On Fri, Aug 28, 2020 at 06:42 AM, Miriam Bulwar David-Hay wrote:

in Polish there is a stroke through the l

That's not an "L" with a stroke; it's a completely different letter that just looks like an L with a stroke.

The letter L (uppercase) / l (lowercase) looks the same in English and Polish.  See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_alphabet#Letters

The letter Ł (uppercase) / ł (lowercase) is another letter.  In Polish, it is pronounced similarly to the letter W in English.  See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%81

Stephen Weinstein
Camarillo, CA, USA

Jacquie asked "Were there markings on Jewish headstones that identify who the stonecutters were?"
The answer has to be "sometimes".

Some Jewish headstones have markings identifying the stonemason. It is common in some cemeteries, in some periods, but it is not a universal practice. It may be more a matter of the business practices of the (usually non-jewish) stonemason than anything else.
Looking at my photos from one of the Jewish sections of St Kilda Cemetery here in Melbourne, I can see several stones with the stone mason identified either by a little metal plaque or a small engraving.

Rodney Eisfelder
Melbourne, Australia

Here in Melbourne, Australia it is common practice for the stone mason to leave a small plaque with his contact details in a discreet place on the tombstone. Usually in the lower corner of the plinth or base of the setting that surrounds the grave.

Geoffrey Ackerman

Dear Allan Jordan/"A. E. Jordan",

I have not contacted the court involved with my grandfather's name change -- and have not found the name change file.

(I'm not as diligent as many other with respect to genealogy.)

I do not quite understand what you said in your final paragraph with respect to the New York City Department of Health and birth certificates: I'm not (myself) certain that it could be said that the birth certificate was "reissued" (as I stated, I saw on the microfilm the original certificate with some material added (mostly as hand-stamped text).

My research at Ancestry.com (and my impression from what little my father said about this when he was alive) lead me to believe that although (legally) the name change had been completed by September of 1940, neither my grandfather, my grandmother (who probably never used the name "Kent" for herself), nor my father or his 2 brothers publicly used "Kent" until at least 1948 -- so I suspect (although I do not know) that my grandfather (or a lawyer representing him) contacted the Health Department when he finally decided to publicly use his new name -- and that that is what prompted the Health Department to amend the birth certificate to what I saw on the microfilm a few years ago (not "they needed it for something [unspecified] else", then).

Ethan W. Kent
New York City.

Many names depending on original location of the family. Variations can include Icek for instance. I’m named after Avraham Yitzhak from the part of Russia that is now Lithuania.

Jeff Miller
Maryland

Nolan Altman was contacted by a woman in Austria who has taken a batch of pictures of matzevot in Jewish cemeteries including Frauenkirchen, Eisenstadt, Dobra Voda and Rusovce.  We’re looking for a volunteer to review the photos, some of which include non-Jewish burials, pick out the ones that may be Jewish and enter records into the JOWBR spreadsheet. Nolan can find help for translating those in Hebrew. Please contact me off-list if you are interested in helping with this effort.
--
Vivian Kahn, Santa Rosa, California
JewishGen Hungarian Research Director

Nolan Altman was contacted by a woman in Austria who has taken a batch of pictures of matzevot in Jewish cemeteries in formerly Hungarian areas in Transylvania, now Romania, including Alsojara (Iara), Szilagycseh (Cehu Silvaniei), and Hidalmas.  We’re looking for a volunteer to review the photos, some of which include non-Jewish burials, pick out the ones that may be Jewish and enter records into the JOWBR spreadsheet. Nolan can find help for translating those in Hebrew. Please contact me off-list if you are interested in helping with this effort.
--
Vivian Kahn, Santa Rosa, California
JewishGen Hungarian Research Director

Nolan Altman was contacted by a woman in Austria who has taken a batch of pictures of matzevot in Jewish cemeteries including Gyekenes in Somogy and Pecs.  We’re looking for a volunteer to review the photos, some of which include non-Jewish burials, pick out the ones that may be Jewish and enter records into the JOWBR spreadsheet. Nolan can find help for translating those in Hebrew. Please contact me off-list if you are interested in helping with this effort.
--
Vivian Kahn, Santa Rosa, California
JewishGen Hungarian Research Director

On Fri, Aug 28, 2020 at 09:39 AM, Alan Reische wrote:

Hamburg

Are you certain that they embarked from Hamburg?  Family Search 's Wiki includes links to databases for Bremen, for example.  ( https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Bremen_Emigration/Immigration#Online_Databases ) Part of my own family departed from Cherbourg.  

Another thing to consider is that it was common for many immigrants to sail to England first.  My grandfather, for example, sailed from Liverpool. What port he left from to get to Liverpool is anyone's guess.  The passenger record I found for him is a U.S. document, but it occurs to me just now that his passage may also have been noted in English passenger records as well (going to follow up on that as soon as I log off!).  I have encountered instances for other people in which they appeared in English passenger records but not in U.S. records.
 
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Erika Gottfried
Teaneck, New Jersey

As a regular contributor to tombstone translations on JewishGen's Viewmate (there are more than 7,000 examples) I have seen most of them.  I don't remember ever having seen one.  

David Rosen
Boston, MA

Peter, I could not agree with you more, and you've described this problem so well and succinctly.  

My experience as archivist for a special historical collection for more than three decades completely bears out your too-valid fears about preservation of digital data.  Entire databases I created using mainstream software are no longer accessible or readable.  And I've seen online data disappear. This is what keeps me up at night (or used to before the pandemic became my number one worry).  The digital dark ages is a threat to more than genealogical data.

I'm also with you about keeping genealogical information and family histories online and/or in digital form as well as on paper.

My own question, though, is -- how best to preserve genealogies and family history in print when most of the data you've gathered has been stored either online and/or on your computer within a software program?  I think that's situation that many, if not most of us, are facing. Most of the data I've collected, for example, I've stored in Family Treemaker.   FTM does have a report format, but its reports don't appear contain all of the information that I've saved into FTM, and I would like to retain every bit of that information that I can.  And converting that information into a formal book is a daunting prospect.  Also, I would want to be able to update the information easily and as often as necessary (I'm envisioning an annual or semi-annual print out) so my descendants would have the most recent data I had available--but a book is static.

What would be the best way to preserve all of the data in print that would be efficient and clear, but not as a book? Something serviceable, but not necessarily smooth and pretty!  (This foregoing is another thing that has keep me up at night!) Any advice from you or anyone else on this question would be welcome.  

Re electronic genealogies, I believe that Family Search would be the best bet for attempting to preserve genealogies digitally because of its institutional affiliation with the Mormon church.  The Church has been, and I think is likely to continue to be a more stable entity than any online company--commercial companies come and go, but major religions tend to stick around longer.   Also, because of genealogy's central role in Mormonism the motivation for making sure the data is protected and continues to be available and accessible is greater than that of commercial enterprises.


Erika Gottfried
Teaneck, New Jersey