Vol 6 March 2002

2002 Meeting & Events Schedule
Trip to Salt Lake City - Part 3 ( Next newsletter )
Gazeteers
January 12, 2002 Meeting - Digital Cameras
January 12, 2002 Meeting - Ships of Our Ancestors
March 9, 2002 Meeting

The next meeting will be Saturday March 9^th, 9:30 am at the Plain Library.

As a general rule, meetings will be held at the Plain Library on the 2^nd Saturday of the month at 9:30 am in "odd" months. An email and newsletter will come out before the meeting. Things can change so check the website and watch your mail.

Jan 12 Mar 9 May 11 Jul 13 Sep 14 Nov 9

The main objective of a gazetteer is to tell you about a town or location. This is one source of information that I never considered to be useful. Heck, what else is there to know about Plain and the area.

The other week I came across the Polk Gazetteer for Wisconsin at the Milwaukee Library. For "each" town it gave a description and a list of the key businesses and people. There is a lot of interesting information. You can track the growth of a town, see who lived there and some interesting information about how people lived.

The following are transcriptions for Plain & Whitemound.

Plain 1879 - A post village in Franklin township, southwester part of Sauk county, 8 miles north of Spring Green, on the P. du C. Div. C. M. & St. P. Ry. Principal shipments, farm products. Population about 50.

Business Directory BERGER CHRISTIAN JR, sign painter ; FERSTIL JOHN, carpenter; NACHREINER T.B., blacksmith ; SCHUETZ MICHAEL, stone mason ; SLINGER TEMPEST, plaster ; STUTZ PETER, general store, drugs and postmaster ; VOLK PHILLIP, shoemaker

Plain 1895 - A postoffice in Franklin township, Sauk county, 32 miles southwest of Baraboo, the county seat, 8 north of Spring Green, the nearest railroad station and banking point, and 17 from Richland Center. Stages daily to Spring Green, White Mound, Logansville and Reedsburg. Population 100. Mail daily, John B. Weiss, postmaster.

ARON JOHN, blacksmith ; HEISER JACOB, hotel ; HUTTER GEORGE F , saloon , HUTTER J B W, grocer ; MORGANS D W, general store and undertaker ; SCHALLER REV J (Catholic) ; SCHOENMAN ADOLPH, cheese manufacturer ; SCHOENMAN JOHN , justice ; STANTER JOSEPH , saloon ; VOELKEL JOSEPH , mason ; VOLK PHILIP, shoemaker ; WEISS & BECK, general store

Plain 1901 - Population, 110. A postoffice in Franklin township, Sauk County, 32 miles southwest of Baraboo, the county seat 8 north of Spring Green, the nearest railroad station and banking point and 17 from Richland Center. Stages daily to Spring Green, White Mound, Logansville and Reedsburg. Mail, daily. John Beck, postmaster.

ARON JOHN C., blacksmith; BANDL JAMES, justice ; CLEMENS RING, blacksmith ; CRAMER BROS, saw mill ; HAAS JOHN, saloon and Mason ; LAURER REV JOHN G. ; REUSCHLEIN BROS, grocers ; SCHOENMAN ADOLPH, cheese manufacturer ; SCHWARTZ MICHAEL, saloon ; STANTER JOSEPH, saloon ; VOELKEL JOSEPH, mason ; VOLK PHILIP, shoemaker; WALSH PATRICK E, hotel ; WEISS & BECK, general store

Plain 1903 - Population 150. A postoffice in Franklin township, Sauk county, 32 miles southwest of Baraboo, the county seat, 9 north of Spring Green, the nearest railroad station and banking point, and 17 from Richland Center. Stages daily to Spring Green, White Mound, Logansville and Reedsburg. Mail, daily. John Beck, postmaster.

BANDL JAMES, justice; BECK JOHN, barber; BECK & NACHREINER, general store and hardware; CONSTANTIN WALTER, cheese manufacturer; CRAMER BROS, saw mill; HAAS & PLON, meat market and saloon; LAURER REV JOHN G; PAULUS M B, blacksmith and wagonmaker; PLAIN CORNET BAND; REUSCHLEIN BROS, grocers; REUSCHLEIN HENRY, barber; SCHOENMAN MRS ADOLPH, cheese manufacturer; SCHWARTZ MICHAEL, saloon and hotel. VOLK GEORGE, mason; VOELKEL JOSEPH, mason

Plain 1907 - Population 150. A postoffice in Franklin township. Sauk county, 32 miles southwest of Baraboo, the county seat, 9 north of Spring Green, the nearest railroad station and banking point and 17 from Richland Center. States daily to Spring Green, White Mound, Logansville and Reedsburg. Mail, daily. John Beck, postmaster

BECK, NECHREINER & CARPENTER, general office; CRAMER BROS, general store and saw mill; FERSTL JOSEPH, blacksmith and wagonmaker; PAULUS M B, blacksmith and wagonmaker; PLONE BROS, saloon; REUSCHLEIN BROS, general store; RULAND BROS, saloon; SCHOENN MRS A, cheese factory. SCHWARTZ MIKE, hotel and saloon; WALSH P E, saloon

Plain 1919 - Population, 250. An incorporated village in Franklin township, Sauk county, 32 miles southwest of Baraboo, the judicial seat, and 9 north of Spring Green, the nearest railroad station. Has a Catholic church and a bank. Stages daily to Spring Green; fare, 50 cents. Mail daily.

BAUER JOSEPH , cheese manufacturer; BECK, NACHREINER & KRAMER, general store; CRAMER BROS & BETTINGER, general store; FAWLER P H, physician; HUTTER OTTO, harness; KETCHAM H T, drugs ; KRAEMER EDWARD, contractor; NAUMAN H L, cheese manufacturer; REUSCHLEIN WM, general store; ROLETTE ANNA, grocer ; RULAND JOSEPH S, saw mill; SCHREINER FRED, blacksmth; STATE BANK (capital $10,000), J B LIEGEL pres, J B WEISS cashier; WALSH P E , cheese manufacturer; WEISS JB, cashier STATE BANK

Plain 1927 - Population 350. An incorporated village in Franklin township, Sauk county, 32 miles southwest of Baraboo, the judicial seat, and 9 north of Spring Green, the nearest railroad station. Has a catholic church and a bank. Stages daily to Spring Green, fare 50 cents. Mail daily. W. Reuschlein, postmaster.

BETTINGER PHILIP, general store; BLAU HERM J confectioner; CONLEY P F, shoe repairer; DIEHL EMIL, cheese manufacturer; FERSTL JOSEPH, blacksmith; FRANK CLEMENT, meats; GRAVOGEL GEORGE, hotel and soft drinks; HAUSLADEN JOHN, restaurant; HETZL AUGUST, garage; KRAEMER JOSEPH, justice; KRAMER & RING, general store; MEISTER JOSEPH, cheese manufacturer; MEIXLSPERGER CHRIST, cheese manufacturer; MEYER J M cashier Plain State Bank; OSBORNE V K, cheese manufacturer; PETERS PETER, soft drinks; PHELAN WM, hardware; PLAIN AUTO CO, garage; PLAIN STATE BANK (capital $20,000) J. B. Liegel pres J M MEYER cashier; REUSCHLEIN WM, postmaster; RUHLAND JOSEPH, saw and feed mill; RULAND XAVIER, harness; SCHREINER FRED, blacksmith; SCHWEISS S G cheese manufacturer; SPRECHER CHRISTIAN L, duroc breeder; SPRECHER WESLEY, duroc breeder; STATE BANK (capital $20,000) J B LIEGEL pres, J M MEYER, cashier; TROY AND HONEY CREEK TELEPHONE CO

Whitemound 1879 - A postoffice in Franklin township, Sauk County, in sec 18, town 10, range 4 east. The nearest railway stations is Spring Green, on the P. du C. Div. C., M. & St. P. Ry., distant 13 miles. Principal shipments, hops and wheat. Mails four times a week. J.B. Carpenter, postmaster.

Whitemound 1895 - A postoffice on Honey creek, in Sauk county, 22 miles southwest of Baraboo, the county seat, and 13 north of Spring Green, the nearest railroad station and banking point. Stages daily to Reedsburg, and Spring Green. Population 50. Mail, daily. J. H. Carpenter, postmaster.

CALRIDGE GEORGE, feed mills ; CAPRENTER J H, insurance and notary ; RUHLAND BROS, saw mill.

Whitemound 1901 - Population 50. A postoffice on Honey creek, in Sauk county, 22 miles southwest of Baraboo, the county seat, and 14 north of Spring Green, the nearest railroad station and banking point. Stages daily to Reedsburg and Spring Green. Mail, twice daily. M. R. Prouty, postmaster

CABRIDGE GEORGE, feed mill; CARPENTER J H , insurance; FULKER JOSEPH, stone mason; HUTTER E, mason ; MEARS JOHN, carpenter; O'MALLEY JAMES, telephone office, O'MALLEY MARTIN, cheese manufacturer; PROUTY M R , blacksmith; WELCH WM H, general store

Whitemound 1903 - Population, 50. A postoffice on Honey creek, in Sauk county. 22 miles southwest of Baraboo, the county seat and 14 north of Spring Green,the nearest rilroad station and banking point. Stages daily to Reedsburg and Spring Green. Mail, twice daily. M. R. Prouty postmaster

CARPENTER J H, insurance ; FULKER JOSEPH, stone mason ; HUTTER E, mason ; MEARS JOHN, carpenter ; O'MALLEY JAMES, telephone office; O'MALLEY MARTIN, cheese manufacturer; PROUTY M R, blacksmith; WELCH JAMES, carpenter; WELCH WM H, general store, WESTENHAVEN & HUTTER, meats.

Whitemound 1907, Population 50. On Honey creek in Franklin township, Sauk country, 24 miles southwest of Baraboo, the county seat and 15 north of Spring Green, the nearest railroad station and banking point. Stages daily to Loganville, Reedsburg, Plain Spring Green and Loreto. Mail, twice daily. C.L. Carpenter, postmaster.

CARPENTER C L, general store; COLVER LEAF CREAMERY CO.; GALASPIE CARRIE, teacher; HUTTER A H , blacksmith; HUTTER J H, saloon; MCPHILLIPS MAYME, teacher; MEARS JOHN, carpenter; OLSON THEODORE, cheese manufacturer; WESTENHAVER EMMA, dressmaker; WESTENHAVER WM E, meats

Whitemound 1919 - Population 20. A discontinued postoffice on Honey creek, in Franklin township, Sauk county, 22 miles southwest of Baraboo, the judicial seat 14 from Spring Green, the nearest railroad station, and 6 from Plain, the nearest banking point. Stages daily to Loganville, from whence is rural delivery.

HUTTER LEO, cheese manufacturer; MEARS THOS, saloon; VOLK CARL, general store

Whitemound - 1927 Population 20. A discontinued postoffice on Honey Creek, in Franklin township, Sauk county, 22 miles southwest of Baraboo, the judical seat, 14 from Spring Gren, the nearest railroad station, and 6 from Plain, the nearest banking point. Stages daily to Loganville, whence is rural delivery;

VOLK CARL, general store.

In the next newsletter, we will look at gazetteers from Germany.

Deciding on what to buy can be very confusing. We discussed some things to consider when you buying a camera.

Quality of pictures: The quality of pictures is measured by number of pixels. In my opinion, the 3 megapixel camera is the minimum level of quality to get. The difference between 1 and 3 megapixels is dramatic and 3 megapixels wins hands down. 2 megapixels are okay, but within a year you will be able to get a 5 megapixel camera cheapily. Everything gets outdated quickly and 2 megapixels are close to being outdated.

As an extra bonus, 3 megapixel cameras can be using as portable scanners / copiers.

Batteries: Unless you are made of money, you will want a rechargeable, lithium battery. These are relatively cheap and you can shoots hundreds of photos from one charge. Regular AAA batteries will chew up your money real quick and they can only take a few photos per charge. Also related to batteries, I recommend that you buy several spares. I purchased 3 additional batteries at $45 each. With these extra batteries I never have to worry about not being able to take pictures because of drained batteries.

There are two basic types of users of computer cameras.

The first type will take only a few pictures, is not too concerned with quality and might just want to email a photo now and then. Pretty much any of the cheap cameras will meet your needs. (Again 3 megapixel is recommended, however you can get away with a 1 to 2 megapixel camera.)

The second type of user will want to use the digital camera as their primary camera. (There really isn't any middle ground between the two types. Considering the costs of a digital camera, it is not worthwhile to go part way.)

Storage becomes a big consideration if you want to use a digital camera as your primary camera. A normal photo requires about 1.5 million bytes of storage. Most cameras use flash memory cards which will hold between 8 and 256 million bytes of storage. Doing the math a 8 million byte card will hold only 5 photos. If you are taking photos at a family event, a journey to Germany, or at a cemetery, you will need a lot of these flash memory cards. The storage cost is about $1 per photo that you will take. It is true that you can reuse these cards, but you have to have a computer handy to dump these cards too.

As a general rule, because you don't have to pay film or development costs, you will find yourself taking more pictures with a digital camera than what you will with a regular camera. So storage only becomes a bigger concern.

I have the Sony brand of cameras that record on a CD disk. For $25 you can buy 50 disks that will hold 150 million bytes ( 100 photos per disk ) or 5000 in total. This is much cheaper than the flash memory disks. On my next trip to Germany I will be able to take thousands of photos.

If I tried using flash memory cards, I would have to spend over $1000 just to be able to take 700 photos. Flash memory card cameras can be hundreds of dollars cheaper than the Sony camera. However you will probably end up spending more money to be able to take large volumes of photos.

Another benefit of the Sony CD disk, you can just pop them into any computer. You don't need to have special equipment to transfer the photos. (If you do use flash memory cards, I recommend that you spend about $30 to get a special card reader to connect to your PC that will read these cards.)

Okay, now that you have taken the photos now what do you do.

You can printout the photos but this can be expensive. Most of the cheap $150 printers will give you good quality. However, you can spend a king's ransom on the ink and the paper. I "rarely" printout any photos. When I do, I use "high quality" paper that costs 10 cents a sheet ( instead of photo paper that costs $1 a sheet ). I use Microsoft Publisher to lay out the photos. I also choose a printer that can print on banner paper or up to 11" by 17" inch paper.

I look at my photos on the computer. Using a file viewer like IRFAN allows you to view slideshows and thumbnails of your photos. I share photos by creating CD disks. These disks cost about 40 cents and can hold 400 to 4000 photos. One great thing about CD copies is that they are the exact same as the original. CDs are said to have a life of about 100 years.

Using cheap editing programs you can do lots of tricks with digital photos. You can clean up and fix photos. You can combine several photos to make one large panoramic photo.

My camera is the SONY MVC-CD300. It cost about $1000. I purchased 3 additional batteries for $45 each. I bought an external battery charger for $45. A roomy carrying case cost $20 (it is better to get a big bag so you can hold a lot of accessories ). To start with I bought about $100 disks. ( You can buy reusable disks at $2.50 each ). For a total of $1300.00 I have got a great camera. It has a boat load of settings if you want to pretend to be a professional photographer.

This may sound like a lot of money. But considering a regular photo costs 50 cents for film and developing the cost isn't bad. On a trip to Germany, I took over 1500 photos which would have cost $750. It only takes a few of these trips to pay for the camera.

There are many reasons to research the ships that your ancestors came to America one.

One reason is that it can help add names to your family tree. Most people came to America with friends and relatives. Looking at a passenger list can give you the names of these friends and relatives.

Another reason it that you can tell the "story" of the trip. This helps to make your ancestors more than just names on a family tree.

How do you find the ship that your ancestor came on? Here are some of the "easy" ways.

• ask a living relative
• look at the 1900 US Federal Census ( it has date of immigration )
• look at obituaries
• look at applications to become US Citizens
• look at books indexing arrivals ( GERMANS TO AMERICA )
• look at church records & local histories

The more precise the date, the easier it is to find the boat. Assuming that your ancestor took the "normal" route, it is likely that they came through the port of New York City. Passenger lists are arranged in date order. So it is possible to find a "hidding" ancestor by looking at arrivals for a certain period of time. It ain't easy but it can be done.

Almost all of the stuff you need to research ships can be found at the Wisconsin Historical Society Library in Madison.

Here are some of the things that I have found in researching ships

• Actual passenger lists with the names of each passenger, captain of the ship,

• description of the actual trip (New York Times shipping news)
• photos / drawings of the ships ( lots of books & on the Internet)
• technical specifications of the ship (Lloyds of London)
• marketing pamphlet describing trip ( 1880's )

The following is a tentative agenda for the next meeting

1. Description of the filing method I used for my documents
2. Discuss Future Projects

Be sure to check the website occasionally. solo18.abac.com/garylhaas/