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Texas
Genealogy & History "...the people of Texas do now constitute a free, Sovereign, and independent republic..." - from the Texas Declaration of Independence, 2 March 1836 |
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Volunteers dedicated to 'free' online information ** Thinking of becoming an TXGenWeb Volunteer? There are many opportunities for you to help this project become more successful and grow, based on your time, availability and knowledge level. The TXGenWeb is part of the USGenWeb Project, a volunteer not-for-profit organization. Our goal is to make genealogical reference information available through the internet, including simple queries, free lookups, biographical sketches, local history, census data, etc. Our hope is to help make genealogical research through the internet available to everyone at no cost. The TXGenWeb Project consists of a wide variety of volunteers who coordinate or assist in providing genealogical information for each County in the State of Texas. Where do these volunteers come from and what motivates them? The answer is simple. Volunteers are people just like you, individuals who have an interest in genealogy and a desire to help.
You
might become a TXGenWeb County
Coordinator creating your own County web site. Alternatively,
you might work with the current coordinator as an assistant or you
and a friend might become co-coordinators of a county. You might assist
in the research and transcription of information to be placed on County
pages or in the TXGenWeb
Archives. You might become a Lookup
Volunteer. On the other hand, you might simply share your own
family information by joining a county mailing list. We are always
happy to have new volunteers. JOIN
OUR TEAM!
To adopt a county in Texas, check the list of Counties and/or Orphans page to see if the county is available for adoption. If it is available, send a message to Shirley Cullum with the Subject: ADOPT and the name of the county. If the county you are interested in is not available for adoption at this time, you may email the current county coordinator to volunteer what time or data you have available.
You will need:
If you are having problems, please ask for help. There are many people on the mailing list to help you as you create your very own web content and format. Once approved as a County Coordinator you may receive free web space several places. TXGenWeb has server space and can issue you an account. Space is also available with Rootsweb, or you may use your own server, web space at your own Internet Service Provider, or there are other sites that provide free web space. If something happens, and you are no longer interested or able to be a County Coordinator, notify the State Coordinator. A County Coordinator cannot relinquish their county to another person without first notifying the State Coordinator. The State Coordinator (& Assistants) must approve all new coordinators The main focus of your web site is to provide a place to post Genealogical Records, as well as Queries and Lookups, which have genealogical connections with your County. You can create your own Query submission forms which allow you to receive posted queries via e-mail, and in the format you prefer or use the RootsWeb message boards for your county/counties.
The proper name of the project and the way it should be written is "The TXGenWeb Project" and "The USGenWeb Project". The term "genweb" belongs to another group and should not be used to describe our project. The TXGenWeb Project & The USGenWeb Project logos are expected to be displayed on your page. A variety of logos and other graphics may be obtained from the TXGenWeb logo page and the USGenWeb logo page. In the use of logos and wording, please make it clear to our visitors that you are affilitated with the TXGenWeb Project.
The state coordinator will subscribe you to the TXGenWeb mailing list for county coordinators and volunteers. This mailing list, TXGW-NEWS, is an announce only mailing list, is required and is very low volume. The TXGEN-L mail list is where volunteers of the TXGenWeb Project share thoughts, and ask questions, etc. and it is not required. To subscribe to TXGEN, send a message to TXGEN-L-request@rootsweb.com with the one word, subscribe, in the body of the message.
Every county must provide a query page. This can be handled with an email link to you and posted manually, or if you have the resources, you can create an automatic mailmerge form page for receiving information. You may also use the RootsWeb message boards for your county/counties.
You are responsible for soliciting volunteers who will perform lookups of genealogical and historical materials for your county, and who understand the USGenWeb's policy on Copyright. Every page should provide some basic research help for their county. For instance, many of the county coordinators have provided a list of names, addresses and phone numbers for the county court clerk, library, and genealogical and/or historical societies. Many have also provided a bibliography page showing the reference books available for their county. Lookups should be offered if you or your volunteers have received permission to do so from the book's author or publisher or the reference books you have available meet the copyright policies of The USGenWeb Project.
Every site should be updated at least twice a year. This lets the visitor know that the site is being maintained, is not abandoned, and is in good working order. This is not "a hard and fast" rule, but if it hasn't been updated at least once a year, then we will have to consider getting a new county coordinator. It is a must to keep a working email address and to notify the State Coordinator of any email changes that pertain to the county sites.
Every
county must have a link to the main TXGenWeb Project
and to one of the two county selection pages, either http://www.txgenweb.org/allcc.htm
or http://www.txgenweb.org/cindex.htm.
Recommended Links
It is mandatory that every county coordinator answer roll call.
These will be every 4 months, 1st through the end of the month (JAN,
APR, JUL, & OCT). If you don't reply to roll call, or answer emails,
it will be assumed that you are no longer available. In the event a new CC should feel that there are some inappropriate, erroneous, or useless files on the county website, they must contact the State Coordinator for approval before removing the donated material.
Solicitation of funds for personal gain is inappropriate. This is defined as the direct appeal on the home page of any of the websites comprising The USGenWeb Project for funding to do research, to pay for server space, to do look-ups, etc. A website may, however, acknowledge any entities who may host their website (i.e., provide server space at no cost) or may include a link to a coordinator's personal page on which they offer research services for reimbursement. The acknowledgement may include a link to the hosting entity's website. A website may list research materials and/or services which may be for sale/hire, either by the coordinator, a genealogy society, or others. Such a listing shall not be on the main web page for the site, but may be linked from the main web page. It may be appropriate to include a disclaimer that the coordinator and The USGenWeb Project do not guarantee the contents of such research materials and/or the expertise of any professional researchers.
As
new county pages are put up on the web, they are checked by someone
on the state evaluation committee
for the required elements and to be sure your links work. Your evaluator
will let you know when they have visited your page. If there are
any problems with links or any required elements missing, they will
let you know so you may make any changes or corrections.
Beyond
these few "bare essentials", your page is yours to do with
as you please. Should there be any changes made in the basic requirements,
you will be notified by your state coordinator and this message will
be updated.
How
much money will this cost? It costs you nothing.
The USGenWeb Project and The TXGenWeb Project are entirely volunteers. You get paid - hugh amounts - wonderful warm fuzzies and personal satisfaction.
Web space can be obtained through rootsweb for county sites free of charge.
The amount of time depends on the coordinator. The queries tended to be the job that required the most time, however with the new automated query systems in place, there isn't much time involved. If you volunteer to lookup information, then that will take time. If you want to put data online, then that will take time as well, but once again, the amount of time involved depends on the individual coordinator. Researchers are looking for fresh and frequently updated information on your pages. The time required can range from two to twenty hours, depending on the time you have available and your degree of enthusiasm.
The answer to this question is, any original research material or material that was copyrighted, but now considered public domain. For a more in depth answer on this question, please visit the USGenWeb - Copyright Information page. We
THANK YOU for your support of The TXGenWeb Project. |
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You may notice a message beside the county listing indicating it is available for adoption. This means that we are looking for someone to take it over on a permanent basis. If you would like to adopt a web page for one of these counties, please contact Shirley Cullum, State Coordinator. The assistant state coordinators are Elaine Martin, Bettie Wood. Designed by: Kimm Antell
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