• German Genealogy Pointers,  Technology & Tools

    Automated Translations

    We all have languages we do not understand or read. Some of us struggle along in our native tongue only; others have a small or large suite of languages with which they are able to work. In the end though, we all hit a language wall and need to rely on tools other than our personal skills. And… that’s where the challenge begins. Today, I was translating a small German paragraph for use here on ManyRoads. So for grins and laziness reasons, I thought I’d attempt to use Google Translate to help speed up my effort. Boy was I surprised! Let me explain what happened. The paragraph I wanted to…

  • Active Research,  Senger

    Samuel Ferdinand Recht- Caroline Henriette Sczepanski

    Note: additional source materials are currently being sought. Aside from the birth records of Samuel Ferdinand Recht and Caroline Henrietta Sczepanski we have very sparse information regarding the lives and existence of our couple and their family/ children. Caroline Henriette Schepansky- Birth 16 March 1844 7.6 MB Samuel Ferdinand Recht- Birth 12 February 1841 7.9 MB The second place we find the couple mentioned with certainty is in the marriage record of their son Johann Hermann Recht to Auguste Kunz. There we find mention of them and their deaths having occurred before the Recht-Kunz marriage in Ellerwald, Kreis Elbing. Additionally, we have found evidence of one Samuel Recht living in…

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  • German Genealogy Pointers

    Eastern Germans, a cold case?

    Searching for missing or lost family members from the former German Eastern Provinces can be quite a challenge. As you may already know, following the WW2 defeat of Germany by the allies, almost all ethnic Germans were ‘cleansed’ from their former homes in East/ West Prussia, Pomerania, Silesia, etc. (as well as much of Eastern Europe). In both the Expulsion process and the bombardments that preceded the Expulsions much was destroyed. Churches, City and Governmental records, family bibles, photographs, keepsakes, books, notes, were almost all gone. In the case of my opa (grandfather), he was able to salvage the bottom half of a coffee can worth of keepsakes and treasures.…

  • Technology & Tools,  Tools

    Presenting family genealogies on the web

    Presenting readable, genealogical information, data, and stories is a complex challenge.  It seems to me that people’s lives ought to be expressed as more than family trees, dates, and lineages.  I have been struggling with this problem for quite a while.  Perhaps you have as well. Over the years, I have noticed a few ‘special’ difficulties in making this type of information, useful, accessible, easy to find not to mention human.  The major problem areas, for me, have centered around the following: genealogical data & stories can run deep & wide (they may, and often do, involve a lot of data from many locations, sources, and media) genealogical data/ information…

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  • Active Research,  Senger

    Johann Recht Family(ies)

    Note: This material/ history is incomplete. Any/ all suggestions or pointers are most appreciated! Johann Recht had two, perhaps three, marriages.  His first documented marriage was with Elisabeth Barwich (Baarwich)- our progenitor; his second documented marriage was with Florentine Barwich (a cousin? of Elisabeth).  As far as we can tell, Johann and his families lived in and around the Zeyer ev. Kirche until Johann’s death.  Johann’s death record indicates that he died on 7 September 1854 at the age of 54 years and 10 months (0 days).  He was buried evangelisch in the Zeyer ev. Kirche graveyard.  Based upon Johann’s documented age at death, we calculate his birth to have been…

  • Kreis Elbing,  Mennonites

    West Prussia (near Zeyer) Mennonite Births, Deaths, Marriages

    The links on this page have been sourced from the Prussian Mennonite Genealogy Resources site. I have rearranged the original links and grouped them for my convenience. Please note, these materials are used without permission because there was no copyright notice or location from which to request usage permission. All ownership and rights of this material belongs to its original author(s). If you wish to use the most current information and links on these topics and more, I encourage you to visit the original site. Any research queries should be directed to one of the Mennonite archives in Canada or the U.S. Elbing-Ellerwald Elbing and Ellerwald Mennonite Church Record Books:…

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  • Kreis Elbing,  Mennonites

    Mennonite Histories of West Prussia

    The links on this page have been sourced from the Prussian Mennonite Genealogy Resources site. I have rearranged the original links and grouped them for my convenience. Please note, these materials are used without permission because there was no copyright notice or location from which to request usage permission. All ownership and rights of this material belongs to its original author(s). If you wish to use the most current information and links on these topics and more, I encourage you to visit the original site. Any research queries should be directed to one of the Mennonite archives in Canada or the U.S. Danzig District The 1661 Census of Mennonites in…

  • Senger

    Cornelius Schepansky Family(ies)

    At this point, we believe that our research has produced a rather complete image of the Families and Children of Cornelius Schepansky. If you know of additional source materials or information, we would love hearing from you. Our information and resources have been and continue to be packaged for submission to the Schepanski Family Archives in Delmenhorst Germany as well as to Grandma (The Online Mennonite Archives). CORNELIUS1 SCHEPANSKY was born on 11 Feb 1806 in Kerbshorst, Westpreussen, Germany 1. Cornelius Schepansky was baptized on 19 May 1823 in Marcushof, Westpreussen, Germany1. He died on 27 Feb 1861 in Ellerwald, Westpreussen, Germany2. He married (1) CORNELIA MARTENS on 14 Aug…

  • Expulsion - Vertriebenen,  German Genealogy Pointers

    Danzig- Westpreussen (West Prussia) Heimatortskartei

    For those wishing to gain access to photographic images of the actual Heimatortskartei from the towns, cities & villages which were near what used to be Danzig in West Prussia, they are available on FamilySearch. (LINK to Danziger Gebiet (Area ) Westpreussen (West Prussia) Heimatortskartei). These represent images of a civil register (handwritten and printed works) of refugees from the former province of Danzig-Westpreußen, Germany, now Gdańsk and Bydgoszcz provinces in Poland. For those of us whose families were expelled from their homes by the allies after World War 2, this represents a set of documentation that could contain the handwriting of ‘our’ family members, from that place and time.…

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  • Technology & Tools

    Genealogy & Data Management

    Some of you may be aware that my ‘day’ job involves benchmarking organizations against various process and business improvement models (see: PEP) .  If you are reading this note on ManyRoads, you most certainly are aware that I have a passion for genealogy (as my daughter might say: “No Duh.”). What I am curious about is… do you feel, like I do, that the genealogy industry (e.g., Ancestry.com, familysearch.org, etc.) would benefit from having more reliable, accurate, and predictable data management practices?  If this thought piques your interest, please read on. Data Management Maturity Model The Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute (SEI) and the Enterprise Data Management Council (EDM Council)…

  • Search Tricks & Tips,  Technology & Tools

    Another Mocavo offering

    Mocavo is embarking on a new extension of their already exceedingly useful services; one where they conduct automated research and linking between family trees. According to them, once you upload your GEDCOM File(s) you will begin to taking part in the future of genealogy research. Mocavo plans to send out fully-automated search results to your email and will make new connections for your tree(s) from all over the web! Each uploaded Family Tree will be rolled in to the Mocavo search index to help the genealogy world discover each other and uncover some of the vast array of data/ information available. All you need to do to take advantage of…

  • Expulsion - Vertriebenen,  German Genealogy Pointers

    German Expulsions & the Diaspora

    While doing some research for an email response, I came across a body of work related to Die Vertreibung (The Expulsion). These papers are presented on the website of Dr. Stefan Wolff. Stefan Wolff is Professor of International Security at the University of Birmingham, England, UK. A political scientist by background, he specialises in the management of contemporary international security challenges, especially in the prevention, management and settlement of ethnic conflicts and in post-conflict stabilisation and state-building in deeply divided and war-torn societies. Stefan Wolff, “Stefan Wolff,” political research, academic, Stefan Wolff, n.d., http://www.stefanwolff.com/. Ethnic Germans in Poland and the Czech Republic: A Comparative Evaluation Co-authored with Karl Cordell and…