The author makes no guarantees and assume no responsibility regarding the accuracy of the information appearing in the list.
Questions and comments are welcome, and can be addressed to Steve Williams
If your browser supports forms the information can be submitted on the following pages:
Please do not submit entries or ask questions until after you have read the rest of this file.
It is highly suggested that you save a copy of this file for reference.
Send (e-mail) submissions or additions or corrections as follows:
The California Pioneer List (CPL) format is as follows:
PIONEER NAME SPOUSE NAME BYEAR SYEAR TOWNand/orTWP Co CONTACT (21) (16) (5) (5) (15) (2) (8) @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@ @@@@@@@@ LAST, First LAST, First ####? ####? SomeTwp ## SubName WILLIAMS, Jedediah LEWIS, Mary Grant1804 1853 VacaTwp 48 StevenW WHITAKER, Summerel BLOOM, Mary 1801 1848 Tulare 54 HalAmickFIELDS -- field length=(##); line length=78 characters. The fields are not delimited. Please place a space between fields, (do not use TAB for spacing)and keep in mind the field and line length.
PIONEER NAME -- Please list all surnames in UPPERCASE and the other names in Mixed Case, as shown in the examples. Please list their LAST/family/maiden name first. LAST and First name are in the same field. If you want to supply more information about the children (the ones born prior to 1880), then list the child as the pioneer under their own separate entry.
SPOUSE NAME -- Please list all surnames in UPPERCASE. Please list their LAST/family/maiden name first. LAST and First name are in the same field. If you want to supply more information about the spouse (husband or wife), then list the spouse as the pioneer under her or his own separate entry. Please show the maiden name as surname in the case of wives. If it is unknown, leave surname blank and put given name only.
BYEAR (birth year) -- When the pioneer was born before or during 1880. If you are unsure of the birth year of the pioneer, then estimate and use a ? after the year (####?).
SYEAR (settle year) -- When the pioneer first settled in California before or during 1880. If you are unsure of the settle year of the pioneer, then estimate and use a ? after the year (####?).
TOWNand/orTWP -- Town and/or Township where the pioneer first settled in California. Town and/or Township are in the same field.
If the pioneer simply came to California and disappeared after a given date you may want to list "Disappeared after 18XX" in the town column. Alternatively you may want to and certainly can list one entry with the information of where the person first settled and a second stating when the person disappeared or the relative date at which you have lost track of the individual.
CO -- County where the pioneer first settled in California. Please list the county only in the county codes field, using only the California County Abbreviations code. The California County Abbreviations file is available here in either a short list of just the names and code numbers or a fuler list giving more basic information about the county, its origins and its records.
CONTACT -- Please list your CONTACT ID, name, e-mail address, and U.S. Mail address in the format shown below. This information is kept in the California Pioneers Contacts file. Ideally, all contacts will list an e-mail address, but if for some reason, that is not possible, please give a U.S. Mail address. The CONTACT ID field length=(8). Please remember to only submit the information you are willing to have listed on the web page.
SubName <A HREF="mailto:your e-mail address">Your Name</A>:
U.S. Mail address
for example:
StevenW <A HREF="mailto:srw@wbplawyers.com">Steve Williams</A>:
2222 West Main Street, Visalia, CA 93291
In the example, the moderator's address is his permanent address in his hometown in California. You might consider a "permanent address" if you move quite regularly. If you do not want people to know your mailing address please do not submit one.
1. You might want to consider using a word processor or spreadsheet. If you take this approach, be sure to set your font to a non-proportional one (such as Courier) so that you don't mess up the format.
2. If you prepare your data in a place other than your e-mail editor, please convert the resulting table to ASCII and import it into the e-mail editor. If you attempt to attach it, things may go haywire. If you are in Windows, you can have both the e-mail editor and word processor running, with the data in the word processor. Simply highlight all the text you wish to move, click on copy (or press CTRL-C), then switch to the e-mail editor, place the cursor at the end of the message, and paste (or press CTRL-V).
3. If you use a word processor, DO NOT USE TABS. Type actual blanks between columns.
4. If you use a spreadsheet, you can set the column widths to the field widths given above. When you are done, you will need to output it to a file in ASCII form; this will usually insert the appropriate blanks. I found it a bit easier to do all this with QuattroPro than with Excel.
5. Put the submittal information at either the beginning or the end of the data. I will take care of re-formatting it.
Here is the hardest part for the average person to understand.
Each "field" has a given number of characters even if they are blank.
The fields and their length are as follows:
PIONEER NAME (21)
Space for Column (1)
SPOUSE NAME (16)
Space for Column (1)
BYEAR (5)
Space for Column (1)
SYEAR (5)
Space for Column (1)
TOWNand/orTWP (15)
Space for Column (1)
Co (2)
Space for Column (1)
CONTACT (8)
Think of what you are inputting as a piece of paper with horozontial and vertical lines. The number of lines across the page for each entry is no more and no less than 78 (78 boxes).
If the field, such as "Pioneer's name" takes more than 21 boxes in the line the rest has to be left off. Think about using contractions, such as "Wm." for "William" or initials (especially with middle names).
If a field takes less space or boxes then you have to hit the space bar to create the spaces. For example, the name "SMITH, Al" takes 9 spaces (commas and spaces count) at the end of the name you would type or hit the space bar 12 times (21-9=12) before you start typing the name of the spouse. If there is no spouse hit the space bar 16 more time before you type the birth year. And on it goes. Remember: a TAB is not 5 spaces, the TAB key DOES NOT WORK FOR SPACING. It may look correct on the screen but it creates real problems here.
Note that the "years" each have a field length of 5. This allows for the ever popular ? to be inserted if the information is uncertain.
The reason for doing it in that fashion is that it can be cut and pasted from the message to the webpage without retyping everything and still come under the right headings on the page. It only works if the spacing is correct. As much as I want to be helpful I do not have time to retype your submissions. I hope you understand.