[or-roots] Welcome to LostCousins!

[EugeneMelvin.roots at comcast.net]

I heard about this web site on another list.  Sound interesting and easy. Thought I would pass it along.

Eugene

-------------- Forwarded Message: -------------- 
From: "LostCousins" <info at lostcousins.com> 
To: NewMember at lostcousins.com 
Subject: Welcome to LostCousins! 
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2007 10:19:11 +0000 

We're really glad that you've decided to join - because the more people 
who join the LostCousins community, the better it is for everyone! That's 
why it's FREE to register, and FREE to be a member. 

If you want to make use of the subscriber-only features there is normally a 
small subscription, but otherwise everything is FREE, including our 
confidential one-to-one research help and advice! 

(If you want to know what you might be missing, the Subscribe page lists 
the advantages and costs of subscribing.) 

We support all three of the censuses that are available at the FREE 
FamilySearch site: 

US 1880 
England & Wales 1881 
Canada 1881 

We also support the Scotland 1881 census which is available online at the 
official Scotlandspeople site. 

When you email LostCousins your message is read and responded to by a 
real person, not a computer. All of us are researching our own ancestors, 
so we understand the problems - and the joys - of family history. 


OUR EMAIL ADDRESSES 
Some of the emails you receive are sent automatically - for example, the 
one you should have received with your temporary password. Emails sent 
automatically come from website at LostCousins.com 

All other emails are sent from info at LostCousins.com and this is the 
address you should use whatever the nature of the correspondence. 

What would help enormously is if you could ensure that emails sent from 
these two addresses will be accepted. We never send junk mail - we only 
send information that we believe will help you - and of course we'll never 
give your address to anyone else. 

Usually it will be sufficient to add our email addresses to your address 
book. 

However, for Hotmail users things are a little different. You will need to add 
the following domains to your 'safe list': 

host0484.cammail.net 
v057.cammail.net 
lostcousins.com 

If you have a standard free Hotmail account then this simply means 
logging-in to Hotmail as usual, and clicking on 'Options'. Choose 'Junk E- 
Mail Protection' from the menu, then click 'Safe list'. 

To check that you're able to receive our automated emails, such as the 
messages that will come from your 'lost cousins', just request a password 
reminder (click "Forgotten your password?" on our home page). 


YOUR EMAIL ADDRESSES 
When you registered we invited you to enter a second email address 
(Emergency Contact Email) that we can use when the first one stops 
working. 

It doesn't need to be your own address - it could be that of a friend or 
relative - but ideally it should be through a different email provider. 

We will only use the 'emergency' address if emails we send to your primary 
address are returned to us - and we won't reveal any personal information, 
other than the fact that you're a LostCousins member. 

Although you may have no intention of changing your address, experience 
has shown that addresses often change - either because of a change of 
ISP, or because of some other change of circumstances (change of job, 
marriage etc). 

Hotmail addresses seem to have a particularly short life - because these 
email accounts are closed if you don't use them every month. 

It's a terrible shame when we find a 'lost cousin', but can't tell the member 
concerned because his or her email address isn't working. 

So if you haven't already entered an email address that we can use in 
emergencies we'd suggest you do so when you change your password (see 
below). 


HOW TO GET STARTED 
As a new member of LostCousins you may be wondering where to start! 
Here's a brief summary of what you need to do (see the 'Getting Started' 
page on the site for more details): 


STEP #1: LOG-IN 
If you haven't already logged-in you should do so right away - this lets us 
know that you've received your password, which in turn confirms that your 
email address is working. The address of the LostCousins home page is: 

http://www.LostCousins.com 


STEP #2: CHOOSE A NEW PASSWORD 
When you log-in for the first time we'd suggest you change your password 
to something you'll find easy to remember. 

To change your password, your email address, or any other item of 
personal information just click on 'My Details' and re-enter your existing 
password. After making changes on your 'My Details' page always click 
Submit. 


STEP #3: TAKE A LOOK AROUND 
We'd suggest that you take a look around the LostCousins site so that 
you've got some idea of where everything is. Please note that many of the 
pages on the site are personal to you, and so can only be accessed after 
you've logged-in. 

The 'Getting Started' page, 'Beginners Guide', and FAQs are full of useful 
information for new members. Also look out for additional 'Help' information 
on some pages. 


STEP #4: ENTER YOUR RELATIVES FROM 1880/81 
Information about your relatives is entered on your 'My Ancestors' page. 
(On the site and in our newsletters we often use the term ancestors to 
mean any relatives from past generations, whether or not they are in your 
direct line.) 

You should enter as many as possible of the relatives you can find on the 
1880/81 Censuses - the more you're able to enter, the sooner you'll find 
your first 'lost cousin', and the more 'lost cousins you'll find over the 
longer- 
term. 

Don't make the mistake of entering only those in your direct line. All of your 
blood relatives share your ancestors, and any one of them could lead to a 
'lost cousin'. 

Please make sure that you specify the correct relationship - direct ancestor, 
blood relative, marriage, or adoption. 

Direct ancestors are your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, great- 
great grandparents - and so on. The blank Ancestor Chart we provide 
shows your direct ancestors, and also gives their Ancestor Numbers (it 
helps if you include these). 

A blood relative is any other relative who shares one of your direct 
ancestors. You'll find more information about relationships in the FAQs. 

Note: the marriage relationship allows you to include the families your 
relatives married into in the 19th century - it is NOT for your spouse's 
relatives, who should be entered on a separate LostCousins account. 

If your direct ancestors left Britain before 1881 we'd encourage you to enter 
the relatives they left behind (after all, they are likely to be the relatives 
who will link you to your British cousins). 

All of the censuses we support can be found at the free FamilySearch site 
(http://www.FamilySearch.org) with the exception of Scotland 1881 census, 
which is only online at the official Scotlandspeople site 
(http://www.Scotlandspeople.gov.uk). 

When you use FamilySearch to search the US 1880, Canada 1881, or 
England & Wales 1881 censuses DON'T use the 'All Resources' search. 
Instead, go to the Census search page. 

Whilst you can also access the England & Wales and US censuses at 
Ancestry, that site doesn't provide the information in a convenient format - 
whereas the 'Household Record' at FamilySearch shows everything on one 
page that you can easily print out. 

If you need help finding your relatives on the census just ask us for help! 
We've got an experienced team here, plus a fantastic team of 'buddies', 
members who give up their time to help others. Click on 'Buddy Scheme' to 
find out more. 

You'll also find it helpful to read the hints and tips for searching the census 
that were in our July 2006 email newsletter. This article was so popular that 
we've made it available online at the LostCousins site: 

http://www.lostcousins.com/searching_the_census.htm 

Although it was written primarily in relation to the England & Wales 
censuses you'll find that most of the hints and tips also apply to other 
censuses. 


STEP #5: PRESS THE SEARCH BUTTON 
When you've entered your relatives from the censuses click the 'Search' 
button on your 'My Ancestors' page - we'll quickly and automatically match 
your ancestors against the relatives entered by other members. 

Any new matches we find will be indicated by a red tick - and the cousins 
we've found will be listed in the 'New Contacts' section of your 'My Cousins' 
page. 

Don't worry if you don't immediately get a match - the LostCousins 
membership is growing fast. However you can always improve the odds by 
entering more relatives - you can never know which one will be the link to 
your first 'lost cousin'! 

Whenever you want to check if there are any new matches just log-in, go to 
'My Ancestors', and click 'Search'. You don't need to re-enter any 
information - so it only takes a few seconds to get right up to date. 


STEP #6: RELAX 
When you are sure that you've entered as many as possible of your 
relatives who were living in the US in 1880 or in Britain or Canada in 1881, 
you can leave the rest to us! 

But if you haven't found any 'lost cousins' within one month of joining we 
suggest that you ask us for advice. Very often there's a simple 
misunderstanding that can be sorted out with a couple of emails. 

Thanks for joining LostCousins - remember, if ever you need help using the 
site, or tracking down your ancestors on the census, just email 
info at LostCousins.com 

The LostCousins Team 

===================== 


HIGHLIGHTS FROM OUR NEWSLETTERS 
The newsletters that we circulate to members twice a month contain all 
sorts of useful information, including hints and tips to help you find your 
ancestors and news of general interest to family historians. 

Whilst the news may become out of date, the hints and tips are timeless, so 
below we've picked out some of the most useful items from previous 
newsletters. 

By the way, you can choose whether or not you receive our newsletters - 
it's one of the preferences on your 'My Details' page. 


* THE WAY WE WORK - what's different about LostCousins 
* WHICH RELATIVES SHOULD I ENTER? - tips 
* SPOUSES - your other half's ancestors 
* REFERRALS - good for everyone 
* HINTS & TIPS - parish registers 
* HOLD THE FRONT PAGE - your ancestor on our home page! 


THE WAY WE WORK 
LostCousins is different from other family history sites. Our aim was to 
create a site where you could find others who share the same ancestors 
with the minimum of effort, and without your personal information being 
seen by all and sundry. 

Once you've entered your ancestors we search for matches automatically, 
whenever you click the Search button. Unlike other sites there's no need to 
keep telling us who you're looking for - all the relevant information is stored 
on your 'My Ancestors' page. 

Information you enter about you and your ancestors is not displayed on the 
site, nor can it be accessed by search engines. 

Unless you give your express permission, you are the only one who gets to 
see the information you've entered (see our Privacy Policy for more 
details). Even after we've found your cousin you can correspond with them 
without revealing your email address. 

Our automatic matching system is incredibly accurate - because of the 
precise information that you and other members enter. When we find a 
cousin you can be 100% certain that the other person is related to you. 

That represents an enormous time-saving compared to sites that come up 
with lots of names, but very few people who are truly related to you. 


WHICH RELATIVES SHOULD I ENTER? 
Very simply, the more relatives you are able to enter, the sooner you'll find 
your first 'lost cousin' - and the more 'lost cousins' you'll find in the longer 
term. 

Start with your direct ancestors and the relatives they were living with at the 
time of the census, but don't stop there! 

We've found that in practice the relatives most likely to lead to 'lost cousins' 
are the brothers, sisters, and cousins who by 1880/81 had families of their 
own. 

TIP #1: Enter all the relatives that you can find on the 1880/81 Census - the 
more you enter the better your chances! 

Just click on the + symbol alongside an ancestor to add someone else in 
the same household. No need to enter the census references, no need to 
enter the surname: in most cases all you need to enter is the forename and 
age, which takes less than 10 seconds. 

TIP #2: Use 'Add Similar' to save time when you add others from the same 
household. 

You know how sometimes you can't see something for looking? Family 
history can be like that sometimes! Focus in too closely on one particular 
problem, and you could be missing opportunities elsewhere. 

Before the Internet, people researching their family history would often 
home in on the male line, and ignore all the other ancestors who had 
contributed to their DNA. 

That was an understandable decision then, because researching even one 
line could take 20 years - but nowadays, with information at their fingertips, 
most people want to know more. 

It now makes sense to research all of your ancestors, not just the ones who 
were rich and famous, but also those who were labourers, since who you 
are depends just as much on them. 

TIP #3: Research all of your family lines - you never know what you will 
find! 

It's very rare that someone mentions out of the blue that they're 
researching their family tree - but when the topic does crop up in 
conversation, it's amazing how many other people will tell you about a 
cousin who is researching their family. 

TIP #4: Don't wait for a friend or relative to express an interest in family 
history before telling them about LostCousins - just go ahead and tell them 
anyway! 

Anyone who finds a 'lost cousin' as a result of you tipping them off about 
the LostCousins site is going to be really, really grateful. 


SPOUSES 
Please remember that your husband or wife needs to open a separate 
LostCousins account - LostCousins is all about bringing together people 
who share a common ancestor. 

It isn't currently possible to have more than one LostCousins account at the 
same email address. 

If you don't have a spare email address we'd recommend you get one free 
from Google (Gmail) or Yahoo. We don't recommend Hotmail. 


REFERRALS 
Telling other people about LostCousins is one of the two most important 
things you can do to help your fellow members (the other is to enter your 
relatives on your 'My Ancestors' page). 

If you want to find as many 'lost cousins' as possible, and you want to find 
them as soon as possible, then please do what you can to increase the 
member numbers. 

You don't have to use your 'My Referrals' page to tell your friends and 
relatives about LostCousins, but you will find that it's the easiest way to 
keep track of who you've told, and who you haven't. 

And for your relatives there's an enormous bonus - it allows you to 'send' 
them the ancestors that you share so that they don't have to enter them all 
over again! 

By the way, you don't need know your friend or relative's email address 
(and even if you do know it, you don't need to tell us). 

Just leave the email box blank and we'll give you a referral code and some 
brief instructions that you can forward to your friend or relative by whatever 
method you choose. 


HINTS & TIPS - ENGLAND & WALES PARISH REGISTERS 
When a couple lived in different parishes they would normally get married 
in the parish where the bride lived, but banns would be read in both 
parishes. 

TIP #1: To find a missing marriage, try searching the Register of Banns 

Would you like to see you ancestors' signatures? From 1754 onwards 
marriage registers would have been signed by the bride and groom - and 
the witnesses too. 

Even if your ancestors got married in a Register Office (from 1837 
onwards) you may still be able to see the signatures if you obtain a copy 
certificate from the local Register Office, rather than through the General 
Register Office. 

(However, not all local offices are willing and able to provide certificates 
which are facsimiles of the register entries - so it's a good idea to ask 
first.) 

Signatures are of more than aesthetic value - when you're struggling to 
prove which of two people was your ancestor, it could be the handwriting 
(or lack of it!) that provides a vital clue. 

TIP #2: Documents that show your ancestor's signature or mark could 
prove invaluable in your research. 

Up to 1812 there was no standard way of entering baptisms, and in many 
parishes baptisms and burials are muddled in the same register. The 
information varies widely, depending on the parish and the incumbent.