Writing a family history is important stuff. You don't want to print something that will goof up some future generation. Genealogists are tempted to wait until they have every fact checked and doubled checked before they print anything. The dilemma is that if you wait for everything to be perfect, a genealogist would never print anything.

I got lots of stuff about my ancestors that I would like to print. It will take me years before I get all the facts right. I have decided to print DRAFT VERSIONS of my ancestor's histories. There are lots of questionable data but it is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

Another dilemma is what type of genealogy research to do. Some genealogists are more interested in the future, so they focus on keeping records on all the cousins: births, marriages and cousins. This is a full-time project that leaves very little time to do research.

I have chosen to focus my research on my ancestors. There are fewer of them and they never complain if you get the wrong birth date on a 3^rd cousin twice removed.

Next year's project is to improve this year's DRAFT VERSIONS by adding more sources and double checking facts. I also intend to write more stories that draw facts together in a more understandable format. There are also more details and facts to add. Photos are another possibility.

To start with there are "errors" in the draft version.

spelling errors of mine
spelling errors of the person creating the original document
conflicting facts that need to be resolved
incorrect facts due to my interpretation
how do you spell the last name.

In most cases, I have digital copies of original documents that can be used to resolve these errors. There just wasn't any time to correct all the errors this year.

Lets define some terms that you will see in the book:

Descendants - you pick a guy in the past and anybody who had them as a parent,
grandparent, etc are listed. Descendants show all the children in the
family.

Ancestors - you pick a guy in the future and their parents, grandparents, etc
are listed. Ancestors have fewer people and show family
lines in a simpler manner.

SIC - you will see this next to misspelled words and names. It basically means,
"No I am not stupid, I can spell. I was only copying what the first guy
that wrote it wrong."

A PDF format of the Draft Version will available on the Internet around the end of Dec 2002.

Lets talk about some of the stuff you will find. To start with the same information is shown in a variety of formats. Trying to understand who is in your family can be difficult. Some people find one format easier to understand. Different strokes for different folks. Genealogy programs can show the data in the different formats so that these "different folks" can understand the information.

(Another nice thing about genealogy programs is that they can put all the information on to a hand-held computer. I have all my research on my cell phone.)

LARGE ANCESTORAL CHARTS. It is difficult to put all this information on one sheet. These large fold-out sheets show all the ancestors for a selected person.

DIRECT LINE CHARTS. These show the direct connection between somebody today and somebody from centuries ago. These charts are nice because they show the time period that the persons lived in. They also show births, marriages and deaths with time information.

ANCESTORAL OUTLINES. These show the same information as found in the LARGE ANCESTORAL CHARTS but in a list form.

BRIEF ANCESTORAL CHARTS. This shows a 5-generation chart. This allows you to look at ancestral information on one page without having to unfold the LARGE ANCESTORAL CHART described above.

DESCENDANT CHARTS. These are on several pages. They show the various families in the HAAS / BAUER lines in a chart format.

DESCENDANT OUTLINES - DIRECT. These show the same information as found on the DIRECT LINE CHART described above.

DESCENDANT OUTLINES. These the children, children of the children, etc of a selected person.

BOOK FORMAT. Most genealogy programs will create a book from the data that you enter. This is not a simple format to understand.

People are listed in generation order, the most recent first. People are shown with numbers to the left of their name. If the number is not in BOLD print, it means that more information can be found under that number on an earlier page.

The book format allows you to "enter notes." I have typed up / transcribed a number of documents and news articles about people in these notes. Each note starts with ***NOTE**. ABS##### is a reference that only makes sense to me. If you see something that ends in JPG, that means that I have a digital copy of the source document.

When I entered the date of the note, I showed the month in a special format. The month is shown as a NUMBER and an abbreviation. For example March is shown as 03mar.

If you see ***** HAAS BAUER DISKS, this means there is a digital image.

CALENDARS. This shows the birth and marriage anniversary dates of the people in my genealogical program.

INDEX. A lot of people are included in the charts, outlines, books and calendars. There is an index in the back of the DRAFT VERSION that shows what persons are included in the book and which page they are on.

NEWSLETTERS. All of the Haas Bauer and Plain History Genealogy Group newsletters are included. There is a table of contents that will help you find stuff in the newsletters. These newsletters contain a wide variety of information that should contain something that you will find interesting.

To make sure that the DRAFT VERSION is read, there is a test. It is an open book test so looking up the answers is not cheating.

HAAS QUESTIONS

What was the amount of the bonus that Ludwig Haas got for serving in WWI?
What was Ludwig Haas's real name?
Which ancestor died while ice-fishing?
Who was Margaret Haas?
Which ancestor was all set to get married but the bride called it off?
At what time of day did Kunigunda Brendel-Haas's father die?
Who got hit by a car in Chicago?
Who was the short, flat-headed, wide-mouthed, wide-faced, beardless ancestor?
Name all the marriages that involved brothers and sisters.
What occupations did brides have before getting married?

BAUER QUESTIONS

How many husbands did Franziska Bauer have? What happened to them?
Who was born at sea?
Who got married on Thanksgiving?
Where was Mary Bauer going when she was killed in a car accident?
Of the Joseph Bauer's twins, who was delivered first?
What is the middle initial of Joseph Bauer's father?
Which ancestor was murdered? Who did it and what was the punishment?
Which ancestor got caught up in the gold rush?
Name all the marriages that involved brothers and sisters.
What occupations did brides have before getting married?

BONUS QUESTION FOR BOTH FAMILIES

Who was the first American citizen in the paternal lines? (HAAS or BAUER)

I would appreciate constructive comments about these newsletters and stuff
Email garylhaas@yahoo.com
Website solo18.abac.com/garylhaas/

Gary Haas
2400 E Bradford #904
Milwaukee WI 53211