A personal tale of genealogical research on the Information Superhighway

Gerard Mulvenna, Member number B 628

Recently it has been difficult to page through a newspaper or magazine without coming face to face

with some feature on the joys or evils of the great international computer network. Talk of electronic

mail and bulletin boards is inescapable and cynics are screaming that it is all hype and that it will

shortly be yesterday's news. However the many genealogists, who have been exploiting the

computer network as a research tool, know that fortunately this useful resource is here to stay. For

my part, I would like to add my own tuppence-worth to the mountain of hype by reporting how my

family history research has benefited from access to international computer networks.

About four years ago I decided to store my research findings on computer. Rather than using a

standard database program, I had a quick look for some specialist genealogy software by connecting to a computer in England I knew had an archive of programs that were either free (public domain) or

free for evaluation and relatively cheap to register if satisfied (shareware). I was pleasantly surprised to discover a shareware package called Brother's Keeper, which has fulfilled my needs for data

storage and printing reports and charts ever since.

31



An Introduction to "The Net"

Documents

Transcript of An Introduction to "The Net"