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Every once in awhile,
someone comes by and wants to know, "What in the world is an Ahnentafel
chart?"
To me, it's both hard to say and hard to understand, but both can be
accomplished with a little diligence.
An Ahnentafel starts with a specified person and lists his/her ancestors.
The first person, whether male or female, is number "1."
That person's father is number "2" and all following father's are a
multiple of "2."
That first person's mother is the fathers number plus "1." The wife's
number is always "1" plus her husbands number. If the father's number is
"8," the wife is number "9."
Her father is 2 times 9, which is 18.
It really isn't complicated. Honest.
Did you know that there were income taxes
during the Civil War? If your ancestor was in the United States during
this time, you might find information on him or her in the Civil War
Income Tax Records. The Internal Revenue Act of 1862 instituted a tax to
pay for the war. This tax was in effect from 1862-1872 and the records are
available through the National Archives.
Is your name Smith? There are dozens of names
from around the world that became Anglicized into the familiar, "Smith."
In Hebrew, Smith becomes Zillai or Krarash. In French, you would be known
as Lefevre, Lefebvre or Le Fevers.
If you were from Russia, your name would be Kiznetzov or if you were
Spanish, Herrera. In Manx, Smith becomes Gawn.
The American Folk Life Center at the Library
of Congress will launch a program to collect and preserve the personal
experience stories and oral histories of America's war veterans and then
to make selections available to the public over the Internet. The program
is scheduled to begin November 11, 2001.
The Veteran's Oral History Project encourages
war veterans, their families, veterans groups, communities and students to
audio-and videotape the memories of veterans time in service to their
country.
Beginning November 11, the center in Washington will initiate the planning
phase of the project. Guidelines to assist the public in conducting local
documentation will be developed but the library plans to create a network
of partnerships throughout the United States to encourage affiliated
organizations, community groups and individuals to collect these
recollections and firsthand accounts.
More than 19 million war veterans are living in the United States today,
but almost 1500 die each day.
If you would like more information about the Veteran's Oral History
Project, contact
www.loc.gov/folklife or call 1-888-371-5848.
By the way, you might like to know the proper
way to refer to your Scottish and Scots-Irish ancestors. Many people today
refer to the "Scotch" or the "Scotch-Irish" when they talk about their
families.
Scotch is something to drink.
The people are Scottish or Scots, but never Scotch. Many people of
Scottish ancestry are deeply insulted to be called "Scotch."
You might also like to know that a patterned material is known as "tartan"
and not "plaid." The tartan is a pattern of stripes going in both
directions. The "plaid" is what the Scottish gentlemen wear over their
shoulders on dress occasions...and is pronounced "played."
As Matt, on Room by Room frequently says, "Just thought you'd like to
know." |
