Frequently Asked Questions
1. How do I get in touch with you?
Well, we both have 50 million email addresses, but I put the two tried
and true ones on here. Please put the word “Webpage” somewhere in the subject
header, so that we know that it’s not “junk mail”
Charleen (research, content, pictures): charleen@mullenweg.com
Matt (web design, email requests, special features): matt@mullenweg.com
2. What do I do if I find a mistake?
If you find a mistake of any kind, please feel free to email Matt or me, and one of us will fix the issue as soon as possible. We have been very careful to keep the records as accurate as possible, but we are working from different sources, and those may not always be right. Add to that, with individuals and over 3,000 records in the database, someone is bound to make a mistake somewhere!
3. What if I have or find information that is not in your database?
Please do not assume that we have information that is not listed on this database, especially if it is about someone who has passed on or about a distant relative (to us). There are huge chunks of this tree that I have not been able to focus on as of yet, and I may never get to them without your help. Please contact me as soon as possible, and tell me about your information. The chances are pretty good that I am unaware of the omission and would love to fix it, or at least know about it to research it. Please remember to send females with their maiden names (where available), and that place of birth can be just as important as the date in researching records.
4. Privacy Issues
a) I looked at my record and there was nothing there!!! What gives?
One of the problems with maintaining a database like this in a public forum is privacy. In order to avoid this problem, all living folks who have not given their permission (to Matt or myself) to have their information posted here will merely have their name on the website and nothing else. If you would like your information to be fully shown (your date of birth, your place of birth, etc.), then contact me (Charleen) , and I will add the entry to the webpage. If you only want to have part of your information shown, (i.e. your name and parents, without your place of birth or birthdate), please contact me, and I can do that as well. Please keep in mind that it is possible that I don’t have the information in my database for one reason or another, so you might want to make sure that everything I have is accurate. There is not much information out on the web or in the archives for those who are living, so, if I haven’t had a chance to interview you personally (hint, hint - Daddy got me this nifty digital recorder, so I love interviewing now!), there’s a chance that I don’t have the info.
b) A note on privacy for the deceased...
There is not much privacy for the deceased, except in special cases (security clearances, certain military records, etc.). Everything from their Social Security # to their birth and death certificate scan be accessed by those with the drive (and, sometimes the cash) to do so. This is a wonderful thing for the amateur researcher, but not always good for the survivors of the deceased. If you find something on this webpage that you don’t want to be public knowledge for the protection of your privacy, please let me know, and I will find a way of editing the entry to ease your worries. I have an off-line database with the Family Tree Maker program, so everything I have doesn’t have to be public for me to still have the whole picture - in fact, if everything I had WAS public, you guys would be bored stiff trying to wade through all my research notes! Please don’t be shy to ask me to remove something. This database is supposed to be fun, not stressful. We want you to enjoy it as much as we have.
c) ***WITHIN REASON***
My brother and I want this to be an accurate representation of our family tree - as much as it can be. Because of that, we cannot remove individuals for reasons like “I don’t want anyone to know that we’re from England” or “So and So got arrested in 1894, putting him in the database will only embarrass the family”. Most of this is ancient history, folks, and none of it is meant to reflect on how people act or should act today. It’s merely a hobby/obsession of mine, that several of my family members have been kind enough to assist me with. If there is a valid concern that a record is inaccurate or harmful, we will find some way of editing it so that no one gets hurt.
5. Girls are nothing but trouble...
a) Why can’t I find my mother/sister/daughter/female relative?
Females are logged under their maiden names (when available) for greater ease in genealogy. The joke is that you may not know for sure who your father is, but your mother will never let you forget that you’re hers! All jokes aside, the simple reality is that in this day of multiple marriages and divorces, its just easier to track the family groups if everyone keeps their maiden name. For example, my Father is listed as Louis Charles Mullenweg IV , but my Mother is listed here as Kathleen Anne Hageney (not Kathleen Anne Mullenweg).
b) What happens if I still can’t find her?
Then, most likely, I have been unable to locate her maiden name for one reason or another. Look under either her maiden name, or the surname field that’s titled "Unknown". If you happen to know the missing information, please email me as soon as possible. (see FAQ#3 )
6. What if there are multiple marriages with children?
The software that I use for the off-line database allows me to have several different marriages for one individual, and to "assign" children to each marriage. This is a tangle of branches that is not so easily achieved here. Matt finally managed (after much wailing and gnashing of teeth) to find a way to sort out step/half children and step/half siblings. You may run across one of these that is backwards or incorrect. That would be my (Charleen’s) fault. Matt set up this wonderful database for me, but I’m the one that entered the data and assigned children to their parents. I apparently had my head in the clouds when I entered some of these, and we’ve been finding my mistakes all over the place (I am blonde, folks). Please drop me an email and let me know that I messed up.
7. Pictures and documents
a) Are there ever going to be any pictures or scanned documents on the site?
Funny that you should ask! There are already some lovely pictures loaded onto the site under the individuals that the picture is of. I would suggest that you look under "Mullenweg, Matthew" to see one of the cutest web designers that you’ve ever laid eyes on, or "Mullenweg, Chuck" to see how much he looks like his Daddy!
b) What do I do if I have pictures or documents that I want to have on the website?
Either photocopy it for me, or scan it (.jpg works best), and we’ll see about putting it up on the website. I really love having visual aids for folks, and I really would love to have some of these pictures...
8. Where did you get all of this groovy information?
As I get more and more time to work on this, there will be a source sheet
posted that will list where I obtained each of my facts. This sounds dreadfully
boring, I know, but sometimes it can be quite useful to other folks that
are looking for the same info. I generally have "hard" copies of all this
information (unless I ran out of money at Kinkos), so you can always contact
me if you want me to send you a copy.
9. Why do you have a list of sources?
So that people know where they need to go if they need documentation or just want to check on my sources. A whole lot of the research on the Hageney side of the family was done by my Uncle Colin over the past decade or so, so a lot of the credit goes to him. He was kind enough to keep me updated on the latest version of his tree, so I have been working off of that. I’m afraid I don’t have the most disciplined of research methods; I generally picked the most uncommon last names and did a search on the internet. I also work a scant few blocks from the Texas State Archives, so I pop in there for lunch all the time (I know, I have no life). I’ve spent the last six months or so looking for the Mullenwegs, and, thanks especially to my Dad, my cousins in Denton, and (most recently) my "lost" cousins in Houston and Tomball, I’ve been pretty successful of late. If you have any information that you think might be useful (even if its only word of mouth), please contact me, and I will research it to the best of my ability.
10. What is the page of of links for?
For you guys to do my work for me! Seriously, though, its so that you can find stuff on your own. If you need any help or you find a dead link, let me know!
11. What’s with the weird dates?
We do not have complete or correct birthdays or death dates for some people,
but the computer cannot take incomplete values in that field. Here’s how
it comes out:
| What We Know | What Shows up Here |
|---|---|
| 1875 | 1875-01-01 or January 1, 1875 |
| July 1875 | 1875-07-01 or July 1, 1875 |
| B/t 1875-1880 | Look in the field for place of birth or death |
| Abt. 1875 | Look in the field for place of birth or death |
12. Why don’t you have a traditional family tree up?
To be quite frank, that is the most awkward way to represent this, but it is also the best way for most people to comprehend this mess. Matt and I have discussed this several times, but we keep running into problems with it. First of all, it would be HUGE and very frustrating to navigate. Also, building it would be a huge investment in time. We talked about just downloading the off-line database to one of the online programs that builds an actual tree (keeping living individuals completely private) and just posting a link to it, but the only websites that I like that do that require paid subscriptions to view, and that wouldn’t be fair to you guys. If you would like a tree or report on this database or just your families’ portion of it (my suggestion), please let me (Charleen) know and I will do my best to work out getting that to you. I don’t even have a tree printed up, so that should give you an idea of how difficult it is to deal with. I’m going to be talking to a couple of printing companies soon, to see if they have any affordable solutions to making these trees for folks, and I’ll let you know here about how much that will cost. Until then, Matt and I will keep on worrying at that issue until we find a solution, but don’t expect anything until at least after Matt graduates!
13. What if I have a question that is not addressed here?
Drop me an email, and I’ll see what I can do...