The WVGenWeb Project

What is the WVGenWeb Project?

WVGenWeb is a loosely woven, nonprofit, grassroots association of individuals interested in preserving and freely sharing all types of genealogical and historical records within and about the state of West Virginia, known as Western and Northwestern Virginia prior to the formation of the state of West Virginia in 1863. WVGenWeb provides a central location for this information by means of computer networking via the Internet.

The County Web Sites

Each county in West Virginia has it's own web page or pages. The county web site is designed and maintained by a county coordinator. The pages may contain a variety of information and visitors are encouraged to visit each site that interests them to see what is available for that particular county. Every effort will be made to obtain free web space for county sites. County coordinators may elect to locate their web sites at a local Internet provider's site at their own cost. The county coordinators are responsible for providing their own Internet access.
If you are willing to assist with any phase of this project, either on the state page or the county pages, please contact Les Shockey at wvgenweb@citynet.net or contact the County Coordinator directly for the county(ies) that you are willing to assist.

County Web Site Basics

1. Each page will post queries pertaining to genealogical research in that county. The queries can be handled by using the WV Query Form, by regular e-mail or use of a personalized form created by the county coordinator.
2. The main county page will display the WVGenWeb logo which is available in a variety of colors. These were designed by Freddie Spradlin. The coordinator may adapt the colors in the logo if they wish.
3. The main county page will contain a link back to the main WVGenWeb page. (http://www.usgenweb.com/wv)
4. The county site will contain a link to the corresponding county Archive page if one is available.
5. The county coordinator may accept submissions of materials and it is the policy of the WVGenWeb project that submitted materials remain the property of the submitter. Materials cannot be sold without the express permission of the owner/submitter of the material.
6. The county coordinator will, if at all possible, subscribe to the wvgen-l mailing list where updates on the project are posted and discussions pertaining to the project are encouraged.
7. All of above will be done without renumeration from the end-user.

County Web Site Suggestions, etc.

1. It is suggested that county coordinators place their own copyright at the bottom of each of their county pages.
2. County pages which accept submissions of material should review the Archives Policies for guidelines.
3. County pages may solicit funding through advertising where a banner is placed upon the county page and accept payment to help defer the costs of maintaining the county site.
4. County coordinators may post information about resources or services that they provide relating to genealogy, but such notices should be located on a separate page than the main county page and it should be clear to the end-user that such products or services are personally offered by the coordinator and are not associated with the WVGenWeb project.
5. Naming your main county file 'index.htm(l)' makes the URL shorter and more easily remembered and also makes it more diffcult for the "amateur hacker" to casually browse your web directory.

What kind of information can go on a county page?

The county coordinator can any genealogical information on their county page. Some of the types of information found on county pages are:
Lookup Volunteers - a page listing people who own or have access to genealogical resources that they are willing to check in for names that others are researching. (See Lookup Volunteer Section below)
Family Trees - information on families that the coordinator or others are researching in that county. (RootsWeb does not allow gedcoms or ged2htmls in the free space they offer - See RootsWeb below)
Published Resources For Sale - lists of published records that are available for purchase.
Biographies - original or copyright-expired articles about people from that county.
Transcribed Genealogical Records - there are many kinds of records that would be of help to researchers. These could be marriage, birth or death records, federal census schedules, local censuses, cemetery listings, poll books, military rosters, city directories....
Local History - information on the history of the county, towns, hollows, pioneer settlers...
Surname Lists - lists of researchers and the surnames they have an interest in.
Photos - local photographs or early photographs of residents of the county.
Addresses - addresses of county courthouses, libraries, genealogical societies, ...
Links to Other Sites - These can be links to genealogical societies, libraries and organizations with information pertaining to that county or state. They can also be pages with general interest in that county (for example, weather, news, tourist assistance). You may wish to link to maps of that county or databases with geological information. Links to personal homepage that contain information on families that lived in that county could be helpful.

HTML Assistance Page
For Information on the USGenWeb project, see the following:

The WVGenWeb Archives

The Archives provides a central storage location for text file databases pertaining to genealogical research in West Virginia. The Archives is primarily divided into counties and each county that has a file available will be given it's own page. There will also be categories for records which do not easily fit into the county division, for example, Civil War records. The WV Archives coordinator is responsible for the following:
1. Receiving file submissions via e-mail, FTP or by regular mail and converting it to text format if necessary.
2. Adding a copyright notice to the end of the file indicating that the copyright is held by the submitter and that the submitter has granted USGenWeb the right to post the material. The material may be copied, but not sold.
3. Uploading the submitted file to the Archives FTP site.
4. Updating the appropriate Table of Contents located in the Archives HTML site.
5. Maintaining an index of names found in files located at the Archives.
6. Each Archive page will contain a disclaimer which states as follows: The GenWeb Project makes no claims or estimates of the validity of the information submitted and reminds you that each new piece of information must be researched and proved or disproved by weight of evidence.

Archives Submission Policies

1. Submitters are responsible for obtaining permission for use before they submit any information other than public records, information in the public domain, or their own personal copyright material. Please do not submit information which holds a valid copyright without permission of the copyright holder.
2. All submissions to WVGenWeb remain the property of the legal owner. Submission of material to GenWeb expressly PROHIBITS any exchange or use of the material for pay or profit without permission of the legal owner.
3. Submission of material to GenWeb shall be acknowledged as implied consent to display and share that information without charge.
4. Submission of material to GenWeb expressly PROHIBITS any exchange or use of the material for pay or profit without permission of the legal owner. Please contact the submitter for any permission that you need.
5. Please contact the Archives coordinator, listed on the main WVGenWeb Archives page, if you find material which is copyrighted and should not be posted. The material will be promptly removed.

What Other Kinds of Volunteers Do We Need?

Lookup Volunteers

Lookup volunteers are people willing to do lookups in books or resources that they own or that are readily available to them. They are not expected to do largescale surname research and requests to them should be specific and include the full names of individuals being sought and the reference to be checked. Lookup volunteers are not reimbursed for their participation.
There has been much concern about copyrights and lookups. We ask that people requesting lookups from volunteers limit their request to no more than 3 or 4 INDIVIDUAL names. Volunteers cannot be asked to do surname research or to copy extensive amounts of information from copyrighted materials. It is best to have also have the permission of the copyright holder of the material. A list of authors who have granted permission to use their book is being kept by James Streeter.

 USGenWeb Author Permission Page
To Submit Information to the USGenWeb Author Permission Page:
1. Please submit information - Author, Title, Publisher, Date, and Pages for which you have permission to USGenWeb Author Permission -- by email to James Streeter .
2. Next send the Hard Copy of the Written Permissions by Fax or Snail Mail to:
USGenWeb Author Permission
John Rigdon
438 Malone Ave.
North Augusta, SC 29841-4663
My FAX number is (706) 832-2019.
3. Please submit Author information in following Order as shown by Sample.
Author
Title, Publlisher, Date, Pages.

Sample:
John Genealogist and Mary Historian
History of the Town of USGenWeb, by The USGenWeb Publishing Co., Somewhere, 1996, p.284.

Data Sharing Volunteers

These are volunteers who copy information contained in Archive databases and freely distribute them to libraries and/or genealogical societies for public use. Information contained in Archive databases may be copied and distributed, but they may not be sold.

Transcribing Volunteers

These are volunteers who transcribe public records for use in the WVGenWeb Archives. These records may originals found in county courthouses or state Archives and libraries or microfilm copies of those originals. They may also be of copyright expired texts (pre-1920) that are of genealogical significance. These materials are welcomed and submissions are encouraged. Please do not transcribe materials which have a valid copyright in force. All materials submitted to the Archives will be credited to the submitter.

RootsWeb

RootsWeb is providing free space for many of the West Virginia county pages as well as the WVGenWeb Archives. If you would like to host a county page that is available and need space, you may contact Brian Leverich about obtaining space on RootsWeb. They have not made any limits as to space used for county pages, but GEDCOMs and GED2HTML type files cannot be stored in the free space. You are welcome to store them elsewhere and link them to a file at RootsWeb.
RootsWeb's FAQ & Wizards Page - check here for help on uploading, adding a counter to your page, etc.
 RootsWeb also has two mailing lists available :
rootsweb-help@rootsweb.com - this is a mailing list for help in using the RootsWeb space. You will automatically be subscribed to this list when you are given a RootsWeb account. You may contact Brian Leverich to be unsubscribed from this list.
USGENWEB-ALL-L@rootsweb.com - this is a mailing list for any county coordinators in the USGenWeb project who would like to discuss topics pertaining to the USGenWeb project "across state lines." You can subscribe to this list by sending a message to USGENWEB-ALL-L-request@rootsweb.com and in the body of the message enter 'subscribe' (no quotes, no signature line). You can unsubscribe by sending an 'unsubscribe' message to the same address.
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