Dear Cousins, First, our Cousin Mary Yarnall is out of the hospital and is recovering from surgery in a nursing home. She is very debilitated. Mary is in her 80's. Marilyn Kucera has given me her snail mail address, and if any of you would like to join in sending your prayers and all good and positive wishes to Mary I will be happy to give you the address privately. Remember, we are a present-day family reconnecting to one another just as we are re-connecting our families in the past. One of our Cousins, Mary Ann, sent me information from the local paper about Mary, but I couldn't open the attachment, and when I e-mailed Mary Ann privately the message came back. It may be because of my local ISP difficulties. Anyway, Mary Ann, if you can also help us in any way with conveying our love and encouragement to Mary, we will certainly appreciate it. A quote from Emily Dickenson, restructured by John Lennon: All I know of love, Is that love is all there is. Marilyn is working on transcribing the Sadsbury MM (PA) marriage certificates, and she was interested in proper ways to indicate that certain portions and names are unreadable. This is a very good question in response to my posting on transcriptions and their pitfalls. When transcribing old original documents like this, the thing to do is make a preliminary blanket statement about the project. State what time frame the documents refer to and the overall condition. You might say, "These certificates cover all the marriage certificates from 1834 to 1850," or something like that. State whether it is ALL that are extant, or not, so that a person reading your report will know that he has to look elsewhere for his GGGrandparents' certificate. And state where these certificates are normally held. Next, in your general statement, tell whether they are in good or bad or whatever condition, and what you have encountered in transcribing them. You might say, "Most are in very good condition, but individual certificates have been torn and there are smudged ink marks on some which make some names impossible to read. All but four out of the total 300 have been written in ink; the other four are in pencil and are badly faded. Most of the writing is clear and readible, but some of the signatures are extremely hard to decipher." (Or something similar which conveys the general state.) Then indicate if you have "interpreted" some of the signatures by enclosing your own comment or interpretation in parentheses or brackets. Just be consistent with whatever you use. Usually, as you become familiar with individual names in a collection you will recognize what a name actually is even though it might have been written or spelled differently, or even smudged or damaged. It is proper to indicate what the signature looks like to you -- i.e.: Mari - - - K [or H] u [or a]cera. [Marilyn Kucera] If you absolutely cannot make out what a word or name is, then add that, and the reason i.e., Mari - - - - ucera [large ink blot in the middle of this name, but I believe it is Marilyn Kucera.] Or, you could say, ari - - - -ucera (Marilyn Kucera? Large ink blot in middle] Do this same type of description with any old, original document. If they are your family's documents, I strongly urge photocopying. Sometimes writing can be lightened and darkened in the photocopy, and thereby determined. This is a really helpful technique for pencil. Also, if you can get your own hands on a family document, or photograph, you may be able to preserve it from the predations of others. I have several sad stories of this happening in my own families. In the case of a Bible, do a similar preamble of general condition, the date it was printed, and the publisher, along with anything which is known about the Bible and the family. This serves to clarify the veracity of what is written. In the case of the Preston Floyd Bible which I have at American Crossroads: http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~amxroads/Bible/smipres.html -- this Bible was printed in 1828, and all of the family information was written in one hand, in 1838 by Letitia Preston Floyd, daughter of William Preston and Susanna Smith. However her beginning information concerns people of the early 1700's. This is important to consider when one tries to interpret dates, etc. and compare with other sources. Letitia was relying on memory or other documents in order to write this information all at one time, and although she was certainly in a contemporary position with early members for which information that is given, subsequent researchers have relied on other circumstantial evidence rather than what Letitia wrote. I think the newer researchers are probably mistaken. This Bible is a hugely important resource for nearly uncountable families. The Smith/Prestons had impact on nearly every family in SW Virginia. William Preston was a surveyor, civil servant, military hero, arbitrator, community force. He was a great Leader in his world and in his time. This Bible is a great study study tool, as well as an invaluable document in the Preston Smith (and M-M-M) genealogy. Love, Your Cousin, Carolyn Carolyn McDaniel cmacdee@teleport.com ========================================= To send a message to the American Crossroads List: AMXROADS-L@rootsweb.com --- Visit American Crossroads --- http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~amxroads