How did the "Greathouse Cousins Data Exchange" begin?Greathouse descendants have always been interested in their family history. In 1997, two people, seeking to learn the history of the Greathouse family in American and Europe, became the pioneers, who brought "Greathouse Cousins" together, when they began exchanging Greathouse family information by E-mail. Later, in December 1998, the
Greathouse Mailing List at
RootsWeb.com was adopted to share their collection of information as well as the means to gather new information from family members.
The Greathouse Mailing List at RootsWeb.com, appears to have been created about January 1983, but had either been
left idle; or any E-mails posted were lost, probably due to a server failure at RootsWeb.com; between February 1983 and December 1998.
The group was founded in 1996, by
Patricia Dodd Greathouse, when she started searching for documentation to join the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).
When interviewed by E-mail, in late 1998, about how the group came to be founded, Pat stated, "I wrote for the records of Harmon Greathouse from the DAR and received 3 different copies stamped "error". I got on the internet and found that there were several sites that also reported these errors as fact... I just wanted the facts recorded correctly for future descendants. The "Greathouse Cousin" network started with the exchange of information. I was trying to inform all the Greathouse relatives to find accurate and factual information."
The group of Greathouse relatives or Greathouse family researchers, who were exchanging the history of the Greathouse family, continued to grow under the leadership of Patricia Dodd Greathouse, "our fearless leader"... who directed the project, with interest and enthusiasm for about seven years, through
her death, which occurred on February 7th, 2003, in Columbus, GA. We mourned her passing and miss her very much.
In 1997,
Franklin Daniel Neher volunteered to be the record keeper of all the Greathouse data received by the group, which had been named as, the "Greathouse Cousins Data Exchange", based on Frank's E-mail which he used to recruit new members for their project.
Pat stated, "she and Frank were "tied by a common interest in correcting past inaccurate published Greathouse information, and that their goals were to:
1. Collect and share documented facts about the descendants of Herman Groethausen (ca 1670-1743), Springfield Manor, Germantown, Pennsylvania.
2. Share all research that was collected and to enable future generations to find accurate information.
3. Help others to tie their loose links to the main family tree."
When Franklin Daniel Neher retired as Records Coordinator and as Custodian of the collections he had diligently and tirelessly compiled for the group after his 85th birthday, on April 27th, 2002, Frank continued to serve in an advisory role for the group, while he also helped many others with their Greathouse family history endeavors. For his continued service, Frank was granted the title of "Records Coordinator Emeritus", which he retained through his death.
Franklin Daniel Neher died on 27 May 2004 in Wenatchee, Chelan County, WA.