Franklin Family Researchers United - Frequently-Asked Questions

Franklin Family Researchers United - FAQs

Last updated 1 Feb 2017

Frequently-Asked Questions



Q: How do I get a copy of [any genealogy book] ?
A: The first and most important place for any genealogist to look is the Family History Library Catalog (FHLC). This will give you the correct title, author, ISBN (if it has one), etc. Then, order it however you usually order books. If you don't know how, here are a few suggestions: This is not intended to serve as a tutorial for finding books or online archives. When I teach classes on this topic, I spent 1-2 lecture hours on this topic, so the above is pretty brief. If you're not already intimately familiar with all of the above, you will probably be helped by the additional information for beginning genealogists at CyndisList.
Q: What is Franklin Fireplace?
A: I frequently refer to a soucre called The Franklin Fireplace (FF) It was was a quarterly publication edited by Mrs. Betty Jean Harvey Williams (1928-____) of Warrensburg, MO from 1969 to 1983.  It consists primarily of Franklin-related research materials, many of which were sent to her by other researchers. I should note that a few of the researchers who contributed to FF are still active and participate in FFRU.

It consist of 1441 pages of typewritten text. There are very few images, mostly simple maps and line drawings. No photos. It consists of contributions made by other researchers, abstracts of censuses, quotes from books, and many other public records and analysis by Mrs. Williams.  The FHLC lists it thus:

CALL NUMBER
US/CAN
FICHE AREA
6055352
TITLE
The Franklin fireplace. -- Vol. 1 no. 1 (May 1968)-.
PUBLICATION INFORMATION
Salt Lake City: Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1971-1987.
FORMAT
22 microfiches + on 1 microfilm reel; 11 x 15 cm. + 35 mm.
NOTES
Quarterly.
Microreproduction of periodical published: Warrensburg, Missouri: B.H. Williams, 1968-1975. 8 v. Editor: Betty Harvey (Mrs. Robert) Williams
CONTENTS
Includes name and locality indexes. Some indexes are combined for the two periodicals “The Franklin Fireplace” and “Crook’s Crier.”

LIBRARY HOLDINGS
Vol. 1 (1968) - vol. 8 (1976).
                                                              US/CAN
ADDITIONAL COPIES                                             FICHE AREA
Another filming of v. 2 #3 (Nov.1969) ----------------------- 6047841
   and v. 4 #2 (Aug.1971), 1987.
                                                              US/CAN
                                                              FILM AREA
Another filming of v.1 #1-3 (1968), 1971. ------------------- 0873158
                                                               item 5
THIS RECORD FOUND UNDER
    1. Franklin
    I. Williams, Betty Harvey
   II. Cook’s crier



Q: How do I get a copy of Franklin Fireplace (FF)?
A: It is out of print. I would be happy to quote passages from it and do lookups, but I cannot sell a copy of it to you. It is copyrighted* material. The first 800 pages are available at your local FHC (as listed above, fiche #'s 6055352, 6047841).

It appears that at least some of it is in Google Books, but is available only via Limited Preview.

If you have any specific queries from it, I'd be happy to send you all the pages that refer to your query, as long as the answer only involves a few pages.  Please note that many of the contributors to FF have also contributed their current research results to FFRU.  Most of the backissues of FFRU are available on the FFRU website.  In addition a great number of the abstracted records are also found in these free, downloadable back issues of FFRU.

The first editor of FFRU, Elaine Giddens, had a copy of FF and quoted from it extensively. I will be using parts of FF for future articles of FFRU, until the majority of the material in it is re-researched, and re-published. For instance, data from FF formed the nucleus of the 1850 Alabama Census article found in FFRU Volume 36.  I re-read all of the original census records and corrected a large number of errors in FF, and then annotated the census records with various other records.

* I'm not sure of the exact nature of the copyright claims in this specific instance. The majority of the material consists of reprints of materials that were not written by the editor. The author's in-line comments and analysis are very insightful, useful and are certainly covered by copyright, but the materials that she is merely reprinting are obviously not written by her. On the other hand, as a compilation, the entire work is covered by copyright and cannot be reproduced as such without Mrs. Williams' permission.

It should be noted that FFRU is a publication similar in composition to FF, and thus, only in the cases of articles that have been written by me, Elaine Giddens, or Johynne Carlson (the editors) can we claim copyright, but the entire work is also covered as a compilation.


Q: Our Franklin family says we're related to the famous Statesman.  How do I prove it?
A: If you want to maintain your belief in that fable, it might be best to avoid delving into genealogy. To find out who you're actually related to, use the genealogical law of working backward from the known to the unknown. See: Famous Ben

Q: Do you have a list of the descendants of the famous Statesman?
A: I have hundreds of versions of his descendancy, most quite fanciful. One of these days I'll produce a real, documented one. See: Famous Ben


Q: What websites do you recommend?
A: Here are a few, in no particular order:

Q: What genealogical software do you use?
A: I use quite a few applications. I am a software developer by profession, so sometimes I even write my own. The following are some of the applications that I use regularly:

Q: You published information about my ancestors. How are you related?
A: Sorry. Usually not.

Q: Are all Franklins related to one another?
A: No. DNA has proven that there are numerous distinct Franklin lineages. See L. David Roper's study.

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Ben Franklin
5847 Sandstone Drive
Durham, NC 27713-1925
Email: [email protected]