Saturday, November 3, 10 am Ginger Christmas-Beattie will present "Transcribing old documents”, a lecture on reading the English handwriting of America in the 16th and 17th centuries. This can be applied to any document once one has an understanding of the old grammatical forms. Ginger has over 40 years of practical genealogical research experience, and has been involved with the Genealogical Society of Washington County, as well as other genealogical societies throughout the United States. As author and publisher, she has produced 13 books and 7 CD's of historic documents, census and court records and a book on the Christmas Family history through her business, Ancestral Tracks. If you have documents you need help with please bring them and we can work on them together. Carol and I will bring some examples to practice on as well. The following is an outline of Ginger's presentation. A four page hand-out will be available at the meeting. See you Saturday, Judi Transcribing Old Documents Key points to transcribing Poor Condition of Microfilm and Original Documents Bleeding Through on Pages from Writing on Other Pages Errors in Copying Old Documents Old Terminology Ink and Paper Spelling Standards of the Time Lack of Punctuation Poor Quality of the Environment Development of skills Things to watch for The basic mechanics of transcribing Transcription: Extract: Abstract: Documents Census Reports: Deeds: Marriage Records: Birth and Death records: Wills Suggested Reading Tips judiscot@gmail.com "Puzzles of the Past" _http://puzzlesofthepast.blogspot.com/_ (http://puzzlesofthepast.blogspot.com/) What do you hold so close to your own circle of life that you would not put a price on it? What would it be for you? For me, it is the mountains and the people of Appalachia.” Larry Gibson, Keeper of the Mountains