TIPS: Working with German Newspaper Articles

As I mentioned in my last post, I recently found an article about one of my relatives from a 1916 German newspaper. I found the article on Chronicling America by searching for the surname: Kaechle. But, since I don't read German, I struggled with both transcribing and translating this article. In the process, I came across some tips I'd love to share:

Tip #1: Determine the Font

The initial "P" and "kk" in this word are difficult to read.

While many of the letters in this German newspaper article were easy to recognize, some were more challenging. For example, the above word looks like "Barffonzerte." The initial letter "P" and the "kk" do not look like are English P and kk. This word, "Parkkonzerte," translates to park concerts.

This font is calles Mars Fraktur Normal

After struggling trying to read the article, I finally found a font that helped me transcribed some difficult letters: Mars Fraktur. Again, the "s" at the end of Mars and the "k" in Fraktur do not look like our English letters. However, after printing out a copy of this font, I was able to transcribe the article letter by letter.

The Mars Fraktur font I printed off, though I cannot find the site now

Tip #2: Look on the Page for Related Articles

After finding the article that you are interested, look at the rest of the page. In fact, this tip doesn't just apply to German articles, as I have had success with this tip using English newspapers, too.

In this case, before I found the Mars Fraktur font, I was working on the article that mentioned Jerome Kaechle but I was having trouble decoding some of the letters. I decided to try to read some of the other headlines and create a letter by letter key. The article right above the article mentioning Jerome and the fire had this headline: "Driven from their beds by fire." At that point, I realized the article I had been translating, which even had its own heading, was just a part of a longer article! Reading the entire article gave me more details of this fire that my relative experienced.

Tip #3: Look for a Related Story in English Newspapers

50 Persons Flee for Safety in Big Fire, Lansing State Journal,
Lansing, Michigan, 4 August 1916, page 5, column 5,
digital image, newspapers.com, (http://newspapers.com)
accessed 7 April 2017. 

With such a large fire, I assumed there would have been an article in English newspapers. Using newspapers.com, I did not find an article by searching for Kaechle. However, I did find an article by narrowing the year to 1916 and searching for one of the addresses mentioned in the article: 512 Ashland. Although this article had less information, it did include facts that were not in the German article. For instance, this article stated that "None waited to don their clothes, but began fleeing into the street in scant attire." And, "Many jumped from windows when they saw the stairway in flames."

Tip #4: Use the PDF Option and Paste Into Google Translate

This tip comes from my dad. When using Chronicling America, use the "pdf" option. After clicking on "pdf," copy and paste into Google Translate. You will need to make some corrections, but this is a wonderful start to getting an article translated. And, it will save a lot of time!

Tip #5: Ask for Help on Facebook's "Genealogy Translations" Group

Facebook's "Genealogy Translations" group has wonderful members who are always ready to help. And, they're fast! If you choose to post to the group, make sure you read the "rules for posting" first.

Tip: How To Translate the ENTIRE Webpage

After locating the church in Bellin, Germany, where my Peters family attended in the late 1850s, my dad found a website that appeared to have a dozen photos of this church. However, the writing was in German.

I often copy and paste entire paragraphs into Google Translate which, although it isn't an accurate translation, helps get me started. But, I've been reading "Trace Your German Roots Online" by James M. Beidler, and he had a tip about translating an entire webpage at one time!

It's really quite simple. Paste the URL for the website you are wanting translated directly into Google. After the website's URL will be the words "translate this page." Click on that and your entire page will be translated!

Kirche Bellin - the Bellin Church - from the German Wikipedia site

This particular site was wonderful! Not only were there lots of photos of my ancestor's 13th century church, there were also wonderful descriptions. The blog is written by a man who was traveling and stopped to take photos of this church in 2012. The priest showed him around and he shared his photos and stories. Although I've asked for permission to share photos from the "Kirche Bellin" website, I haven't heard back from him yet. But, I did find some photos on the Germany Wikipedia site.

A wall painting or mural at Kirche Bellin - the Bellin Church - from the German Wikipedia site

Above is a restored painting from the Middle Ages. If you enjoy art, enlarge this and take some time to study it. It is amazing! Though I don't know if I'd enjoy having this particular painting on the walls of my church!

My favorite story from the translation of the tourist was about the "plague window." The accompanying photo just showed a window that had been sealed. But, the author explained that, during the plague, people who were afflicted with the plague came to this window to "follow the worship" service. What an incredible story and piece of history!

Tip: Finding a Newspaper Article That Is Not Online

If you know of a newspaper clipping but can't find it online, maybe it hasn't been digitized. If so, a great place to find out what repositories have copies of it is at the Chronicling America site.

I've been working on my Dickson family of Tennessee. A 1998 post on RootsWeb by David Walker mentioned an 1846 legal notice. The notice is in regards to the estate of my 4th great grandfather, James Dixon [or Dickson], and also mentions his son, my 3rd great grandfather, Joseph Dixon/Dickson. But, I could not find this article on any of the digital newspaper sites. So, I followed these steps:

Step 1: Go to Chronicling America to see who carries this paper. To do this, go to their site and click on "US Newspaper Directory, 1690-Present." Enter the known information. I entered "Tennessee" and "Academist," which was the name of the newspaper mentioned on RootsWeb. The results showed just one newspaper which was published in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee in 1846.

Step 2: Click on the link to that newspaper and then click on "Libraries that Have It" in the blue strip near the top. The short-lived Academist has copies in five locations.

Step 3: Find the correct date. I know from the RootsWeb post that I am looking for the paper December 2nd, 1846. Since the dating system is a little bit confusing, I'm including two examples.

Chronicling America screenshot showing dates available for the Academist newspaper
at Duke University Library

Example 1: The above example shows Duke University Library's holdings for the Academist. Under dates, it states: <1846:3:18-12:2>  This means they hold all of the published newspapers between the dates of March 18th and December 2nd of 1846. Also, note that these are available as "original" copies, so they are not microfilmed images. Duke would be one place I could find my article.

Chronicling America screenshot showing dates available for the Academist newspaper
at the Tennessee State Library& Archives

Example 2: This second example shows Tennessee States Library & Archives' holdings for the Academist. First of all note that these are available in microfilm format which is different than what Duke holds. The Archives holds the following dates: <1846:3:18, 4:1-5:27, 6:10-7:1,15-9:9, 10:28- 11:4, 12:2> This means they have the following copies from 1846, the only year this newspaper was published: March 18th, April 1st through May 27th, June 10th through July 1st, July 15th through September 9th, October 28th through November 4th, and December 2nd. Since I need December 2nd, this is also a place I could find my article.

Step 4: If none of the locations are nearby, your final step is to contact one of the repositories, or hire a researcher, and have them look up the article. For my article, I chose to contact the Tennessee State Library & Archives. I talked to the reference librarian who first verified they had the paper and date I needed. Then he told me how to send $10, the out-of-state fee, for the clipping. I am now in the process of waiting 4 to 6 business days to receive an emailed clipping of this legal notice! I am hoping it has other helpful information, and I'll be sure to post about it when I receive it.

Success! Finding Wrongly Transcribed Names on Census Records, Part 2

A few months ago, I shared how I had some success finding wrongly transcribed names in census records by searching for neighbors instead of the people I was actually researching. I am also having success finding people by using "exact" searches without a last name. Here's an example:

The family of John M. and Matilda Boyers was located in Sumner County, Tennessee in 1830. In 1840 and 1850, they were found in Tishomingo County, Mississippi. The 1850 household included the parents, who were listed as ages 49 and 44, and eight of their younger children with ages ranging from 3 to 17.  Although it is possible the parents died before 1860, it is unlikely all of the children had also passed away. So, why couldn't I find them after 1850?

1850 U.S. Census, Tishomingo County, Mississippi, Southern Division, population schedule, page 93B & 94A, dwelling #117, family #117, John Boyres [sic] household; image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 July 2016), citing National Archives microfilm M432, roll 382.

Here's how I ran the search for an 1860 census record without using a last name:

• On Ancestry, click "SEARCH" then "Census and Voters Lists"
• In the right column, click on "1800s censuses"
• In the right column, click on "U.S. Federal Census Collection"
• Near the bottom of the page, click on "1860 United States Federal Census"
• Then, fill in the search terms

I first tried one of the daughters, Lucinda, since her name is fairly uncommon:

• First name: Lucinda and set to "exact"
• Last name: [leave blank]
• Birth Year: 1840 then click on "exact" and change to "+/- 5 years"
• Birth Location: Mississippi, USA and set to "exact" for "this place"
• Lived In: Tishomingo County, Mississippi, USA and set to "exact to this place"

Screen shot of Ancestry and the information I filled in

After clicking "SEARCH," only 11 results showed up. The 10th hit was for a "Lucinda Rogers," who was, in fact, my Lucinda Boyers!

1860 U.S. Census, Tishomingo County, Mississippi, Corinth Township, population schedule, page 469 & 470, dwelling #3168, family #3168, John N [sic] Rogers [sic] household; image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 11 July 2016), citing National Archives microfilm M654, roll 593.

The same steps worked using her brother, "David E," with changing the birth year to 1844. Even using the mothers name, Matilda, and choosing "lived in Mississippi" (not Tishomingo County) only got 8 hits and one of those was for Matilda Boyers/Rogers!

It really helps if you have rather unusual first names. And, though searching for the son, David, resulted in over 400 results when searching for "lived in Mississippi," by changing it to "David E" as it appears on the 1850 census, you decrease the number of hits to only 8.

Let me know if you try this technique and it helps you find one of your missing families!

Help Needed: Printing Newspaper Articles that Look Like Newspaper Articles

I'd like to make a "scrapbook" of newspaper clippings I've found that relate to my family. I'd like the clippings to LOOK like I clipped them out of the paper, but they always print out huge. Any suggestions?

50 Years Ago, The Express, Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, 20 Jul 1967,
page 1, column 4, digital image newspapers.com, (http://newspapers.com), accessed 12 Feb 2015

Thank you for your help!
Dana

Success! Finding Incorrectly Transcribed Names on Census Records

The transcription of names on sites like Ancestry has greatly reduced the time it takes to locate individuals and families on census records. However, incorrectly transcribed names continue to make some people difficult to locate. 

1930 U.S. census, Wayne County, Michigan, population schedule, Detroit Ward 21, p. 258 (stamped), enumeration district 82-792, sheet 1-A, dwelling 13, Charles Kaechle; NARA microfilm publication T626, roll 1063.

In 1930, Charles Kaechle lived with his wife, Amanda, and mother, Mary M. Sprenger, on Gladwin Avenue in Detroit. Although I believed Charles Kaechle was still living in Detroit in 1940, I could not find him.

I decided to try a "trick" that has sometimes worked in the past: search for a neighbor. In choosing a neighbor, it helps to look for the following:

• choose an unusual surname or first name
• choose someone who owns a house rather than rents 
• choose a younger man with a family

To locate Charles Kaechle, I chose to search for his neighbor Joseph Neigebauer.

1940 U.S. census, Wayne County, Michigan, population schedule, Detroit Ward 21, p. 18786 (stamped), enumeration district 84-1417, sheet 1-A, household 14, A. Charles Kaechle; NARA microfilm publication T627, roll 1882.

I quickly found Joseph Neigebauer's living on Gladwin Avenue in Detroit in 1940. Scrolling down a few houses, I saw my Charles Kaechle! It even looked spelled correctly to me. But, when I looked at the index to see how the name had been transcribed on Ancestry, it listed him as Charles Jaeckle. The initial "K" had been transcribed as a "J," and the "h" was misread as a "k." So, the name was transcribed as Jaeckle instead of Kaechle.

This method will only work if your family didn't move between the two census enumerations. Also, if you don't find your family the first time, try a few more neighbor's names.

If you've not tried this method, give it a try! Let me know if you find a family you hadn't been able to find using the "usual" research methods.

BONUS TIP: Try a different website! If you usually search on Ancestry, like I do, try FamilySearch. In this case, I searched for "Charles Kaechle" and set the residence to "Detroit" from "1940" to "1940." The 1940 census record for Charles Kaechle was the top hit - and it was transcribed correctly!

How To Set a Primary Photo on the NEW Ancestry

For the past few months, I've tried to figure out how to set a "primary photo" for an individual. It was easy on the "old" Ancestry! I finally called Ancestry and they quickly sent me an email with a link that explained the steps I needed to take. I don't think it is intuitive (or I would have figured it out!), so I'm sharing the steps.

STEP 1: Go to the profile page for the person on your tree and click "Gallery" to see all the images.

STEP 2: Click on the image you want to use as the primary photo.

STEP 3: The image opens up on a new page. Below the person's name and photo information, there is a line that says "LINKED TO" followed by a blue bar with the person's name and a 'down' arrow. Click on the that bar to reveal more information.

STEP 4: You should now see two options: "Use as Profile Image" or "Unlink Person from this Photo." Click on "Use as Profile Image."

When you return to the person's profile page, you should see the new image next to their name.

The photo of William Lowry Ward, my grandmother's "Uncle Lowry," was one I got a copy of while visiting my mom's a few weeks ago. Lowry was a son of Reuben Houston Ward and Sallie Harriet (Dickson) Ward. 

Uncle William Lowry Ward (1896-1970)

"Complex Evidence" Webinar by F Warren Bittner: A Case Study Demonstrating GPS

I'm a member of Gen Proof Study Group 37 which is currently studying Mastering Genealogical Proof by Thomas W. Jones. We are learning about GPS or the Genealogical Proof Standard and have each chosen a research question which we are using throughout the course.

Judy Russell, The Legal Genealogist, blogged about a Webinar a few days ago. The Webinar, which took place tonight, was "Complex Evidence" by F. Warren Bittner. I was a little afraid it'd be over my head as it was hosted by the Board for Certification of Genealogists, but it was perfect for me!

He started with explaining the "goal of genealogy" and going over the 5 parts of GPS. Then, he discussed the Evidence-Evaluation Standards including sources, information, & evidence. This was a wonderful review, but the best part of the presentation was his case study.

His main point, in my opinion, was that many genealogy research questions cannot be answered by a single, direct piece of evidence. Instead, you need complex evidence, which he defined as being "established by multiple strands of indirect evidence combined to establish identity and prove relationships."

What I really appreciated was how he went through many pieces of evidence (he showed us about 30 pieces relating to one research question!) and discussed the following with each:

1. Is the source original, derivative, or authored?
2. Is the information primary, secondary, or unknown?
3. Is the evidence direct, indirect, or negative?
4. What is the complete source citation?

I'll share my research question for my class and how I would answer these questions based on what I've learned both from my Gen Proof class and Bittner's webinar.

RESEARCH QUESTION: Who was the father of Catharine (10 Apr 1804 in PA - 18 Feb 1889 in Clinton Co, PA) who married Adam Close (1797-1865)?

John Longwell will (cited below), page 1

Evidence #1: Will of John Longwell, 1892, which lists his sister, "Catharine Close."

1. SOURCE: derivative [it was copied into the will book]
2. INFORMATION: primary [he would have first hand knowledge of his sister named Catharine Close]
3. EVIDENCE: indirect [it doesn't specifically answer my question]
4. SOURCE CITATION: John Longwell (1892), Mifflin County Will Book 7: 298, Armagh, Pennsylvania.[Unfortunately, I have a lot of sources that I have never cited and don't have complete information to write a source so I'll have to write what I have on this one] 

[By the way, something very interesting about John Longwell's will is the fact that he lists his 6 sisters... who are all deceased! But, he didn't have any children and I think he actually is intending the money to go to the heirs of his sisters.]

The BCG site says this recording "may be available online at a later date." If you get a chance to listen to this lecture, I'd highly recommend it! And, you can follow the SpringBoard blog to find out about future presentations.

P.S. The BCG site now has this webinar, and others, available to view "on demand" for a small charge. 

The Notorious Brawdy Family, Part 1 (The Russell Index)

This is a series of posts about the startling discoveries we made at GRIP  (July 2014) in the Intermediate Genealogy class. Our head instructor, Paula Stuart-Warren, chose a random Pittsburgh will for us to research and see what we could uncover about the family. She had no idea of the amazing stories we would find...

Our will was for Martha Jane Brawdy who died in Birmingham, Allegeheny County, Pennsylvania. A classmate quickly realized that this was a copy of the will written in the court book and not the actual will. So, we all headed over to FamilySearch to look for the actual will.

Here are the steps to finding the will:

1. Go to familysearch.org
2. Go to "search" then "records"
3. Click on the U.S. on the map and then "Pennsylvania" on the list
4. Click "start researching in Pennsylvania"
5. Go to the last item, "Pennsylvania, Probate Records, 1683-1994"
6. Click on "browse through 3,200,560 images (this number could change)
7. Click on "Allegheny" to get to the correct county
8. Click on "Estate index 1788-1971 surname B, first names K-Z" since the surname "Brawdy" starts with "B" and "Martha" starts with "M"
9. Image 6 is a Russel Index which shows how to locate the person you are searching for

Russell Index image from familysearch

I'd never seen a Russell Index before & it took a little while for me to understand it. I got some help and I was finally able to understand. So, let me try to talk you through it.

We are in the file where all of the surnames start with "B". This particular page is showing you how to locate first names that start with "K", "L", or "M". We need "M" for Martha Jane.

You start with the surname, in this case Brawdy. After the initial letter, B, you mark off any letters that aren't on the key - L, M, N, R or T. In our case we only have the "R" left. (If you have more than two letters left, you still only use the first two.) We are looking for just "R" in the first column. Once you locate the correct letter(s) in the first column, you use the second column if the first name starts with a K or L & the second column if the first name starts with an M. Ours is M (Martha), so we need to look for section 1140.

Now you have to kind of jump around the various images to locate the section where pages are numbered 1140. I first went to image 400 which was record 1415, BUT the first names started with R. I have went way too far. Image 220 is labeled 2013. I need to keep going back. Image 160 is labeled 1143. I'm getting close! Image 140 is labeled 1141. So, I'm just going to page back from here. (By the way, if you 'jump' to an unnumbered page, just scroll forward or backward a page or two until you see a number.)

from FamilySearch

I found the first page of the 1140 series on image #124 of 818. (Under the 1140 you will see a 1 for the first page in the series.) On the first page of a series, you'll find a list of commonly seen names and the 'special' pages these are located on. "Brawdy" is actually listed on this page and it says you can find the "Brawdy" surname on 2017.

Now, we need to find 2017 the same way - kind of jumping around until we land on the correct series. Remember to watch the first names and make sure you don't get out of the names with the first name starting with an M! (I found the first page of 2017 on image #228 of 818.)

from FamilySearch

We find "Brawdy, Martha J" as the 5th person on this page. It lists her residence as "Birmingham" and her Personal Representative as "Wm C Moreland Exr". Lastly, it tells you were to find the proceedings index: Volume 12, page 220, block 1.

Our next step is to go back to the "Allegheny" probate records & look for the "Proceedings Index" volume 12. (The entire title is "Proceedings index 1788-1971 vol 11-12.) Remember, there are TWO volumes here so you need to be looking in the later half of the images! Once again we will 'jump around' until we find page 220. I found it on image #690 of 929.

And, we have found Martha J Brawdy as the first image! It lists her executor, Wm C Moreland. It lists three documents, including the will which is located in Will Book #15 on page #68. This is where we'll start for Part 2.

Meeting Lisa Louise Cooke

Lisa Louise Cooke has taught me many genealogy methods & tricks online for the past year or so. Yesterday, I got to listen to her in person! I told her how much I appreciated all that she does. And, we posed for a quick photo!

Meeting Lisa Louise Cooke from Genealogy Gems
(at Houston Genealogical Forum's meeting on May 1, 2014)

Lisa was giving three lectures at the Houston Genealogical Forum. She has recently moved to Texas, so I hope we get to see even more of her!

Her first lecture was about newspapers. I have a membership to newspapers.com and have found a few interesting clips. But, I haven't had much luck finding FREE newspapers online! Lisa showed us multiple sites that will help us find newspapers whether they are digitized or not! I'll be digitally digging into the papers over the next few weeks!

Below is an article from 1904 about a party some "young people" attended including my great grandparents before they were married, Myrtle Coppenbarger and Emil Peters. They were married about 10 months later! I love that it says "Many parlor and outdoor games were enjoyed by all." I wonder what types of games these young people played!

Found on Newspapers.com

Her second talk was about Google. I believe I've watched her Google talk online, but I still got a lot out of this. For the past few years, I've used the "+" operator to tell Google I want them to include something in a search. Well, that doesn't work any more! Instead, you need to put a word or phrase in a quotation marks to make sure it's included! I've already been putting that tip to use today!

And, her last talk was about Google Earth. Wow! There is so much you can do with it, but I still feel pretty lost. Thankfully, I have the handout & notes I took. But, I also bought her book & CD's. So, hopefully I'll be using Google to enhance my genealogy soon!

By the way, she said most (all?) of these talks are also available to premium members. I've been a premium member for awhile, but haven't looked at these videos! So, I'll be hopping over there this week & seeing what else I've paid for but haven't used yet!

If you don't listen to her free podcasts, you should give them a try! She has two sites...   www.genealogygemspodcast.com and www.lisalouisecooke.com

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net