ROOTS & BRANCHES

When Patti Hobbs posted on Facebook a copy of a survey from an 1829 court file showing several property lines in what’s now Warriors Mark Township in Huntingdon County, she did it mainly because she thought it was a great map.

And while that was certainly true – the survey was detailed enough to show a creek and buildings on the property – posting it several people to chime in with assistance in placing the property within the township.

Within minutes, Chris Staats from Ohio had chimed in by finding the Pennsylvania State Archives’ recopied survey of one of the properties shown on the 1829 map, likely to be a big help in locating the land on the present-day map.

But then he really upped the ante by finding an 1830 Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision involving speculators whose land was mentioned on the map Hobbs found.

She had previously found quite a few of the area’s surveys because of the chain of title contained in deeds but didn’t know about the supreme court case. “I wasn’t looking for any assistance,” Hobbs wrote. “But I obviously didn’t know what I didn’t know.”

While so many Internet interactions result in unhelpful or even erroneous information, this was a heartening conversation to see as it developed in real time.

The only thing I had left to say on Facebook was: “Staats, for the win!”

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Probably the most persistent question I get from genealogists with German-speaking ancestors is how to read the records.

Well, I finally have a better answer than just telling people that practice is the key: A new course from Katherine Schober of SK Translations titled, “Reading the Old German Handwriting: Transform the Scribble of the Script into the Stories of Your Ancestors.”

Schober’s online course is a real powerhouse of learning – she uses everything from videos to flash cards to help the student to gain knowledge about deciphering the script.

The overall curriculum is divided into three phases. Schober’s first set of parts focuses on the individual letters in the script. Next comes the basic German vocabulary of genealogical records. Finally, actual records are explored in the third phase.

Schober is a German-English genealogy translator who has translated for both The History Channel and PBS’s Finding Your Roots. She works with the old German script in letters, diaries, certificates, church records, and more, helping people like you decipher the clues to their ancestors’ lives. She combines a master’s degree in German with a passion for history and language.

To look at an introductory video from Schober or to enroll in the course, go to the URL, https://german-handwriting.teachable.com/