RootsWeb Volunteer Spotlight

Pat Geary has been a valued member of the RootsWeb community since she started using RootsWeb more than eight years ago.

When we started looking for nominations for exemplary volunteers, we heard Pat’s name first and often. She is always going the extra mile when answering questions on the Freepages-Help, Freepages-Advanced, and RootsWeb-Help mailing lists, as well as on the lists she admins.

Pat is an avid genealogist and Web designer, and she also does a bit of cross-stitching on the side. She has been doing genealogy “work” since she got her first computer in 1987, and it was only a few years later that she uploaded her first family website to the Internet.

Here’s what Pat says about donating her time to help her friends on RootsWeb:

The thing I enjoy most about what I am doing now is sharing the knowledge I have learned on designing websites with fellow genealogists who want to share their information with others but have no idea about how to go about it. Many people have helped me over the years and it is my way of “paying it forward” to help others. Being a genealogist and a website designer allow me to do the two things I enjoy most.

The Freepages-Help mailing list administrator had this to say about Pat: “As a volunteer for the Freepages-Help list, Pat not only answers questions but will often copy a problem page, redo it, and put it up for the questioner to copy. She will create entire HTML or CSS templates as illustrations in response to questions. Since she began volunteering on the Freepages-Help mailing list, I have had to do very little in the way of answering difficult HTML or CSS questions.”

The RootsWeb community has a special place in Pat’s heart. She has this to say about it:

I think the thing that impresses me most about the RootsWeb community is everyone’s willingness to help and share what they have, both information and knowledge of how-to. The friendships I have built with people I have met through this community extend all over the world. The other thing I love about the site is the fact that RootsWeb makes available free Web space for any individual who wants to share their genealogy, as well as for various genealogical societies, patriot organizations, and many, many others.

Pat has created her own family website as well as a website that is dedicated to teaching others how to create their own family websites.

Pat is a volunteer or administrator on the following mailing lists:

Rootsweb-Help
FreePages-Help
FreePages-Advanced
FrontPage
Expression-Web

Pat is currently researching the following surnames on her line:
LITTLE, TUKCER, PHILLIPS, SHERMAN, and BOONE.

On her husband’s line:
GEARY/GARY, JEWELL/JEWEL, GRAHAM, and SHEILDS.

For all of the hard work and dedication that Pat has put into being a volunteer for the RootsWeb community, we are proud to honor her in this Volunteer Spotlight. The RootsWeb Staff and the entire RootsWeb community offer you a very well deserved thank you.

If you know Pat and would like to share how she has impacted your activities on RootsWeb, please feel free to comment.

Volunteer Opportunities on RootsWeb

RootsWeb has the largest and best free genealogy community on the web because our community is committed to helping each other with shared passion for genealogy and family history. Whether you are an avid genealogist or a newbie, there is a place for you at RootsWeb! RootsWeb offers lots volunteer opportunities for you to make a difference in the online genealogical world:

Upload and Share your Research

RootsWeb is a great place to search for those missing family lines because of community contributed research. If you have some genealogy material in database (excel or txt) format, you can upload them through our User-Contributed Databases page.

Has your family tree grown so big that you’d like others to see it? If so, please upload your GEDCOM files to the largest genealogical family tree repository in the world, RootsWeb’s WorldConnect.

If you know HTML or have a family member that likes to create web pages, RootsWeb is the place for you! RootsWeb has been offering FREE web space for genealogically related websites for over 10 years! If you would like to create your own family website so that you can show off all the pictures and documents you’ve found you can apply for a RootsWeb FreePages website account.

If your family tree is in its beginning stages, or you don’t have a large genealogical database to donate, don’t worry! By simply joining mailing lists, posting to message boards, adding your name to the RootsWeb Surname List, or submitting websites to RootsLink you are contributing to the RootsWeb Community!

Become a Mailing List or Message Board Admin

Don’t have a database to upload, have the time to create and maintain your own genealogical website, or feel uncomfortable with the Internet? Become a mailing list admin! RootsWeb has over 100,000 mailing lists; each of these lists requires an administrator function correctly. We have a great need for level minded genealogists of all degrees to adopt the thousands of orphaned lists.

If you’ve ever been on RootsWeb.com or Ancestry.com, you’ve probably visited the Message Boards. Much like the mailing lists, each and every message board on RootsWeb.com needs a dedicated admin to function properly. If you love the Message Boards, become a Message Board admin! No special tools beyond a computer, e-mail and an internet connection are required to become an admin, and any registered user on RootsWeb can become an administrator for any available board. For more information on becoming a message board admin, click here.

Other Volunteer Projects on hosted by RootsWeb

RootsWeb is also proud to host many of the websites for some major genealogical organizations and projects, including the USGenWeb Project, American Local History Network, American History and Genealogy Project, and WorldGenWeb websites. These are large organizations dedicated to gathering and uploading genealogical information region by region and cover locations around the entire world! These projects are not owned by RootsWeb, but are supported by RootsWeb because they are dedicated to collecting genealogical information and putting it online free of charge. Contact the project you’re interested in for volunteer information.