PEOPLE

CONTENTS:

• Texans for Public Justice
• Texas Business Hall of Fame
• Texas Monthly: Thanks a Million 1999
• Texas Marriages Index/Texas Divorces Index
• Texas Cemetery Inscription Search

TEXANS FOR PUBLIC JUSTICE

Texans for Public Justice (TPJ) is a non-partisan, nonprofit policy and research organization that tracks the influence of money in Texas politics. Take some time to explore the site for names and high-dollar donor lists.

TPJ has reported extensively on President Bush's Pioneer Fundraisers, folks who circumvented federal campaign contribution limits by bundling together maximum legal contributions of $1,000 in amounts that in some cases totaled between $100,000 and $200,000 for the 2000 Bush campaign.

Representatives for the campaign have disclosed only limited information; however it is estimated that the Pioneers raised between $60 and $80 million. Find the main Pioneer Fundraisers summary page at:

http://www.tpj.org/pioneers/index.html

Analysis and the names of the Super 15 Pioneers (who raised more than $200,000 each) can be found at:

http://www.tpj.org/pioneers/newpioneers/analysis.html

The site includes a listing of all 538 known participants as well as copies of depositions, pledge forms and more.

http://www.tpj.org/pioneers/newpioneers/all_pioneers.html

You can sort profiles of 212 Pioneers alphabetically, by contribution, state, industry or other classifications (Lobbyist, Slept at the Governor's Mansion, etc.).

http://www.tpj.org/pioneers/alpha.html

Profiles include political contributions, as well as short blurbs on the donors' personal and corporate dealings.

TPJ also looks at the funding involved in the 2002 elections in Texas, focusing on The Texas 50: 50 families (and 20 institutions) that accounted for 26 percent of the state's political funding. Donors are listed along with their companies, areas of interest (oil, agriculture, real estate) and the amount they contributed.

http://www.tpj.org/Lobby_Watch/topdonors.html

TEXAS BUSINESS HALL OF FAME

Click on Texas Legends for the names of the inductees, current and past (since 1983). Unfortunately, the site lists names only; no profiles.

http://www.texasbusiness.org/

TEXAS MONTHLY: THANKS A MILLION 1999

With a quick, free registration, you can access Texas Monthly's "Thanks a Million 1999," a list of top philanthropists assembled by our colleague, Ann Castle, who died in February 2000.

Texas' booming 1999 economy fueled over $340 million in major gifts for performing arts centers, health organizations and, overwhelmingly, schools and universities.

The list is broken down into three categories: gifts over $10 million, over $1 million and $1 million.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/mag/issues/2000-02-01/feature3.php

TEXAS MARRIAGES INDEX/TEXAS DIVORCES INDEX

This is not a pretty site; it's more of a quick-and-dirty Vegas wedding than a royally-planned and coordinated affair.

Find Texas marriages from 1966 to 2003, arranged alphabetically by groom's surname, last name first. Use Pico Search to Find Any Word, Find All Words or Find Exact Phrase. I'd highly recommend the latter, especially if you're searching for a common name, or you'll end up with far too many hits. You may use Boolean operators (+ - AND OR NOT), quotes and parentheses to further restrict your search.

You will be taken to a long listing of the names of the couples, their ages, and the dates and counties of their marriages. You may have to use your browser's Find feature to go directly to the name you are searching for, or just scroll down until you find it.

The page also links to various Texas county marriage searches.

http://www.genlookups.com/texas_marriages/

On the flip side, find Texas divorces between 1968 and 2001 on the Texas Divorces Index.

http://www.genlookups.com/texas_divorces/

TEXAS CEMETERY INSCRIPTION SEARCH

If you are looking to find where the bodies are buried, this site will search various cemetery Web sites, and provides links to Interment.net and the Texas Obituary Links Page, which lists many other obituary and genealogical resources.

The search function is the same as the marriage and divorce sites listed above. It's a bare-bones site (sorry) and you'll have to do a lot of scrolling to find what you came for.

http://www.obitcentral.com/cemsearch/tx-cem.htm

Pam Patton

FORWARD News Online

RETURN Front Page

LAST MONTH Internet Prospector

New Search Engine!