Hello all Having received many enquiries and, hopefully responded to all to the best of my ability, this seems a good time to reflect on the main purpose of the IP mailing list, in my modest eyes. It's good, of course, to be able to help others and seek help where people know what you're driving on about (what Palingtines?) but, when all's said and done, surname-specific searches tend to blind us to the real reason we need to club together, I think. When I first hit this group of happy subscribers, I was deeply impressed by the great mix of friendly chat and genuine academic (but not damagingly-serious) interest. In our particular, tiny, genealogical environment (bounded by the banks of the Rhine and the Deel), we are faced with the most horrendous dearth of GENUINE information. There just ain't a lot out there for us, it seems. Whole chancelleries of vital records destroyed by fire and official decree, rural myths, historical inaccuracy (because usually retrospective) and deliberate distortion for religious or political/cultural reasons ... where, really do we look? Recently, some authentic, eyewitness documents have been tapped out and displayed for our delectation on the IRL-PALATINE-l message board and it is so magnificent - it's lively, honest (often sad, deeply depressing) material, but it does strike me as being just the thing we all need to make sense of our still-obscure origins. Some subscribers have been fortunate enough to trace their whole family back to the arrival in Limerick - possibly others have even gone deeper into the Pfalz. But still so many of us feel vague and ever-so-slightly fed up because we can't establish the vital link. Wouldn't you mostly agree, fellow-sleuths? The kind of documents that have recently been transcribed by Barb Milburn, Susan Willig and others, plus the valuable contributions of Di Mitchell, Walter L McE (oh, and many more - forgive me if I forget them all at this point, my memory is as fallible as the next man's/woman's and I have only been in your midst for a few days...) - anyway, these represent the kind of believable proof we need of the miseries and delights experienced by our forebears in making a whole new world out of despair. Memorials, Tennison Grove's wonderful recitatives, Minutes and meetings of this body and that to resolve the burning issues of the day. They're even better than newspapers for their immediacy. Of course, bias might still exist in their reporting, but it is often easy to spot and correct in our own minds. I think one of the transcribers recently asked - is it worth bashing them out willy-nilly? Should we go on? Are some documents too parochial or too remote from our immediate interests? I believe ALL OF THIS IS VITAL and I, for one, would be only too happy to receive material for transcription - by snail mail or however. Please send, I will type. OK - I've rambled on a bit. Please excuse me but it does seem important and if I can GIVE for a change instead of always benefiting from other people's industry, so be it. On another tack, I might add that I contacted the amazingly generous Liz Haren, who immediately offered to despatch a copy of her "Palatine manuscript". I await it with great enthusiasm. Another tack. After a recent exchange with Clifford Dubery, I am pleased to report that he intends to enter all my Rathkeale Piper registers data in his Web family search facility. This should cut down the number of requests for copies directly from me. But do understand I will still always send the pages to anyone who asks. A final tack (I can't seem to shut up, can I?) - it would be lovely if people could add a hint of their location after their names (or contribution) it might help us penetrate the anonymity of email addresses. Just 'Pennsylvania' or 'Northern Queensland', or even just 'Canada' would be great. Collaboratively yours, Best regards to all. Terry Pyper (Lincolnshire, UK) Oh, before I forget - does anyone have a map that shows me exactly where Killeheen (Killa../Killea.., etc) is? I invested in a beautiful detailed map of Limerick not long ago -dated 1901, I think. It showed wells and bridges, pumps, drains, discarded Wellington boots and all - but not a trace of the fabulous seat of civilization (from a purely Piper point of view, anyway). Useful websites or cartographer's addresses would be most welcome (I have tried streetmap.co.uk and multimap.com - but not enough detail). Thank you. TP I promise not to speak again for a week. Bye bye. __________ E-mail: <A HREF="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</A>

----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2001 4:51 PM Subject: [IP] Transcription volunteer > Hello all > > Having received many enquiries and, hopefully responded to all to the best of > my ability, this seems a good time to reflect on the main purpose of the IP > mailing list, in my modest eyes. It's good, of course, to be able to help > others and seek help where people know what you're driving on about (what > Palingtines?) but, when all's said and done, surname-specific searches tend > to blind us to the real reason we need to club together, I think. > > When I first hit this group of happy subscribers, I was deeply impressed by > the great mix of friendly chat and genuine academic (but not > damagingly-serious) interest. In our particular, tiny, genealogical > environment (bounded by the banks of the Rhine and the Deel), we are faced > with the most horrendous dearth of GENUINE information. There just ain't a > lot out there for us, it seems. Whole chancelleries of vital records > destroyed by fire and official decree, rural myths, historical inaccuracy > (because usually retrospective) and deliberate distortion for religious or > political/cultural reasons ... where, really do we look? > > Recently, some authentic, eyewitness documents have been tapped out and > displayed for our delectation on the IRL-PALATINE-l message board and it is > so magnificent - it's lively, honest (often sad, deeply depressing) material, > but it does strike me as being just the thing we all need to make sense of > our still-obscure origins. > > Some subscribers have been fortunate enough to trace their whole family back > to the arrival in Limerick - possibly others have even gone deeper into the > Pfalz. But still so many of us feel vague and ever-so-slightly fed up because > we can't establish the vital link. Wouldn't you mostly agree, fellow-sleuths? > > The kind of documents that have recently been transcribed by Barb Milburn, > Susan Willig and others, plus the valuable contributions of Di Mitchell, > Walter L McE (oh, and many more - forgive me if I forget them all at this > point, my memory is as fallible as the next man's/woman's and I have only > been in your midst for a few days...) - anyway, these represent the kind of > believable proof we need of the miseries and delights experienced by our > forebears in making a whole new world out of despair. Memorials, Tennison > Grove's wonderful recitatives, Minutes and meetings of this body and that to > resolve the burning issues of the day. They're even better than newspapers > for their immediacy. Of course, bias might still exist in their reporting, > but it is often easy to spot and correct in our own minds. > > I think one of the transcribers recently asked - is it worth bashing them out > willy-nilly? Should we go on? Are some documents too parochial or too remote > from our immediate interests? I believe ALL OF THIS IS VITAL and I, for one, > would be only too happy to receive material for transcription - by snail mail > or however. Please send, I will type. > > OK - I've rambled on a bit. Please excuse me but it does seem important and > if I can GIVE for a change instead of always benefiting from other people's > industry, so be it. > > On another tack, I might add that I contacted the amazingly generous Liz > Haren, who immediately offered to despatch a copy of her "Palatine > manuscript". I await it with great enthusiasm. > > Another tack. After a recent exchange with Clifford Dubery, I am pleased to > report that he intends to enter all my Rathkeale Piper registers data in his > Web family search facility. This should cut down the number of requests for > copies directly from me. But do understand I will still always send the pages > to anyone who asks. > > A final tack (I can't seem to shut up, can I?) - it would be lovely if people > could add a hint of their location after their names (or contribution) it > might help us penetrate the anonymity of email addresses. Just 'Pennsylvania' > or 'Northern Queensland', or even just 'Canada' would be great. > > Collaboratively yours, > > Best regards to all. > > Terry Pyper (Lincolnshire, UK) > > Oh, before I forget - does anyone have a map that shows me exactly where > Killeheen (Killa../Killea.., etc) is? I invested in a beautiful detailed map > of Limerick not long ago -dated 1901, I think. It showed wells and bridges, > pumps, drains, discarded Wellington boots and all - but not a trace of the > fabulous seat of civilization (from a purely Piper point of view, anyway). > Useful websites or cartographer's addresses would be most welcome (I have > tried streetmap.co.uk and multimap.com - but not enough detail). > > Thank you. TP > > I promise not to speak again for a week. Bye bye. > > > __________ > > E-mail: <A HREF="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</A> > > > ==== IRL-PALATINE Mailing List ==== > The greatest influence in your life, stronger even than your will power, > Is your environment. Change that, if necessary. Paramahansa Yogananda >