Pennington Research Association

Pennington Family Genealogical Information - Material - Events

Sample Petitions for Changes to JFMF

and/or Family Group Descriptions (Name)

Note:  The procedures detailed below have been updated and several major changes have been made as to how this process will work.  Click here to learn more about the report submitted to the Board. 

Gene Pennington, Research Director - 5/23/05

Limited Changes can be made to the Original John French Master File (JFMF)

The only changes made to the ORIGINAL JFMF are changes to a family group's "official" description or structure (such as changing a group's progenitor or combining or deleting groups) or any other significant change to the Family Groups.

The Original JFMF will be maintained as it existed in 2003 with any approved changes by the Board of Directors reflected in the COPY file on the PRA's Members only website hosted by MyFamily.com, on this website and in the PRA archives.

Changes CAN be made to a COPY of the JFMF that has been posted on the PRA's Members only website hosted by MyFamily.com as well as individual "Family Trees" (gedcom files) for each known Family Group.  Those files can be changed/added/deleted by the Group Leader and/or Site Administrator.   Refer to the guidelines posted on the PRA's Members only website hosted by MyFamily.com for details.

This allows our Group Leaders to work with real time data files so they can update their Group's Family Tree as often as needed and as quickly as they want without any delays in the processing of petitions.  This also gives the Group Leaders the ability to instantly add researcher's family history reports and other genealogical related material to share it with PRA members.

In some cases, it is quicker and easier for a Group Leader to upload a new Family Tree (gedcom file) to the PRA's members only website submitted by a researcher than to make changes to the COPY of the JFMF for their specific group.  This has many benefits and broadens the ability for researchers to search for their own ancestors and/or to connect to a known Family Group.

This process allows the PRA to help meet it's goals of being the most up to date and accurate source of information about the Pennington family.

Click here to learn about "Making Changes to the JFMF".

It is important that you, the Group Leader, be the person to organize, direct the work necessary to construct a petition and then to submit it. 

Here are some important things for you to review BEFORE you start this process.

1. This is not a difficult process, however, I want to stress how important it is that all Group Leaders communicate and SHARE new information you may have collected with ALL your Group members. ASK them for their opinion, thoughts, comments and suggestions BEFORE you submit your petitions.
2. Please take a few minutes and review the background information about the JFMF.
3. Please review the process for making changes to the JFMF and/or Family Group Descriptions that have been approved by the Board.
4. If you have anything you would like see added to this page, please send them to Gene Pennington.

After you've reviewed these resources, follow these simple guidelines.

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Guidelines

The basic Petition is a STANDALONE document (which can be an e-mail message if its' short) that contains the following:

1.  Introduction

• Which Family Group/s is the Petition about?

• If the Petition concerns a change in a Group's progenitor, who is the Petition is about?

• Is the Petition to CHANGE, OR TO ADD OR TO DELETE OR SOME COMBINATION or is it to CHANGE THE FAMILY GROUP DESCRIPTION (NAME) of a Family Group?

• Is the Petition to ADD or DELETE or COMBINE a Family Group/s?

• What is the rationale for the change/addition and/or deletion?

2.  Specific Request

• Summarize the specific changes/additions/deletions you want made to the JFMF (such as the Family Group Description). 

• You should identify the EACH specific progenitor, their date of birth, marriage, death, etc. as much as possible so we can easily identify them.  If they are in the JFMF, them be sure to provide enough information to match them with what you've submitted.  If you want to ADD/DELETE an entire family lineage, then identify the OLDEST progenitor of that family lineage so we know where to start.  

3.  A Consent to Publish Statement.

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Details:

If you are adding/combining a Family Group/s, be sure to submit a gedcom file, AND a summary Family History Report and/or an Indented Descendant Report with the petition. This makes the entire process easier and more accurate when making the changes to the JFMF. If the changes detailed in your petition are relatively few, then a gedcom file is not needed, just the reports.

Submit a SINGLE petition for your Group UNLESS there is some compelling reason to submit multiple petitions.  Should you want to submit multiple petitions, EACH petition must stand on its' own and fit these guidelines.

BE SURE to cite your sources and refer to the documents whenever possible in your petition and research but do NOT send me copies of any documents with your petition, UNLESS I request them from you.  However, if for some reason you believe a copy of a source/evidence is needed to support your request, use ONE of these procedures:

• Transcribe the document/s (or appropriate sections), reference them in your petition and attach the transcriptions to your petition. 
• Scan the document/s (or appropriate sections), reference them in your petition and attach the image/s to your petition.

Remember, other Research Committee members and researchers will be reading your material later while it is being reviewed AND it will become part of the historical records for the JFMF so future researchers have to be able to understand it as well.  They must be able to find the same source information again so they can do their own research to confirm the information.

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Consent to Publish Statement

To use your [fill in here the type of genealogical data, material, etc. you are submitting] and to avoid any copyright issues, the PRA needs your consent to publish them.

We use a publication release form, a copy of which is below. Please fill in the places where indicated and then send it back to me. The easiest way to do this is to copy the form from this message and then create a new message to send to me and then paste the form into the new message. Fill in the places where indicated and then send me the completed form.
 

RELEASE FORM FOR PUBLICATION

I hereby grant to the Pennington Research Association (PRA) the right to publish my [fill in here the type of genealogical data, material, etc. you are submitting]. The [fill in here the type of genealogical data, material, etc. you are submitting] will be published on the Pennington Research Association's websites and/or in the Pennington Pedigrees and/or some other electronic form such as a CD.

I understand that my signing of this release form shall in no way affect my ownership of the copyright to said material or prohibit me from using my own material in any way I so desire.

I hereby grant the Pennington Research Association (PRA) the right to publish my [fill in here the type of genealogical data, material, etc. you are submitting] and to grant genealogists the right to freely extract data and information from the material and/or data and exchange that data with other genealogists.

Accepted and agreed to by [Fill in your name here and include your e-mail address and date]

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Do NOT distribute your petition to anybody else. The Research Director will distribute the petitions, or make them available on our website, to the Research Committee members.

When the petitions are distributed, the Research Director will ask for comments and suggestions to be made and returned within 30 - 60 days. This gives enough lead time to review the comments and suggestions and to reply to the Group Leaders who submitted the petitions.

The petitions will then move forward in the process. If needed, the Research Director will prepare the petition for action by the Board. If no Board action is needed, the Research Director will notify the Research Committee of the changes and what action to take at that time.

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How to Send Petitions for Changes to JFMF and/or Family Group Descriptions (Names):

Send your petitions to Gene Pennington, Research Director, via e-mail.  You can submit the petition in plain text as long as it is less than one (1) page in length.  If more than two (2) pages in length, create the petition using your word processing program and save the file in rich text format (RTF).  Send me an e-mail message and attach the "rtf" petition file to the message.

To help me, please place the following in the "Subject" line of your e-mail message:

Petition for Change to the JFMF - Group ?? (you enter the Group number if known, if unknown, please enter "unknown") OR

Petition for Change to Family Group ?? Description (Name)

Attach any gedcom file/s to the same message, or if you want to save download and upload time, send a second message to Gene Pennington, Research Director, and enter the following in the "Subject" line of your e-mail message:

Petition for Change to the JFMF - Group ?? (you enter the Group number if known, if unknown, please enter "unknown") - Gedcom File

Be sure to include your Consent to Publish Form!

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