Minutes from March 15, 2021 Meeting

 Big thank you to Linda B for taking the minutes.

Ferndale Genies Meeting, March 15, 2021

Present were  Judith C., Rick B., Susan C., Susan M., David R., Bill R., Peggy V., Linda B., Frank,  Margie, Suzie P., Linda L.

Next Meetings both at 1:00:  Ferndale Genies, 19 April 2021

                                                 German Group, 6 April 2021

 

Sue M.  Uses Family Tree Maker and Ancestry.  A woman posted on Facebook that she had medals inscribed with David Anthony Harding.  He is in her tree, as he is her great grandfather from England.  This news eventually got to Sue, she was able to get in touch with the person who discovered the medals, who sent them to her.

Sue’s son took a 23 & Me DNA test for health reasons, got matches and has been communicating with her about them.  He made some unexpected discoveries.

Sue is looking for someone to translate a letter from Macedonia.  Suggestions for finding a translator include Community Groups on the Family Search website, or Facebook group for genealogists researching that region.

Frank  Found a cousin via matches from a 23 & Me DNA test, who has done extensive research on both sides of his family.  The cousin has been able to identify the town their ancestors lived in, school records 100 years old, newspaper articles, and so on.  One set of immigrants came in via Baltimore and another through Elllis Island.  A photo of Frank’s grandfather, found in naturalization papers, was sent to his aunt, who was pleased to have it.  She had never seen a photo of her father in his youth.

Margie  Judith sent to Margie a link to a webinar that may be of interest to anyone researching Polish ancestors: “Beginning Intro to Polish Genealogy.”  

Bill R. Has continued to work on digitizing photos and slides.  Now has had video files converted as well.  He used a company called Scan Café, based in Indianapolis.  Contact him via Judith for tips on working with the company.  Bill has been watching free webinars by Lisa Louise Cooke.  In particular, he enjoyed an interview with staff from the Pennsylvania State Library, in Harrisburg.  Ms. Cooke’s podcasts are called Genealogy Gems (lisalouisecooke.com).  There are levels of participation:  Elevens with Lisa is free every Thursday morning.  There is also a premium membership level.  Lisa Louise Cooke has a technical bent to her work.  If one were to follow just one genealogy podcaster, she might be the one, in Judith’s opinion. (Judith is a subscriber.)

Rick B.  Has continued to research the story behind a newspaper article he has, on which his grandfather had written a note that the radio operator described in the news story was him.  The story involved a ship, the SS North Carolina, coming into port with the help of morse code signals by said radio operator.  Rick was able to track down the original article in the Washington Star, learned a bit more about his grandfather, and eventually got in touch with the curator of the ship’s museum, who sent him a lot of information about the ship’s sea trials.  Part of this set of information was a letter from a dozen reporters expressing thanks for the opportunity to be aboard the ship during these trials.  Rick and his wife plan to visit the ship when it is open this summer.  It is in dry dock nearby.  An interesting side note, Rick delivered the newspaper, the Washington Star, in the 1960s.

Sue C.  New member.  Lives in Ohio, near where her ancestors settled.  They were “savers,” so Sue has a lot of interesting documentation that was passed down through generations.  She is stuck on identifying her McLane ancestors.  She has a collection of letters describing some of the family history, but the accounts cannot be proven.

Sue wondered how to date a photo based on clothing of the subjects.  Suggested strategies: 

Look up Maureen Taylor, photo detective, at MaureenTaylor.com. 

Google fashion eras, or similar topics

Post the photos on a genealogy website, such as Genealogy Squad and request assistance.

Contact a county historical society or museum where the subjects lived.

Linda L. Would love to speak with Susan C. about mutual interest in the Pennsylvania region they are both researching.

Suzie P. Working on digitizing slides from her parents’ collection and almost finished.  Will then organize the photos.  Her father had an inventory, but it cannot be used “as is” because she sorted and downsized the collection.  She was able to send some photos to other family members, including her 90-year-old uncle.  In answer to a question, she explained that she labels her photos with name of the person and an estimated date in the file name.  Judith mentioned that using metadata is another way to label and track photos.  Rick shared how he prints the data on a background sheet and mounts the photo on it.

David R.  He has been going through estate records of an uncle and found a box of tin types.  He also found a box of photo negatives in folders.  How to view or print to view?  Suzie is using a digitizer that may be used for that purpose, though she has not tried that.

David has been looking at Ancestry matches related to brick walls in his research.  Also mentioned that since Linda B. introduced the Meyers Gazetteer website in German Group (www.meyersgaz.org), he was able to locate his grandfather’s village, including houses.  The Ecclesiastical menu on the website also enables one to identify nearby parish churches, Protestant or Catholic, and distance from the village one is researching.

Peggy Has contacted a cousin in Milwaukee for info on an ancestor, Cornie Copley (sp?)  Is also now looking for her great grandmother’s siblings.  Has purchased a book relevant to her research:  From the Emerald Isle to Cream City, which tells the story of Irish immigrants who settled in Milwaukee.  It includes a story about a ship filled with Irish immigrants that sank in Lake Michigan in 1860.  Her ancestor was among those who perished.  Peggy may travel to Ireland with her cousin.

Linda B.  Linda shared Sylvia’s news, as she could not attend:  My update is that I am doubling down on getting all my known information about my suspected paternal side together so I can write a report to include the evidence I have already, my hypotheses regarding the evidence, the brick walls, and next steps.  I plan to take that information to the Family Search Center and see if someone can help me with any missing records and suggestions for next steps.

Linda attended RootsTech and three seminars related to her German & Prussian research.  Also taking Katherine Schober’s course, “Reading the Old German Handwriting.”  All of these have been helpful in researching her grandmother and her family, who came from Prussia.  One interesting ancestor she found was her grand uncle, who served in WW I.  Much information was available, including the ship that transported him to France.

Judith C.  Information about upcoming conferences will be sent in a separate blogpost.