In a message dated 05/11/2002 12:40:32 PM Pacific Daylight Time, garr@ruraltel.net writes: > The St. Peter presents a rinkle that I am yet to solve. It is a lot of > German & as of yet I have not located a translator to go with me. Hi Gayle: This is such a wonderful service you are providing, transcribing cemeteries. I know it isn't easy. The statement you made that I have quoted above reminded me of an Ancestry Quick Tip I read recently. I'll insert the tip at the end of my response. I also thought of the possibility that photographs of the inscriptions could be given to a high school class to translate. Not only would that benefit our cause, but would help the class "get in touch" with the very essence of German ancestry, historical evidence of their pioneering spirit, and a wonderful exercise in the language the students are learning. Also there is a Germanic Alphabet Chart to download and an interesting article at: http://www.familytreemagazine.com/articles/alphabet.html Ancestry Quick Tip Whose Language Is It, Anyway? Have you discovered a stone with an unusual transcription on it, or perhaps a very brief note that you have come to believe is written in a foreign tongue and needs translation? Don't be *too quick* to jump to that conclusion! Take a few moments to examine the matter more closely. Consider, for example, this inscription that came from an old, partly broken and faded tombstone I was asked to decipher. Although some of the characters that had been chiseled into the stone did look a bit unusual, I realized they were just A's and I's, nonetheless. The inscription read: 1745 MARIA OPTIGRAFF B__ <-- Missing BIIN BARIT HIR THA 3 FA AF AGOST BIIN ATEN EARS AF AJH This puzzle had been considered by a number of researchers before me. It had been presumed the inscription was some sort of Dutch or German. I could not accept that. So I thought and thought about it and found myself muttering the inscription as I imagined a Dutch or German immigrant would say it. AJH resembling AGE. AGOST sounded like AUGUST. BARIT HIR became BURIED HERE. The entire inscription became -- 1745 MARIA OPTIGRAFF BORN ? BEING BURIED HERE THE 3- TH OF AUGUST BEING EIGHTEEN YEARS OF AGE It was just Broken English! Broken English of a "flavor" harmonizing with the nationality of the deceased --- Not German or Dutch at all. So "Whose Language is it Anyway?" If you stop and think about it, it just might be yours! Vince Summers Thank you Gayle for all your hard work. Everyone who benefits from the information you provide, now and in the future, appreciates your effort. Louise Adams

--=======5298FFC======= Content-Type: text/plain; x-avg-checked=avg-ok-54594BD7; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Louise, Thanks for passing that tip along! It was very interesting . Does anyone else have any tips? Jackie Wilson Smith Graham Co., KS Mailing list administrator --=======5298FFC=======--