Drew Smith's Genealogy

Last updated: 11 April 2003

Introduction

Welcome! The purpose of this collection of pages is to document the research I am doing concerning the lives of my ancestors and their descendants. Like the vast majority of Web pages, this collection is a work in progress. If you would like to add to this collection of material, or to correct any mistakes that I have made, I strongly encourage you to contact me via e-mail at drewsmith@aol.com.

My Current Personal Genealogical Database

Index to individuals
Index to surnames

Family Lines I am Researching

I am primarily researching the following family lines (in the following geographic areas and time periods):

South Carolina (back to North Carolina and Virginia, eventually back to England)

MARTIN (upstate SC, especially the Edgefield area - I am interested in all ancestors and descendants of James S. and Elizabeth MARTIN)
BODIE/BODDIE (upstate SC - however, I am interested in all individuals with this surname)
EIDSON (upstate SC - if you're researching this line, make sure you get a copy of Wanda Eidson's book first)
PITTS (upstate SC, especially the Edgefield and Newberry areas)
KING (Laurens County, SC - I am interested in all ancestors and descendants of Charlie and Letty KING)
FOSHEE (upstate SC)
other surnames of lesser interest - HEALIG/NEALEY (SC), LONG (upstate SC), FARMER (Laurens County, SC), HUMPHREY, WILSON, JEFFRIES, POTTLE, THOMAS, HILL, BENNETT, BOURNE, NORWOOD, TYBOLDE, GILBERT, EDNEY, WYKES, BATTEN, BONVILLE, FITZROGER, DE AUMARLE, CHAMPERNON, MILDMAY/MILDME, NUTTAL, RAINBOW, READE, EVERARD, CORNISH, SATCHER

northern New Jersey (and nearby NYC area) and back to Ireland and Poland

SMITH (Irish Catholics who migrated to northern NJ at the time of the potato famine - I am interested in all ancestors and descendants of James and Mary Ann (REILLY) SMITH)
WEINGLASS (Polish Jews who migrated to northern NJ in the late 1800's - however, I am interested in all individuals with this surname)
other surnames of lesser interest - GRADOVICH (Polish Jew), BANNON, HYLAND, REILLY (County Cavan, Ireland)

My Commitment to the Genealogical Community

In addition to doing personal genealogical research, I have written about genealogy, made presentations about genealogy, and taught genealogy to others. Here are many of the places I've done this, am doing this, or will be doing this:

Writing about genealogy

Genealogical Computing: Since 1994, I have written a number of articles about genealogy for the Ancestry.com's quarterly magazine Genealogical Computing, especially for its regular "Cybrarian" (formerly "Infobahn") column.
Digital Genealogy: From February 2000 until July 2001, I wrote a biweekly column for the Ancestry.com web site.
Journal of Online Genealogy: I wrote an article about Internet-based genealogy for beginners for the first issue of the Journal of Online Genealogy.

Making presentations about genealogy

Florida Library Association (FLA): I have twice served as leader of the FLA Genealogy and Local History Interest Group (July 1998 through June 1999, and July 2001 through June 2002). As leader, I was responsible for the programs presented at the 1999 and 2002 annual FLA conferences. I made a presentation at the 1997 FLA annual conference in Daytona Beach and assisted with the presentation at the 1998 conference in Tampa.
National Genealogical Society (NGS), Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS), and American Library Association: I have made presentations at national genealogy conferences, such as those of the NGS and FGS. I participated in a panel discussion at the 1998 ALA annual conference in Washington, DC sponsored by the Genealogy Committee of the History Section (HS) of the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA).

Teaching genealogy to others

School of Library and Information Science (SLIS), University of South Florida (USF), Tampa: I teach a graduate-level course for library science students on genealogical librarianship, and have taught an undergraduate-level introductory genealogy course. I have also taught genealogy as part of the Learning Communities program of the USF College of Arts and Sciences.

Managing mailing lists and web sites, and hosting chats

BODDIE surname mailing lists: I originated and am the list administrator of BODDIE-L and BODDIE-D.
PITTS surname mailing lists: I have been the list administrator of PITTS-L and PITTS-D since December 1999.
Librarians Serving Genealogists (LSG): I was one of the founding members of LSG, and I continue to serve as the owner of its electronic mailing list (GENEALIB) and as the webmaster of its home page.
Golden Gate Genealogy Forum on America Online: I served as a member of the staff of the Genealogy Forum for several years, originating chats on the topics of Southern U.S. genealogy, computer-assisted genealogy, and Internet-assisted genealogy. Until April 2000, I hosted a chat on the topic of South Carolina genealogy.