Dear Kathleen
I'm not so sure if the village of Waterloo is the right comparison.
Wellington, Gneisenau and Bl�cher were the winning generals. The non
french speaking population were the winning nation to be freed from the
campaigns of Napoleon which ravaged Europe for more than 15 years and
cost hundreds of thousand their lives. You may consider Waterloo as a
new beginning for you in your quest in the search for your ancestors.
At times we all have an element of frustration in us especially if you
found a lead which led down the wrong path. Many of us have been
there, many will experience the same frustration.
My ancestors came from Holland and emigrated to the Weichsel Delta. I
can not make the connection to the Netherlands. Have a lot of
branches, but can't connect to the trunk so to speak.
Or my frustration with my Kartenmeister database at times looking for
small place or the thousand of renames. One village with about 25 people
has been renamed 8 times and shows another 12 spelling variations
between �, sz, ss, cz etc. Is it worth it ? To make it comprehensive
I would say yes since you may only look for one particular spelling
variation. My database has gone beyond the normal frame of being only
of use to genealogist.
My frustration was the day I wiped out 1 years worth of work with the
push of a button. Now I know what the feeling must have been having the
Titanic sinking from under you. Complete helplessness. At least I was
on land.
One thing we have on our side is time. As more information is
available on the Net the search becomes easier. The amount of Polish
database coming on stream is anything short of amazing. Yes they are in
Polish as many German databases are in German only, but I think we have
a certain obligation to learn the language of our ancestors or of our
neighbours with which we lived together for hundreds of years. At least
we should make an effort of understanding the majority of the phrases
used.
In this context I wish you much luck in you further research and don't
give up
Uwe Krickhahn
Medicine hat, Alberta
Canada
To the many researcher:
Kathy is looking for: Baranowski, Barnowsky, Michalska in Posen
Her email address is katwood@chartermi.net