Greetings, ROLLO+ ~ I wholeheartedly agree with your opinion of blinding accepting the LDS member-submitted pedigrees and the unsourced Ancestry.com member-submitted pedigrees without question. I've also read some of the critiques of the G to A series (to be fair, it IS a huge undertaking). But so many set such store by the CD version, that I was wondering if some of the known errors and omissions were addressed in them. Thanks for the update. Also, I've read your "historical perspective" posts with great interest. I truly appreciate your efforts in that regard and save the information for future reference. Appreciatively, Julia "----Original Message Follows---- From: "R. Lipprandt" <rloss@bellsouth.net> G to A is a flawed series of documents. It can most certainly be used as guide line of possible times, events and ports. Every once in a while, it hits the mark dead on, most of the time... no. Even items and events placed in the LDS and Ancestry files should also be used as a guide line until you can evaluate your own research. Reasons for "not quite accurate information" are many. Transcription errors, lack of knowledge of what is being transcribed and transcriber fatigue come to mind. Corrections to the original material is mind numbing by the shear mass of information. I do not think I would want to have the responsibility of making corrections. Think of it this way, 20+ volumes in the G to A series, going over every entry (150+ per page times the number of pages per volume) and making corrections... I think the funny farm and rubber room would be next! The second series of CD's may have information that the original did not have, but again who did the transcriptions and how accurate are they? Consider the source(s), use the information as a guide line, do your own research and make detailed notes of your research sources... Regards, Rollo+" _________________________________________________________________ Play games, earn tickets, get cool prizes. Play nowit's FREE! http://club.live.com/home.aspx?icid=CLUB_hotmailtextlink1
>[I've also read some of the critiques of the G to > A series (to be fair, it IS a huge undertaking). But so many set such > store >by the CD version, that I was wondering if some of the known errors and >omissions were addressed in them. Thanks for the update.] Yes, I agree it was a huge undertaking and hailed when first done because nothing like it had ever been done before. Afterwards, things began to unravel when individual researchers began comparing information from microfilms to the information presented in the first series of G to A. As far as I know, no corrections/updates are being made or planned for the series. > Also, I've read your "historical perspective" posts with great interest. I >truly appreciate your efforts in that regard and save the information for >future reference. There is another site that deals extensively with Prussia, Prussian life, etc. etc. if you Julia or anyone else out there in cyberland is interested: http://list.genealogy.net/mailman/listinfo/ow-preussen-l The site is German/English, mostly German but if queries are sent in English, they will be so answered. A password is received and hoops are jumped through in order to gain access. A good dictionary/online translation site is also helpful. Lots of good information and perspective can be absorbed as many are aging X-Prussians/Germans and current citizens of Germany. Who knows... you may even pick up some German or German terms that were not known before! > Appreciatively, Julia Regards, Rollo+
Hello, ROLLO+ ~ Thanks for the Prussian website. It will come in handy if I ever figure out my GM's surname from the plerthora of options I have. Well, the G to A volumes and the CDs will be obsolete in the future anyway. I thought that errata would have beeen issued along the way, though. I found my GF and "his" ship's info right away at CastleGarden.org and sacrificed a weekday to go to the Manhattan branch of the National Archives to get a copy of the manifest image. But neither I nor the 3 librarians could find it in the microfilms. They suggested I call CG while they manually researched their holdings. The CG receptionist transfered me right to Dr. Filby himself! (hope I got that right) He seemed annoyed with the interruption and told me that "there are many reasons why the ship's manifest wouldn't be on the film the librarians expected it to be", but didn't elaborate and I was too surprised (and inexperienced) to ask questions. He was irked that the librarians hadn't immediately directed me to "Germans to America" (the first time I ever heard of the books was from the author himself) and assured me that the Castle Garden site "is a work in progress" that plans to eventually have the filmed manifest images available online. The librarians had a huddle to compare notes and told me that the Wiemar did indeed make landfall on 22 Apr 1891, but in Baltimore, not NYC - so I would have to go to NARA's Philadelphia branch to see the filmstrip! Meanwhile, in G to A, the port and dates were accurately listed for the Wiemar, but some of the details are wrong or absent. The manifest image has recently popped up on Ancestry.com (under Port of Baltimore), but not soon enough to save me a fruitless trip to Manhattan! There's still no easy way out - you HAVE to look at the filmed manifest images, too! Yours, Julia "----Original Message Follows---- From: "R. Lipprandt" <rloss@bellsouth.net> >[I've also read some of the critiques of the G to > A series (to be fair, it IS a huge undertaking). But so many set such > store >by the CD version, that I was wondering if some of the known errors and >omissions were addressed in them. Thanks for the update.] Yes, I agree it was a huge undertaking and hailed when first done because nothing like it had ever been done before. Afterwards, things began to unravel when individual researchers began comparing information from microfilms to the information presented in the first series of G to A. As far as I know, no corrections/updates are being made or planned for the series. > Also, I've read your "historical perspective" posts with great interest. I >truly appreciate your efforts in that regard and save the information for >future reference. There is another site that deals extensively with Prussia, Prussian life, etc. etc. if you Julia or anyone else out there in cyberland is interested: http://list.genealogy.net/mailman/listinfo/ow-preussen-l The site is German/English, mostly German but if queries are sent in English, they will be so answered. A password is received and hoops are jumped through in order to gain access. A good dictionary/online translation site is also helpful. Lots of good information and perspective can be absorbed as many are aging X-Prussians/Germans and current citizens of Germany. Who knows... you may even pick up some German or German terms that were not known before! Regards, Rollo+" _________________________________________________________________ PC Magazines 2007 editors choice for best Web mailaward-winning Windows Live Hotmail. http://imagine-windowslive.com/hotmail/?locale=en-us&ocid=TXT_TAGHM_migration_HM_mini_pcmag_0507
----- Original Message ----- From: "Julia Everett" <juliasgenes@hotmail.com> Subject: Re: [PRUSSIA-ROOTS] G to A & OW - Preussen > > The librarians had a huddle to compare notes and told me that the Wiemar > did > indeed make landfall on 22 Apr 1891, but in Baltimore, not NYC - so I > would > have to go to NARA's Philadelphia branch to see the filmstrip! Why would you have to make that trip to Philadelphia? You can order those microfilms through your nearest LDS Family History Center. Unless you live incredibly close to NARA Philadelphia, I would bet there's a FHC a lot nearer to your home. I would even bet you don't have to pay for parking at the FHC! :) Good luck, LGO