I agree with all of Bill's points on LDS films. I am my center's best customer when it comes to printing. I sometimes gather quite a crowd to view the language and finesse of some of the records....thankfully, there were several neat writers in my parish searches...and then there were some others! Don't get discouraged! I have been using these for about five years and have documented my father's line back to the mid 1600s in Slovenska Ves, Haligovce and Chrast nad Hernadom. I have just recently found what appears to be listing of confirmation candidates and their saints' names. My ggggmother was from Chrast nad Hornadom, but her husband was not. On that confirmation list is the town from where he came. I am still researching that new lead, but I would NEVER have found so much without those films! One of the things I do that has helped me is when I print, I print the entire page and then do a close of the individual record I am interested in. That was I have more detail on the record I need to research. I have also borrowed my husband on a time or two and have taken digital camera images of the reader image. As long as the camera is parralel to the surface *ours slants*, the image is good and can be manipulated later with a graphics program. I have been able to remove the noise in the background on many of the records to show a clearer image. Good luck on your searches and have fun while doing it! Sandi Kupcik Barber ----- Original Message ----- From: "William Smorey" <wasmore@msn.com> To: <SLOVAKIA-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, November 11, 2002 8:24 PM Subject: Re: Research Tips - LDS > > Bill, > That's great info. Thanks much. I am specifically looking > for birth information on my grandfather to determine his > parents name and confirm village of birth. If I get that > far I'll be a happy camper! > Regards, > Bill > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Bill Tarkulich > Sent: Monday, November 11, 2002 7:38 PM > To: SLOVAKIA-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: RE: Research Tips - LDS > > Good question. > > I spent three years looking over about 100 different films, sometimes > again and again. > > 1. Do an initial scan of the entire film(s) to see what you've got. > That will give you an idea of how to manage the work. Generally > speaking, it will either be in paragraph form (each entry is just added > to the end of the next, as if it was a very long sentence), or in a > column form. Columns are far superior for scanning, when looking for > names, your eye can just look straight down the column. My churchbooks > contain both. I wanted to "cherry pick" first, so I went for the > columns. > 2. Search the entire films. Information is not necessarily in > chronological order. Occassionally some pages will be out of order. > 3. Bring $20 and plan to make copies of important or interesting pages. > A couple of hours is never nearly enough time to study them. Especially > copy pages that are hard to read, to figure out later. > 4. Determine your strategy: are you looking for an overview? Build a > family tree? Find everyone with your surname? Each objective begets a > different strategy. > 5. Time is always your enemy at the FHC. Too many people, not enough > viewers, too little time. Figure out how to make best use of your time > quickly. > 6. Select the correct film reader. Some have more powerful lenses than > others, showing the image larger, but also causing you to move around > the page more often. Lesser magnification allows you to see the entire > page at once, which is helpful when skimming for names. > 7. Determine the language of the records. It probably will change over > time. I have records written in Cyrillic script and Magyar (Hungarian). > Hungarian is easy. A surname is a surname. My Tarkulic' is Tarkulics > in Magyar. As a general rule, take any z's the Magyars put in, throw > them out, and you've probably got the name. Nicholas could be Mikloz or > Miklos. > 8. Cyrillic is most difficult. I saved that till last. This was the > font used primarily for church Slavonic (see below). I had about 100 > year of records. What I did was to write out my surname in Cyrillic on > a 3x5 index card and keep it next to the reader. It took a number of > hours, but after a while I began to recognize my surname in cyrillic. > Church Slavonic alphabet: > http://www.orthodoxepubsoc.org/alphabetprint.htm > 9. Keep a logbook of your activities. This will help you from wasting > time re-reading pages. Use it to log the date, pages read and any other > info useful. I also used it to note issues that occurred during the > viewing that needed further investigation. I noted a "TARKO" surname > and wanted to come back to it later to see if it was related (it was > not.) Any questions that occur to you along the way. Etc. etc. You > will find that you will be very quickly overwhelmed with data, so > managing it resourcefully will make you more productive. > 10. Manage your copy time. Invariably, you'll have to move the film to > a film printing machine. Rather than doing it one at a time, mark each > image with a little plastic, removable post-it pointer tab (go to > Staples). > 11. . If you have a film you want to keep for an extended length, after > you've renewed it once, you can pay a fee of approx $7 which will hold > it at your FHL indefinitely. Nothing worse than going back on day 31 > and finding out your film has been returned to Salt Lake. > 12. Don't be intimidated by other languages. Names are names, > numbers(dates, ages) are obvious. Just make sure you know that > translations for the 12 months of the year. > 13. Marriage records usually show bride, groom, date, ages, parents, > sponsors, place of birth. > 14. Birth records usually show date of birth, date of baptism, name, > parents, sponsors, sometimes a note indicating date of death and place. > 15. Death records usually include date of death, date of > burial(sometimes), name, surviving relative, oft times cause of death. > 16. Don't expect the staff to be of much help. It's a library that > covers the world. Unless the staff member has personally researched > your area, you'll be mostly on your own. > > > Good luck, > Bill Tarkulich > > -----Original Message----- > From: wasmore@att.net [mailto:wasmore@att.net] > Sent: Monday, November 11, 2002 12:10 PM > To: SLOVAKIA-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: Research Tips - LDS > > > I have just ordered my first film from LDS. This > one is for church records from Jablonov nad Turnou. > I am searching for information on my grandfather. > This may not be the right film but I am using a > process of elimination in determing the correct > village (old "Almas" vs 2 or 3 possibilities > today). > I have kept the translation guides provided by > helpful listers and am sure they will come in handy > as I don't read Hungarian or Latin. > Any other useful tips to consider for going through > an LDS film would be greatly appreciated. > Thanks in advance! > Bill Smorey/Cmorej/Czmorej > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy > records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 >

Sandi, You are very lucky to find records back to the mid 1600's. Most records in the archives date back only to the mid 1700's at best (except for the large cities.) I presume your records were Roman Catholic, since Orthodox and Greek Catholic tradition is to perform Baptism and Confirmation concurrently. What do the confirmation records look like? It is a separate listing or an augmentation of the baptismal record, or something else? Bill Tarkulich -----Original Message----- From: Sandi Barber [mailto:sandibarber@attbi.com] Sent: Tuesday, November 12, 2002 11:39 PM To: SLOVAKIA-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: Research Tips - LDS I agree with all of Bill's points on LDS films. I am my center's best customer when it comes to printing. I sometimes gather quite a crowd to view the language and finesse of some of the records....thankfully, there were several neat writers in my parish searches...and then there were some others! Don't get discouraged! I have been using these for about five years and have documented my father's line back to the mid 1600s in Slovenska Ves, Haligovce and Chrast nad Hernadom. I have just recently found what appears to be listing of confirmation candidates and their saints' names. My ggggmother was from Chrast nad Hornadom, but her husband was not. On that confirmation list is the town from where he came. I am still researching that new lead, but I would NEVER have found so much without those films! One of the things I do that has helped me is when I print, I print the entire page and then do a close of the individual record I am interested in. That was I have more detail on the record I need to research. I have also borrowed my husband on a time or two and have taken digital camera images of the reader image. As long as the camera is parralel to the surface *ours slants*, the image is good and can be manipulated later with a graphics program. I have been able to remove the noise in the background on many of the records to show a clearer image. Good luck on your searches and have fun while doing it! Sandi Kupcik Barber ----- Original Message ----- From: "William Smorey" <wasmore@msn.com> To: <SLOVAKIA-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, November 11, 2002 8:24 PM Subject: Re: Research Tips - LDS > > Bill, > That's great info. Thanks much. I am specifically looking for > birth information on my grandfather to determine his parents name and > confirm village of birth. If I get that far I'll be a happy camper! > Regards, > Bill > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Bill Tarkulich > Sent: Monday, November 11, 2002 7:38 PM > To: SLOVAKIA-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: RE: Research Tips - LDS > > Good question. > > I spent three years looking over about 100 different films, sometimes > again and again. > > 1. Do an initial scan of the entire film(s) to see what you've got. > That will give you an idea of how to manage the work. Generally > speaking, it will either be in paragraph form (each entry is just > added to the end of the next, as if it was a very long sentence), or > in a column form. Columns are far superior for scanning, when looking > for names, your eye can just look straight down the column. My > churchbooks contain both. I wanted to "cherry pick" first, so I went > for the columns. 2. Search the entire films. Information is not > necessarily in chronological order. Occassionally some pages will be > out of order. 3. Bring $20 and plan to make copies of important or > interesting pages. A couple of hours is never nearly enough time to > study them. Especially copy pages that are hard to read, to figure > out later. 4. Determine your strategy: are you looking for an > overview? Build a family tree? Find everyone with your surname? > Each objective begets a different strategy. > 5. Time is always your enemy at the FHC. Too many people, not enough > viewers, too little time. Figure out how to make best use of your time > quickly. > 6. Select the correct film reader. Some have more powerful lenses than > others, showing the image larger, but also causing you to move around > the page more often. Lesser magnification allows you to see the entire > page at once, which is helpful when skimming for names. > 7. Determine the language of the records. It probably will change over > time. I have records written in Cyrillic script and Magyar (Hungarian). > Hungarian is easy. A surname is a surname. My Tarkulic' is Tarkulics > in Magyar. As a general rule, take any z's the Magyars put in, throw > them out, and you've probably got the name. Nicholas could be Mikloz or > Miklos. > 8. Cyrillic is most difficult. I saved that till last. This was the > font used primarily for church Slavonic (see below). I had about 100 > year of records. What I did was to write out my surname in Cyrillic on > a 3x5 index card and keep it next to the reader. It took a number of > hours, but after a while I began to recognize my surname in cyrillic. > Church Slavonic alphabet: > http://www.orthodoxepubsoc.org/alphabetprint.htm > 9. Keep a logbook of your activities. This will help you from wasting > time re-reading pages. Use it to log the date, pages read and any other > info useful. I also used it to note issues that occurred during the > viewing that needed further investigation. I noted a "TARKO" surname > and wanted to come back to it later to see if it was related (it was > not.) Any questions that occur to you along the way. Etc. etc. You > will find that you will be very quickly overwhelmed with data, so > managing it resourcefully will make you more productive. > 10. Manage your copy time. Invariably, you'll have to move the film to > a film printing machine. Rather than doing it one at a time, mark each > image with a little plastic, removable post-it pointer tab (go to > Staples). > 11. . If you have a film you want to keep for an extended length, after > you've renewed it once, you can pay a fee of approx $7 which will hold > it at your FHL indefinitely. Nothing worse than going back on day 31 > and finding out your film has been returned to Salt Lake. > 12. Don't be intimidated by other languages. Names are names, > numbers(dates, ages) are obvious. Just make sure you know that > translations for the 12 months of the year. > 13. Marriage records usually show bride, groom, date, ages, parents, > sponsors, place of birth. > 14. Birth records usually show date of birth, date of baptism, name, > parents, sponsors, sometimes a note indicating date of death and place. > 15. Death records usually include date of death, date of > burial(sometimes), name, surviving relative, oft times cause of death. > 16. Don't expect the staff to be of much help. It's a library that > covers the world. Unless the staff member has personally researched > your area, you'll be mostly on your own. > > > Good luck, > Bill Tarkulich > > -----Original Message----- > From: wasmore@att.net [mailto:wasmore@att.net] > Sent: Monday, November 11, 2002 12:10 PM > To: SLOVAKIA-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: Research Tips - LDS > > > I have just ordered my first film from LDS. This > one is for church records from Jablonov nad Turnou. > I am searching for information on my grandfather. > This may not be the right film but I am using a > process of elimination in determing the correct > village (old "Almas" vs 2 or 3 possibilities > today). > I have kept the translation guides provided by > helpful listers and am sure they will come in handy > as I don't read Hungarian or Latin. > Any other useful tips to consider for going through > an LDS film would be greatly appreciated. > Thanks in advance! > Bill Smorey/Cmorej/Czmorej > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy > records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy > records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy > records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237