| Q. |
What is
the main focus of this Web site? |
| A. |
The main
focus are the HATTAWAY and HATAWAY surnames in the Southeastern
United States between 1750 and 1900. This site is not
comprehensive nor is it guaranteed to be accurate.
|
| Q. |
Is there
information on the HATHAWAY surname here? |
| A. |
A little.
However, HATHAWAY is much more common than HATTAWAY or HATAWAY and
it's beyond the capabilities of one person's hobby to try to
include it. Web sites which focus on the HATHAWAY surname are
listed in the links section, and some HATHAWAY names are included
on the data pages. I recommend that people interested in the
HATHAWAY surname contact the Hathaway Family Association, 2231
Riverside Avenue, Somerset, MA 02726.
|
| Q. |
Are
there other surnames besides HATTAWAY, HATAWAY and HATHAWAY? |
| A. |
To some
extent, HADDAWAY, HADAWAY, HATHEWAY and so forth are included, as
are surnames which were clearly misspelled attempts at HATTAWAY or
HATAWAY. No special effort has been made to include these less
common variants of "the Southern Hathaways" but no
particular effort has been made to exclude them either.
|
| Q. |
Why only
the Southeast? Why mostly the 19th century? |
| A. |
Because
that's enough for me.
|
| Q. |
There
seems to be an awful lot of Georgia information here. Why? |
| A. |
My daddy
was born in Georgia. His parents were born in Georgia. Their
parents and grandparents were born in Georgia, with two
exceptions. Our HATTAWAY line stayed in Georgia for almost 200
years, while others migrated to Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and
Texas. I tend to focus on Georgia, but I don't ignore the other
HATTAWAY families because they may have the clue that will push my
line farther back in time.
I don't live in Georgia. I apparently inherited
the wandering gene from my mother's side.
|
| Q. |
I can't
find my ancestor here. Please fix this! |
| A. |
I'll be
happy to. Simply send
me the information you want included and I'll post it on the
appropriate page. If what you meant was "I want you to find
my ancestor for me," you're out of luck. I post what I find
in my research, when I have time to do the research and when I
have time to post it. This site is not comprehensive nor is it
guaranteed to be accurate. If you would like to learn how to do
research, my first suggestion would be to join a local
genealogical society. Read articles provided on Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org and keep
at it. Have fun!
|
| Q. |
Where
did you get this information? |
| A. |
I find this
information during my personal research. It comes from census
data, gravestone markers, family Bibles, microfilmed original
records, indexes, newspaper archives, oral history and so forth.
This site is not comprehensive nor is it guaranteed to be
accurate. I do not go out and collect data with the sole purpose
of populating this site: I post data that I find during my
research of my own family.
|
| Q. |
How
accurate is this information? |
| A. |
I believe
the items I post are reasonably accurate, but everything on this
site should be considered at best an unreliable source. In other
words, don't use the information here and cite the site as a
reliable source. This site is not comprehensive nor is it
guaranteed to be accurate. What I do provide is clues on which you
can follow up. The data here may help you narrow down which
microfilm to order or which census to search.
|
| Q. |
Where
are the GEDCOMs? |
| A. |
What's a
GEDCOM? Seriously, I don't have time to put together whole
genealogies, and so there are no GEDCOMs on this site. If and when
I am satisfied with my research on a particular line, I will
upload my GEDCOM to popular, free family tree registries such as
Rootsweb's World
Connect, the LDS Church's Ancestral
File or Ancestry.com's Ancestry World Tree. I
do not approve of companies which take their customer's GEDCOMs
and sell them. Not only is it unfair to the customers who worked
on the genealogies, it is grossly unfair to the customers who buy
the CD-ROMs, perhaps naively thinking that the majority of the
information will be extensive on their line, informative, or even
simply correct. Please note that while the LDS Church does sell
CDs of submitted information, they also provide the information on
their web site, Family
Search.
|
| Q. |
Do you
do lookups? Do you do research? |
| A. |
Not really.
I will do limited lookups out of books I own, or out of the
Georgia Death Index. These will be done as I have time, a rare
commodity. If I'm swamped, I'll tell you I don't have time. I can
tell you up front that I don't have time to look up "John
Smith who died in Georgia sometime in the 20th century" or
"Richard Brown's family in the 1910 Washington County
census." For Georgia Death Index lookups, the most helpful
piece of information you provide have is the year of death.
Furthermore, I will only do lookups within the
bounds of Fair Use. I will not copy whole pages out of books and
send them to you. If I see that there is a lot of information in a
book that will be of interest to you, I will encourage you to buy
the book in question and help you find it if possible. If there is
no information that looks useful, I'll tell you that too, although
if you're interested in the subject you should buy the book
anyway. Very few of my ancestors are mentioned in Cotton to
Kaolin but this county history has been invaluable in setting
the scene in which my ancestors lived. If you're interested in
Washington County, Georgia, I wholeheartedly recommend this book.
Ordering information is available on the Washington
County Georgia GenWeb page.
I do not do research for other people nor do I
do lookups at the library or NARA for other people. I simply don't
have the time.
|
| Q. |
Do you
have any unusual resources? |
| A. |
You can
look at a list of books I own. I also
have access to the wonderful California State Library (Sutro) and
the regional branch of the National Records and Archives
Administration. Finally, I purchased the Georgia Death Index,
1919-1998 and the reprint of the locally preserved copy of the
1890 Census of Washington County, Georgia.
|
| Q. |
I found
my ancestor on your site. What do I do now? |
| A. |
If you
don't know how to do research, join a local genealogical society,
read articles provided on Ancestry.com
and FamilySearch.org and
keep at it. If you know the basics, use the information here to
narrow your search down as far as location and time period, then
find your sources. The LDS Church has established Family History
Centers (FHCs) all over where you can research and rent microfilms
for a small fee (about $4). The volunteers at the FHCs are usually
very glad to help you get started. You can also search for the
resources available through the FHCs FamilySearch Web site. It's
often a good idea to use this site to make a list of microfilms in
which you are interested before you go to the FHC, but if you're
totally confused, just go and ask for help. There are also large
genealogical-focus libraries in various parts of the United
States.
You might want to also sign in on the Guest Book
page and let the rest of us know who you are and for whom you're
searching.
|
| Q. |
I found
a mistake on your site. Do you care? |
| A. |
Sure. Drop
me a line and let me know. It's most helpful if you include
the page URL or a description of the page with the error.
|
| Q. |
Are you
a Certified Genealogist? |
| A. |
No. I am a
hobbyist who knows HTML, owns a copy of FrontPage, and can type
pretty fast.
|
