03-19-2011, 12:26 AM
This is going to be long, and possibly boring to a lot of you... but it's a personal project milestone 15 years in the making.
Many years ago... in the early 1990's, My mom found a copy of an unpublished manuscript written in the 1920's. This was a manuscript of a MASSIVE six volume (around 1200 pages-ish...) genealogy that related to one of our family "lines". We "connect" at my maternal grandmothers great-grandmother was a Goldsborough.
Over the next couple years, we decided to take the horrid 3rd generation photocopy of an onion-skin carbon copy, retype it into the computer, and publish it.
This idea nearly died a dozen times; as we realized how much WORK it is to type from a copy where every 10th word is nearly illegible. In a genealogy, the spellings of names is critically important, and if you can't tell an "o" from an "e", or a "B" from an "H". The stack of paper got shelved a lot of times...
Long-time veteran forum-members from way back may remember my questions about OCR software, in my attempts to automate the tedious process... but probably not.
3-4 years ago, I forget exactly when or the context, I started corresponding with AlphaDog (Beth), who was also into genealogy. We talked methods, resources, etc. I told her about this project that my mother and I were working on, and she was enthusiastic in her support.
I dusted off the old Word files, and got the paper copy out.. and I found that when we had left off, there were only a dozen or so pages left to retype.
Then the HARD work started. I had to try to interpret the references that has been cited... What is "Speights Nidderdale", anyway?
When we started this project, it was truly impossible! Unless we spent literally months in the New York Public Library (where a lot of the original research had been done in the 20's), there was no way to figure out the obscure references - impossible.
Then, one day, a miracle happened... almost slipping by me unnoticed. This miracle was called "Google Books". Search for "Speights Nidderdale" and within a few moments, I discovered that the real title of this book was "Nidderdale and the garden of Nidd: A Yorkshire Rhineland" by Harry Speight, 1894.
I went through "Volume 1" a dozen times, or more, inputting data into "Reunion" 9.0 (A genealogy software), and researching references that were cited... going through nearly 2000 years of history... verifying the original authors facts, and from time to time, coming up with my own additions for my growing "Editors Notes" sections. I've got more than 50 books in my Google Books "library".
My Mom lost a lot of her enthusiasm for the project over the years... getting involved in other projects and organizations, but she never stopped helping when I got stuck reading a confusing paragraph. Genealogies written poorly can be really REALLY tough to figure out what "he" they're talking about.
A few months ago, around the time AlphaDog left us, I finally got the whole project into InDesign, original text and my notes, and new photo's and coats of arms.
I've been nit picking at it since then... until a couple weeks ago when I finally sent the files to Lulu.com to have a "Final Draft" printed.
So here it is... all told, this is more than 20 years of the original authors work, plus around 15 years (off and on) of mine and my mothers.
I won't exaggerate AlphaDog's involvement, but it is quite fair to say that without my conversations with her by email a few years ago, this project would still be "on the shelf". Who knows if it would every have come back down. It probably would, but it wouldnt' be TODAY.
Volumes 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 seem a lot more possible now.
Paul F.
Many years ago... in the early 1990's, My mom found a copy of an unpublished manuscript written in the 1920's. This was a manuscript of a MASSIVE six volume (around 1200 pages-ish...) genealogy that related to one of our family "lines". We "connect" at my maternal grandmothers great-grandmother was a Goldsborough.
Over the next couple years, we decided to take the horrid 3rd generation photocopy of an onion-skin carbon copy, retype it into the computer, and publish it.
This idea nearly died a dozen times; as we realized how much WORK it is to type from a copy where every 10th word is nearly illegible. In a genealogy, the spellings of names is critically important, and if you can't tell an "o" from an "e", or a "B" from an "H". The stack of paper got shelved a lot of times...
Long-time veteran forum-members from way back may remember my questions about OCR software, in my attempts to automate the tedious process... but probably not.
3-4 years ago, I forget exactly when or the context, I started corresponding with AlphaDog (Beth), who was also into genealogy. We talked methods, resources, etc. I told her about this project that my mother and I were working on, and she was enthusiastic in her support.
I dusted off the old Word files, and got the paper copy out.. and I found that when we had left off, there were only a dozen or so pages left to retype.
Then the HARD work started. I had to try to interpret the references that has been cited... What is "Speights Nidderdale", anyway?
When we started this project, it was truly impossible! Unless we spent literally months in the New York Public Library (where a lot of the original research had been done in the 20's), there was no way to figure out the obscure references - impossible.
Then, one day, a miracle happened... almost slipping by me unnoticed. This miracle was called "Google Books". Search for "Speights Nidderdale" and within a few moments, I discovered that the real title of this book was "Nidderdale and the garden of Nidd: A Yorkshire Rhineland" by Harry Speight, 1894.
I went through "Volume 1" a dozen times, or more, inputting data into "Reunion" 9.0 (A genealogy software), and researching references that were cited... going through nearly 2000 years of history... verifying the original authors facts, and from time to time, coming up with my own additions for my growing "Editors Notes" sections. I've got more than 50 books in my Google Books "library".
My Mom lost a lot of her enthusiasm for the project over the years... getting involved in other projects and organizations, but she never stopped helping when I got stuck reading a confusing paragraph. Genealogies written poorly can be really REALLY tough to figure out what "he" they're talking about.
A few months ago, around the time AlphaDog left us, I finally got the whole project into InDesign, original text and my notes, and new photo's and coats of arms.
I've been nit picking at it since then... until a couple weeks ago when I finally sent the files to Lulu.com to have a "Final Draft" printed.
So here it is... all told, this is more than 20 years of the original authors work, plus around 15 years (off and on) of mine and my mothers.
I won't exaggerate AlphaDog's involvement, but it is quite fair to say that without my conversations with her by email a few years ago, this project would still be "on the shelf". Who knows if it would every have come back down. It probably would, but it wouldnt' be TODAY.
Volumes 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 seem a lot more possible now.
Paul F.
