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Nancy Beach 5/16/98 I was recruited not by any NEGenWeb person, but by a researcher who I had helped a couple of years earlier (and who has become a very good friend). He knew how we were indexing most of our files, publications, etc. and thought the NEGenWeb Project would be a good match.He even offered to through in several hundred dollars of his own to help offset any expenses that might come up. Shortly after that I got a call from John McCoy, and after wearing out his ear on the phone (I'm still sorry about that John) I think it was pretty much resolved in my heart that this would be a win-win situation. Of course the estimate of how much time it would take to maintain the site was SLIGHTLY!!! underestimated {bwg}. Next problem was working all the hardware/software/line costs into our budget. Fortunately a local gentleman believed enough in the project (and more importantly how the local school children would benefit) that wrote a check for $5,000 to get us started. Then like many of you I had to learn html coding...or atleast that was all I thought I'd have to know. The county extension office next door was offering a six-session class on computers, including coding so I joined...that was March of 1997. The first words out of the teacher (aged mid-20's) was to minimize our screens....followed by my question of what did she mean by minimize. I know she was counting how many minutes she'd have to endure this greenhorn in that class. I had never been on internet, never used Windows, never used a mouse (and still don't like to use them). I was comfortable around computers, having used them for decades, but I had only used DOS so learning Windows/mouse was to me far far worse than learning html codes. I think we got the pages up in August, but had to rework them to get them to meet the board's requirements of less history and more genealogy, and it seemed like eons before we got the "new" logo next to York's site....wish I had kept track of the date, but I didn't. Between August and the demise of dscenter we had 892 visitors. We went up on RootsWeb November 13, 1997 and as of now there have been 3,325 visitors to the genealogy portion. I didn't put a counter on the history portion since most of the schools have direct lines, and any count on those pages would be skewed to say the least. As the "old timers" know, my start with NEGenWeb was rather strange. I had contacted Larry S. about volunteering after I found out about the project through surfing. I didn't know a thing about coding, but I was interested in genealogy and when I learned that Platte Co. (where I live and have roots) wasn't spoken for, it seemed like a great opportunity. I never heard from Larry (I didn't know about his untimely death), so not being one to discourage easily, I contacted someone on the welcome wagon on the national level. I never knew what her position was or that she had not let anyone know on the state level about my interest. She helped me get started and I announced my arrival about the first of March, 1997, at the same time as Ted & Carole Miller. I was so embarrassed and was ready to throw in the towel, but they graciously told me to go ahead. It has been a tremendously rewarding experience and I am eternally grateful to them. When Colfax Co. was available for adoption (about Nov. 1997) I didn't hesitate long since it is next door and much of my family lived there as well. Ted & Carole had pages all ready up and were looking for a sitter, so I was fortunate to just take over the county from them (once again)! Since November 14, 1997, Platte Co. has had 2,236 visitors, Colfax Co., 733. Of course some of those are from all of you who come to my rescue when I have a problem. It looks like I'm going to have to call for help with Colfax Co. more often to get those numbers up :>) I'm another one of the "newbies"! It has been very interesting reading about the history of all the efforts that have gone into the NEGenWeb pages. I stumbled on to the Nebraska pages in April od '97 when we were starting up a web site for Fremont and I was checking various search engines to be sure that a search for Fremont would locate our ConnectFremont site. Of course, the Dodge County NEGenWeb page also showed up with Russ Herre as the coordinator. Since I was President of the local Genealogical Society at the time, I sent Russ a message offering support from the society. We managed to send Russ a few things to post - including our monthly newsletter - and tried to respond to some of the queries. Russ had roots in Dodge County, but lives in CO. In Feb of '98, Russ asked me to consider taking over as coordinator. It's been an easy job, since Russ had it all up and in good shape. I've only made minor changes and additons and do have some more in the works. I depend heavily on Claire Mares and the rest of the Eastern Nebraska Genealogical Society here in Fremont when requests come in ,as I know very little about research in the area. My roots are in KS, MO, SD, KY & NC - although my grandmother did travel across NE as her family moved from SD to KS. This displaced Kansan still has to depend on a map to locate the NE counties you all represent, but I'm learning more about NE all the time. I do wish that I could make it to the meet and greet in Aug ... maybe next year??? Things have been pretty quiet for Dodge County - I've also noticed more AOL messages lately. They must be saying good things about us. Once I get past our son's HS graduation today, things should quiet down a bit. Our daughter graduated from college two weeks ago and just received her Peace Corps assignment to Morroco. We will have an empty house by September - guess I should be able to find time for more of Bill's projects. It is wonderful to see how much care everyone puts into their pages. Thanks for inviting me to join this great group! I finally decided to get on the internet in mid-October of 96 and while looking around I ran across the NEGenWeb and saw there were very few counties represented. I left a message in the guestbook, I think, mentioning I was from Frontier county and just putting out feelers and mentioned I had walked the cemeteries and was going to transcribe the marriage records. A day or two later Dale sent me an email asking me to host Frontier county. I didn't know html from beans so I was very hesitant to take on a project like that. Dale said that html was a snap and suggested I contact Connie for copies of an email tutorial on VERY basic html that she had. Connie almost immediately sent them to me and I picked up the minimum required coding for an html document from that. Shortly thereafter I bought my only html book and decided to take on Frontier county in mid November or early December 96, I think. In May or June there was a big push to get all of the counties while somebody was out of town. (Forgive me for forgetting the name. Connie. help.) I was thinking of taking Hayes and Gosper as they abut Frontier, but they were taken. I took on Keith and Perkins because they are on the route I take when travelling from Denver to Curtis. In the summer of 97 when I went back to Curtis I stopped in Grant and Ogallala and visited the county clerks and city managers and got some information. I still don't have anything much on Keith county, but have a fair amount on Perkins. When the blizzard hit Kansas and Nebraska in late October and dsenter broke, I was just geting ready to go to SLC for a week. When I got back most of the change to rootsweb was done and I just had to establish accounts there. I have yet to have any email contact with a person who still lives in any of the counties. AAARRRRGGGGHHH!!!! I have been lucky enough to supply researchers with information they never had. Boy that sure makes your day! Guess that's about it. I started "visiting" the Nebraska pages back when there were only a few counties online. In those days I had an antique computer with a whopping 120 Meg hard drive, which was so stuffed full that it locked up on me dozens of times a day. I knew with that computer, there was no way I could ever do web pages even though I hated seeing Thurston without a page... Then in Jan. of '97 I got a new computer and began thinking about whether I could EVER learn to do a web page. By late Feb. Thurston was still available, so I wrote and asked to adopt it, being sure to stress that I didn't have the first idea how to do HTML. Well, next thing you know, that smooth-talking John McCoy had convinced me to adopt Boyd as well as Thurston, promising that 2 were just as easy as one. Several months later, when Barb and Jeanne began their big "cheerleading" effort to get all the counties adopted, I took on Dakota County, too. Almost immediately I met Jerry Duggan and he sent me a township map showing my g-g- grandfather's farm. that was the first clue I ever had that I actually had family in Dakota County. I thought they all stayed in Thurston. Sometime after that, the idea for a Resource Center was born. I still don't know quite what happened, but somehow I ended up volunteering to put it all together, and after several months of extreme web surfing by T&C and I and lots of help from others who sent lots of their goodies, the Resource Center opened its doors. Shortly after that I was asked to join the Committee, and inside of a week after I joined, we lost the DSenter server and our pages and mail list with it. It was a real scramble getting everybody "found" again and getting our pages set up on Rootsweb, but I think that was when it "hit" many of us just how close we'd gotten! I'm looking forward to the Meet and Greet, and being able to put voices and faces to everyone. (I'll be the one dragging the skinny gut with the ring in his nose).
Note: Ginger left NEGenWeb 10/31/00. She is missed and we all appreciate what she's done to make the NEGenWeb as successful as it is. I never lived in Nebraska, but I do have memories of several wonderful vacations spent visiting cousins on the farm as a child, and my grandmother's family has been in Howard County since 1873. I am very new to the group and so don't have too much history to share, but this is how I got involved. I found NEGenWeb quite by accident. I was out "surfing" the net and stumbled across USGenweb in late February/early March 1998. I was very impressed with the Nebraska sites in general compared to some other states I was doing research in, and contacted Ted and Carole through the Howard Co query page. I asked them if they would be interested in some scrapbook stuff that had belonged to my grandfather and they said yes. We discovered we live quite close and I met Carole one day and gave her copies of what I had. She asked me then if I would be interested in taking over the page and I said "No, I don't have time and I don't know how." I had been talking to my family about it, and a day or two later my son asked "Mom, why don't you take one of those pages? If you find the information, I'll put it together for you. It would look good on my resume." (see, he's not totally altruistic - 16-year-olds seldom are). So, we did take it over about mid April. Ted and Carole did such a wonderful job setting up the page that we haven't made any major changes yet; we are just "working around the edges" right now. The WWI page is the first major addition we have made. I have enjoyed "listening in" on the discussions and have learned a lot. I sure wish I could make it to Nebraska in August, but I am afraid I won't be able to get the time off. Hope you have another one next year, because I plan to still be around then. I started my family history around 22 years ago. Wish I would of persued it more then. My kids were little and it got to where I had no money and no time so it all got packed away and hidden for a bunch of years. I got my computer 2 years ago and started hosting hayes and hitchcock counties sometime after that.. Doc was still helping and so was Larry. My son did my pages to begin with but would never take the time to show me how. C & T have done them the last few months which I really appreciate. I don't think I'm that dense that I can't but with the job changes I've had, haven't had the time to try really. I really appreciate the help they have given me along with Bill Oliver and Connie Snyder and anyone else I may be forgetting. I hope to be able to take the time and learn sometime soon. My family started in Richardson County, Nebraska and moved to southwest Nebraska around 1900. My husbands family also moved Hayes County in the late 1800's and homesteaded there. The two story stone house was one of the first trading posts in the area and is still standing and in use. There is also a stone school house and stone smoke house built by his family. Their names are on them. Have enjoyed genealogy and hope to be able to pursue it more that the last kid has graduated. My history is I was poking around in Aurora county SD (White Lake) Jan 1997, where I was told my Great grandparents settled when coming from Northern Germany. Then I received a message from a Joy Fisher asking if I wanted to adopt the county. To make a long story short, this poor lady struggled with me for a month teaching me how to download and upload and learn these program characters. Finally after a couple months I got the hang of it. Meanwhile, about March, snowbird farmers' by the name of Bob and Dorothy Semler from Dorchester kept bugging me about taking over Saline, their County. They saw Seward and kept telling me about a Jeanne Walsh and what a nice job she was doing. I said no way, I was still a newbie. Then in Aug. after looking at Saline and it being kinda stagnant because the person that had it, (Joy Fisher), was the SD CC and was very busy in SD. It was hot here, I was bored, and enjoyed doing this so, I sent a message to Joy telling her I would take Saline Co off her hands only if she was readily available to help me if needed. ( I did not know Connie then). Then I bugged the Semlers by phone in Neb. and told them I took on their county, now I wanted help in obtaining material. Now before changing to Rootsweb I had 1500 hits and it is growing much and is a very active county. Then in Nov., me being a farm boy and an Iowan, (could be a Nebraskan) who always dig in to help if we can. I noticed that with all the confusion with Dsenter, Neb needed a little help. I sent Connie a message explaining that I would help with one more Co. and agreed to take on Wayne Co. After a couple phone calls I got aquainted in Wayne and am getting, with the help of Bill Wever, more material to enter. So here I am and have met and answered messages to some wonderful people, with which to be associated. A SUPER GREAT BUNCH!! This is the second time that Ginger has mentioned me, so I suppose that I'd better stop lurking long enough to introduce myself. I'm Jerry Duggan from Omaha. Whoops, scratch that. I'm from Goodwin, really, and have been transplanted to Omaha for a loooong time. But home is still in Summit Precinct. For those of you familiar with the territory up there, I grew up a mile south of the crossroad halfway up the first hill west of Sioux City. For those of you NOT familiar with the territory, if you look on a map, you will see the city of Willis. That hill is just west of Willis. For those of you that have trouble with maps, a couple of the suburbs of Willis (to the east) are Jackson and Sioux City. Willis' "moment in the sun" came about 40 years ago when it was featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not. One of the families had twins and increased the population by 25%. My great grandfather, Daniel Duggan, and his wife Catharine (Lucey) Duggan came to Dakota County in 1856 as members of the Fr Tracy Colony. They crossed Iowa, from near Dubuque to Sioux City, by a covered wagon drawn by oxen. The Fr Tracy Colony consisted of a bunch of Irishmen led by the a Catholic priest. The parish that they founded (St Patrick's) is the oldest Catholic parish in the state. St John's Cemetery, where my parents, my grandparents, and half my great grandparents are buried, is the oldest Catholic cemetery in the state. I'm sort of leaning toward being buried there myself someday. As my Dad always said, the view from there is great. The area up there has a very strong Irish tradition. The Irish are noted for their oral, rather than written, traditions, probably because of the centuries of repression by the English. The stories from that area go back a hundred years and for generations. It is also a Democratic stronghold, although, over the years, a few Republicans have settled in. It helps to have a few around around election time, you know. A friend of mine that grew up in Jackson said that once, when he was a kid, the folks in Jackson had a TERRIBLE time. The law required that a representative from each party had to be present as a judge on Election Day. That caused a problem, because they couldn't find a Republican in the town. He said that they had to import a judge from a neighboring precinct. My family is rather unique, geneologically speaking. I'm 100% Irish, as are my 6 brothers and sisters and our Dad (Duggan, Lucey, Moriarty, Barry). My Mother was German (Kramper), Luxembourger (DeHeck and Mergen) and Czech (Lukes) and thus was rather unique in our family. The Kramper family came to Dakota County in 1879 after a few years in McHenry County, Illinois. Most of my cousins now in Dakota County are on the Kramper side. I've had the privilege of visiting my great grandfather's home in Co Cork and hosting a return visit from my third cousin who still lives there, the eleventh generation to do so. And, in 1997, I visited my great grandfather Kramper's hometown in the Czech Republic, very close to the Czech-Austrian border. Ginger recruited me as a resource person for Dakota County. I've got a few old books and a lot of memories and have been able to help a few people out. I love that part of the state. As time goes by, I hope to develop a greater understanding and knowledge of the people and history of Summit Precinct. I've rambled on. As I said earlier, the Irish have a strong oral tradition and I do tend to talk a lot. I guess I'll draw from my Mother's German heritage and be a strong, silent lurker again for awhile. God Bless, Jerry PS Don't tell Ginger, but my other great grandparents are buried in Omaha. I think she's following me, from Dakota County to Douglas County. |