Dear Dodie,
Just a few comments.
First I would like to ask if you would like a free copy of my book Burgess,
Mullins, Browning, Brown and Allied families that I wrote back in 1978. You
may respond privately.
Second - Please feel free to visit my personal web site and click on My
American Family I believe you will enjoy some of my research on Logan
county.
Third - I do not see the Browning family information.
I have been working for 30 years on Logan County
Browning families and would like to share information.
Fourth - If you have Fauquier County, Virginia families please visit my
USGENWEB site.
Fifth - I really enjoyed visiting your Logan County West Virginia web site.
Sixth - Please reconsider your decision. Virginia USGENWBB needs folks like
you to keep the high level of commitment to help others.
Seventh - do you have Elijah Sutherland booklet on the Dickinson County,
Virginia Mullins family. I think I still have an old copy he sent me 30
years ago. I am not related to that Mullins line but to the Nathaniel
Mullins line of Rowan County, North Carolina.
Family History IS meant to BE SHARED. Thanks for your commitment no matter
what decision you make.
Thanks
Jim Burgess
Fauquier County, Virginia
USGENWEB
PS - Several years ago I believe I found the ancestor of the Logan County
Steele family in North Carolina. Never had anyone to share it with until
now.
----- Original Message -----
From: "daisyoday" <famsteel(a)worldnet.att.net>
To: <VAGEN-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2000 6:45 PM
Subject: [VAGEN-L] My Resignation
To the USGenweb Project:
This letter is very long, but it is all I have to say on the matter at
hand..
I agree with the idea of having a centralized archives but NOT to
SOLICIT
information; The archives should be a SECONDARY place where people
can
do
a massive search of all files. It should be ONLY a repository, and
for
special projects, NOT OUT THERE SOLICITING INFORMATION for "Kingdom
building." This would mean that the CC would be the one to send copies
of
submissions to the Archives, from the COUNTY pages.. That way if
people
somehow do not reach the county first but the Archives, a search can be
made
and they can find the files there too. THE ARCHIVES SHOULD HOLD NO
DATA
THAT IS NOT ALREADY ON A COUNTY SITE AND SHOULD HOLD NO AUTHORITY OVER
COUNTY PAGES, AND WOULD EXERCISE NO AUTHORITY OVER ANY OTHER PROJECT. As
any EXPERIENCED researcher knows, to begin your search for your
ancestors,
you should start in the county, NOT the archives. Our ancestors
would
call that "placing the horse before the cart."
I am posting my resignation on the lists, because that is how I first
became aware that I had been approved as the coordinator of the Tazewell
County Virginia USGenweb page- on the VA-L list.
Following is my resignation that I submitted to Volunteers who had
submitted
work to me for the Tazewell County USGenweb project home page:
>Dear Tazewell County Volunteers,
>(This letter is to remain INTACT- not "snipped" nor edited.)
>After much prayer and soul searching, I have decided that I >will no
longer
>maintain the Tazewell County VAGenweb page. I am telling >you,
the
volunteers
>first, because you are the ones where my loyalty is. I have >removed my
own
>work, including backgrounds and graphics from the >website, because it
seems
>apparent, that the county pages are being eroded and >absorbed into a
>larger data base (the archives) that is controlled by a single
individual.
>I do know that in all societies, total control ends in >dictatorship.
All
>of the archives pages are on Rootsweb, and Rootsweb is >now a for profit
>corporation. I have read on the "administrative" mail lists >that the
>individual who has control over the archives is a paid staff >member of
>Rootsweb. I have no idea where it is all leading, and won't >even
speculate
>on it.
>If you want any corrections or additions made to any of the >work you
have
>submitted to the Tazewell Home Page since I took it over
>the end of
>January 2000, please let me know, before I make the >announcement to
>officially resign from the USGenweb project. Thanks to the >hard work of
>each of you, I am leaving the page with literally hundreds of >files that
>were not there previously. None of the work submitted to >me was
transferred
>to the "archives." We have a POWERFUL home page, >because we chose to
share
>unselfishly and work together. That is where the REAL >POWER is- with
the
>volunteers for the project.
>Most of the time, I have felt like a hypocrite taking your >work, because
>county coordinators are not allowed freedom of speech to >let
volunteers
>know the actual politics, so the volunteers can make >INFORMED
CHOICES.
Let
>the record show, that I did not donate any of your work to >the
"archives."
>There are many wonderful, dedicated people in the >USGenweb
project who
keep
>"hanging in there" but if they speak out, they are "severed"
>from the
>project.. I am not going to maintain a "front" website that is
>nothing
>more than a gateway to someone's personal agenda for >power.
>If you share this letter with anyone before I officially resign, I >will
more
>than likely be "severed" from the project and locked out of >the
website
that
>we have put our hearts and souls into. It has happened to >others in
the
>past. If that happens, my bags are packed and I am ready >to
go, today,
if
>I have to..but I am leaving voluntarily- the only area of the >project
where
>I have a choice.
>One of our volunteers summed up my feelings much better >than I could
have,
>and I will paste the quote here:
>"I believe that the little folks do
>better without interference and central control and with the >power to
>choose for themselves and to control what they themselves >have chosen.
>As an Appalachian, I am skeptical about remote control. >When people
don't
>control what they've produced, they don't own it.
Somebody >else chooses
the
>program, and the little guy simply displays it. Power always >rests with
the
>one who has the option of choosing."<
(end of quote)
>I am choosing to keep my power by leaving the project, but >I will
finish
my
>work and place it some where that it will remain intact at a >"local"
>level, and be used for the purpose it was intended- to help >others find
>their families of origin.
>If I am not kicked out of the project for allowing you to >CHOOSE whether
to
>maintain control over your own work, then this letter will be >sent to
all
>the USGenweb "administrative" mail lists that I am on,
as >my official
>resignation and as a protest, that we are not allowed >freedom of speech
nor
>the right to know, nor the right to
>choose. The entire Ohio Genweb project was threatened >with
"severance"
>just the other day, because they believe the public has a >right to know
what
>is happening and and the right to make choices.
>If I have left anyone off this list who submitted work to me, it >was not
>intentional, because I do believe everyone has THE RIGHT >TO KNOW and the
>RIGHT TO CHOOSE.. I have never seen a more caring >dedicated group of
>people anywhere than the Tazewell County VA volunteers.. >Thank you for
your
>support and your contributions. Hopefully, I will meet each >of you at
the
>Eastern Gate of Heaven when we leave this old world and >the wheat will
>finally be separated from the chaff.
>Dodie Browning
I will be working with Jeff Weaver, who was one of the original members of
the USGenweb Project. 3 of my personal websites are:
(brand new) Tazewell County VA Genealogy & History
http://www.anzwers.net/free/tazewellcova/
Families of Steel(e)
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ridge/6203/
Logan County WV Ancestors
http://members.tripod.com/famsteel/index.html
Please consider the Tazewell County VAGenweb page as orphaned, as of now.
I have tried to ignore the "politics" , because I do quality work and
had
hoped to be an active member of the USGenweb Project in spite of the
"politics". I cannot do quality work under the CONTROL of the
archives
and assist them in taking over special projects and the county
pages,
which was the heart of the USGenweb project .
Sincerely
Dodie Browning